One Day, One Internship

Good Sports

Willy Franzen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:53:25 +0000

Did you know that how wealthy your family is has a lot to do with which sports you play growing up? Sometimes it’s a demographic thing, but a lot of times it just has to do with whether or not your family can afford to pay for the equipment. Take hockey for example. There’s a ton of stuff you need, and it’s all expensive; whereas, basketball can be played with just a ball and a hoop in a park. There are no hard and fast rules about this, but it’s very clear that many kids don’t get the opportunity to try some sports because of the costs involved. Good Sports is a Boston based non-profit that “provides sports equipment to disadvantaged youth in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, and Chicago.” They may have pictures of Boston athletes plastered all over their website (yuck!), but they’re doing a really good thing.

Are You a Good Sport?

The idea behind Good Sports is pretty simple—they raise money and take equipment donations from manufacturers and then provide equipment grants to youth athletic programs. Additionally, Goods Sports runs Community Health Programs in conjunction with Community Health Centers to provide “necessary fitness equipment to children being treated in healthy weight, diabetes, or other obesity related medical programs.” They seem to be doing a great job, and the names on their Boards of Directors and Advisors show that they’ve excelled at integrating themselves within the Boston sports community. It’d be a cool place to break into the sports industry, as you’d have tons of networking opportunities. Right now, Good Sports is looking for an Non-Profit & Sports Industry Intern, which, although unpaid, looks like an awesome opportunity for a sports enthusiast. You can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to Davin Lencz at dlencz@goodsports.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite piece of sports equipment?

Bamboo Sk8

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:58:12 +0000

When I was in college, I lived in a rundown house with 9 other guys. Pretty much all of them rode skateboards. Most people would have a coat or shoe rack at their front door. We had a skateboard rack. I was the one guy who didn’t ride a board, because I did not want to suffer the embarrassment of coming home bloodied and with ripped clothes. I kept my action sporting to crawling through gorges to find undiscovered fishing spots. Now, I’m not sure where my buddies bought their skateboards, but I’m pretty sure that had they known about Bamboo Sk8, they would have considered them. Bamboo Sk8 is an Oceanside, CA based company that uses natural products (bamboo possibly) to make sustainable skateboards.

Sk8 Your Way to an Internship

If you’re into action sports and sustainability, there couldn’t be a better company for you to intern at than Bamboo Sk8. They look like an insanely cool company, and they even seem to be getting a decent amount of press for being a great place to work. Their About page offers a ton of information on the company, and they also have a fantastic Internships page that features profiles of each class of interns that they’ve had. The only thing that it is lacking is actual internship postings, but if you do a quick Google search, you can get the specifics on what types of positions they’re trying to fill. I’ve seen mostly posts about Marketing Generalist internships, but there may be some other opportunities (it may also help to check out intern profiles to get a sense of what other interns have done). There’s also an Interns Blog that will give you more information on what it’s like to be an intern. Once you’ve sold yourself on Bamboo Sk8, you can apply by sending a résumé and cover letter to molson@bamboosk8.com, just remember that they’re unpaid.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever ridden a Bamboo Sk8 board?

Steiner Sports

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:31:51 +0000

“Ball game over! World Series over! Yankees win! THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WINNNNNNNNN!” Although I was watching tv and not listening on the radio, I heard John Sterling’s call in my head as soon as Cano threw to Teixeira to get the 27th out and a 27th World Championship. As you can probably guess, I’m a huge Yankees fan, and I’m in a great mood. Since we’ve already covered internships with Major League Baseball teams, internships with the YES Network, and plenty of other internships in baseball, today we’re going to take a look at Steiner Sports. They’re based out of New Rochelle, NY, and consider themselves the “the leader in autographed sports memorabilia and sports collectibles.” They also happen to have a very strong partnership with the New York Yankees, so they are the place to go for your 2009 Championship collectibles. Whether you want a seat from the old stadium or an official Championship locker room t-shirt, they’ve got it. You can even buy a Derek Jeter autographed 2009 World Series ball despite the fact that he probably hasn’t had time yet to sit down and sign autographs.

Collect Your Way to an Internship

I used to be really into sports memorabilia, but now I’m happy to just watch the game. Still, sports memorabilia is a huge market that seems to be going strong despite the decline of the collectible card industry. I guess people would much rather have something that is actually scarce like a game used jersey than a piece of cardboard that can be produced en masse. I guess that’s why Steiner Sports is now a “booming, 100-plus employee, $50 million enterprise.” Beyond the memorabilia and collectibles side of the business, there’s also Steiner Sports Marketing. It seems like an awesome company for sports fans, so if you’re intrigued, check out their Careers page. You won’t find any specifics on their internship program, but you will find contact information there. I know that they have internships because a number of colleges have them listed on their websites as offering internships. Iona has them on a list of companies that offer sports marketing internships, and St. John’s lists an internship with Steiner’s charity events and fundraising division. A little Google searching will probably turn up more information, but you might just want to reach out to Steiner Sports and see what they offer.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Yankees win!

I Hire Interns at Southwest Airlines… Ask Me Anything

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:02:20 +0000

A little over a year ago we featured internships at Southwest Airlines. It’s been one of our more popular post, and it’s resulted in some active discussion in the comments section. Luckily, someone from Southwest has chimed in to answer some of the questions of One Day, One Internship readers. His name is Greg Muccio, and he is the South West Airlines Team Leader responsible for short-term staffing including college relations and hiring for their NoLimits Intern program. He previously worked as a Senior Recruiter supporting the hiring needs of areas such as Finance, Internal Audit, Schedule Planning, and People (HR) for all of their hiring needs, and before that he worked in the Staffing Industry.

Greg is in charge of recruiting for an internship program that gets thousands of applicants every year, so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to get a highly sought after internship. He also knows about working at a company with a storied corporate culture (how many textbooks has Southwest Airlines been featured in?).

Ask Greg Anything

After answering a few questions on our original post about Southwest Airlines, Greg reached out to me and said that he’d love to do a Q&A with the wider One Day, One Internship audience. He’d prefer to focus on general internship and career related questions, but if you have a great question that’s not related to Southwest or internships, I’m sure that he’ll be happy to answer it.

Right now, we’ll be accepting questions through the comments form below. We’ll keep the comments form open for the next week or so, and we’ll try to get Greg’s responses posted during the week of November 16th. He probably won’t be able to answer all of your questions, but we’ll do our best to have him answer the most interesting and relevant ones.

Start asking!

The Wrap

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:54:18 +0000

I’m going to be brutally honest with this one. When I landed on the The Wrap’s Home page, I immediately clicked the back button. I thought that I had landed on one of those Google Money Maker scam pages (it’s all because of the font choice). After processing what I had seen, I decided to take a second look. Despite their poor design choices, The Wrap is a legitimate site—if a site that covers entertainment industry analysis and breaking hollywood news can be considered legitimate (I kid). Now, The Wrap shouldn’t be confused with gossip sites like TMZ or Perez Hilton, this is actually an industry focused site that does primary source reporting. They’re venture funded and quite obviously located in Los Angeles. I don’t know a lot about the entertainment industry and how it’s covered by the press, but it looks like The Wrap is growing a solid audience with their web-based content.

Get Wrapped Up In It

Whether or not an internship in entertainment journalism sounds interesting to you, you need to be reading The Wrap if you have any interest in the entertainment industry whatsoever. On the other hand, if you’re looking for an internship covering Hollywood news, you’re in serious luck. There are two internships posted on The Wrap’s Jobs page, although they come with no description. It’s unclear exactly what they’re looking for, but I’d imagine that the positions have something to do with journalism. It’s the perfect opportunity to break into Hollywood reporting, so if you’re interested, send a résumé and cover letter to info@thewrap.com. There’s no word on whether the positions are paid or not.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Wrap?

Fanzter

Willy Franzen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:45:22 +0000

One thing that I find really exciting is the fact that there are cool startups popping up all across the country. Yes, Silicon Valley and the Pacific Northwest are still the primary places for technology focused companies to open up shop, but that’s becoming less and less true. That’s why I was intrigued by Fanzter—they’re web products company based in Collinsville, CT. Considering the fact that I’m from Connecticut and have never heard of Collinsville (it’s near Hartford), you have to consider it an unusual location for a startup (they would tell you it’s optimally located between Boston and New York City). Fanzter’s first (and only current) product is called Coolspotters. It’s a website that “makes it easy to discover and buy the products, brands, and fashions being used by your favorite celebrities – in their real lives, and in movies and television.” It reminds me a lot of what Delivery Agent is doing.

Spot These Cool Internships

The business behind Coolspotters is pretty clear—their content can flow seamlessly into e-commerce. Coolspotters relies heavily on user-generated content, so the site can grow organically on it’s own. To get a feel for Coolspotters, let’s take a look at Joba Chamberlain (go Yankees!). His profile page will show you products that he’s been spotted with including a picture of him with the product. I see a picture of Joba playing Guitar Hero, and then I can go buy my own Guitar Hero. There are still a lot of kinks to be worked out on Coolspotters’ site (like having Mariano Rivera’s picture for C.C. Sabathia), but the concept is there and so is the funding. Right now, Fanzter’s Internships page shows two opportunities: Technology Intern and Editorial Intern. Both look great, and I’m pretty sure that they’re paid. You can apply for an internship with Fanzter by sending a cover letter and résumé to jobs@fanzter.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Coolspotters?

Cohn & Wolfe

Willy Franzen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:57:41 +0000

This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.

Cohn & Wolfe, a global public relations agency, recently won the 2009 Holmes Report “Best Agency to Work For.” That’s not the only award they took home this year, however. In 2009 alone, they won eight other awards, ranging from the 2009 PRSA Bronze Anvil Awards for Commendation: Press Kits/Media Kits – Digital to the 2009 Gold Sabre Award for Social Marketing. It’s always so exciting to work at an agency that’s being recognized by the industry for excellence. With 10 wide-ranging practice areas, there’s likely to be a fit for nearly everyone. As a huge baseball fan, sports marketing would probably be my favorite!

Join a Team that Puts Team First

Another interesting aspect of Cohn & Wolfe is its place in the WPP family. Because of this, it has strategic partnerships with Quinn Gillespie, a leading public affairs firm, and Schematic, a strategic interactive agency that creates branded experiences. This means more services to offer clients—and extra relationships to be made for you! Cohn & Wolfe is currently seeking a part-time, paid Communications Intern in its New York City office. In order to qualify for this 20-hour per week position, you must “demonstrate strong writing and editing skills, as well as strong research and analytical skills” and “be organized, detailed-oriented, resourceful, and able to multi-task.” Interested? Submit your cover letter and résumé to caitlin.james@cohnwolfe.com with “NY Communications Intern” as the subject line. I also recommend you start reading Wolfe Tracking, Cohn & Wolfe’s all-agency blog where PR professionals across nine industry practices explain how to build, create and defend brands in the new communications landscape.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Cohn & Wolfe?

Wildlife Conservation Society

Willy Franzen — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:49:57 +0000

I’m a nut about wildlife. I don’t watch Animal Planet all day or anything, but I get ridiculously excited when I see a new species in the wild. My hope is to one day run into a mountain lion in the wild, at least as long as I’m not being hunted. As fanatical as I am about wildlife, I bet I don’t even come close to the people at the Wildlife Conservation Society, a New York City based non-profit. They were founded in 1895 with a “clear mission to save wildlife and wild places across the globe.” Their first major success was aiding the recovery of American Bison, and now they’re working to “protect many of the world’s iconic creatures here and abroad, including gorillas in the Congo, tigers in India, polar bears in the Arctic, and ocean giants in our world’s amazing seascapes.” Beyond doing that, they also run 5 parks in New York City—the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo.

Internships in the Wild

According to Wildlife Conservation Society’s About page, they’re committed to protecting 25% of the world’s biodiversity. I’m not sure where that number came from, how it’s measured, or what exactly it means, but it sounds like an ambitious goal for a passionate organization. The way that pursues this goal is by focusing on 4 key issues: “climate change; natural resource exploitation; the connection between wildlife health and human health; and the sustainable development of human livelihoods.” With so much on their plate, Wildlife Conservation Society has a lot of internship opportunities. You can find all of the information on their Jobs page, where they separate opportunities into New York City Full Time, New York City Seasonal, Opportunities in the Field, and Interns and Volunteers. The Internships section will give you a quick overview of their Internship program, but most of the information can be found by using the WCS job search function. There you’ll find positions like Animal Intern, Development Intern, Human Resources Intern, and Information Technology Intern. There’s no mention whether the positions are paid or unpaid, but they do list them as Non-Exempt, which should mean that they are paid. You can apply for any of the positions online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever been to any of Wildlife Conservation Society’s parks?

Children’s Dental Health Project

Willy Franzen — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:16:10 +0000

Happy Halloween! Yesterday we took a look at Mars and talked about Halloween candy, but today we’re going to take a different tack. Since we’re told from an early age that candy will rot our teeth, I figure that Halloween is the perfect time to discuss a dental non-profit. It’s also appropriate because many people would consider the dentist to be way scarier than even the most deranged Halloween costume. After a little searching, I came across Children’s Dental Health Project. They’re a relatively small Washington, DC based non-profit organization that “advances policies that improve children’s access to oral health.” Now, this definitely does not mean that I think that anyone should give out toothbrushes for Halloween, but make sure you brush after eating all that candy.

Dental Hygiene for the Win

Now, when I was growing up, I always thought it was ridiculous that I had two scheduled dental appointments every year to take care of my teeth, but only one annual checkup with the pediatrician for the rest of my body. Although I’m still tempted to that feel that way, I realize that most of us significantly undervalue dental health. The truth is that tooth decay at an early age will have significant negative impact over the course of one’s life. Considering the fact that of American children “one-quarter will have at least one cavity by the time they reach kindergarten and one-half by second grade,” we need to do better with our children’s dental health (and probably our own too). This is why Children’s Dental Health Project is actively working to:

Prevent childhood tooth decay, because cavities are the result of a disease that is overwhelmingly preventable.
Promote solutions that are grounded in the best available research and supporting exploration when evidence is lacking
Engage policymakers and other decision-makers in addressing ongoing inequities in oral health and to implement cost-effective solutions.

It sounds like a great organization, and although I don’t know if they’re taking interns now, I think it would be worth reaching out to them to see if they have anything open—especially if you are a fanatic about dental health. Use their Contact page to learn more about how to reach them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you brush your teeth today?

Mars

Willy Franzen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:10:17 +0000

Tomorrow is Halloween, which means that we need to talk about candy today. We’ve already looked at companies like Jelly Belly, The Hershey Company, Charles Chocolates, Vosges, and Just Born Quality Confections. We’ve also discussed jobs at Mars & Co., which is a consulting firm, and not to be confused with Mars, the CPG and candy company. You probably know them best for M&M’s, Snickers, Dove, Milky Way, Twix, and Mars bar; however, they’re also behind Pedigree, Whiskas, Uncle Ben’s, and quite a few other brands. For your sake I hope you only run into the good stuff and not Whiskas or Pedigree during your trick-or-treating. While headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars has locations all across the world. They’re a huge company with a ton of international business, which makes for a great place to gain some experience.

Take a Trip to Mars

It all started in 1911 with butter cream candies in a kitchen in Tacoma, WA. Frank C. Mars and his wife started selling these candies, and now you’d be hard pressed to find a person who has never tasted one of his company’s confections. If you’d like to be part of this true American success story, then you need to check out Mars’ Careers page. They offer a lot of information about their company and what it’s like to work for them, and they even have a separate section for students. There doesn’t seem to be much information on internships, but Mars’ job search function does have a selection for internships. And since you’re in the trick-or-treating mood, I’m going to leave finding more details up to you—but just so you know, they should have job opportunities in areas including Engineering, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Logisitcs, Manufacturing, Marketing, Purchasing, Research & Development, & Sales.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite candy from Mars?

Brightcove

Willy Franzen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:51:45 +0000

It took long enough, but Internet video is everywhere. Yes, we had online video 10 years ago, but now it actually looks good—and works. The main reason for this is that end users (you and me) finally have technology in their homes that can handle playing online video. This means high speed Internet connections and computers with enough processing power to not crash when a website uses a Flash video player. The issue for content creators is that delivering video still poses some challenges. Sure, I was able to produce an online job search training course that relied heavily on video with little trouble, but I wasn’t delivering video to thousands or even millions of people (I wish I had the problem). As your use base increases, the challenge of delivering video increase exponentially. Moreover, managing video content in an organized fashion is a completely different challenge than organizing text and images. Brightcove is a Cambridge, MA based company that provides an online video platform for many of the worlds biggest brands.

Are You Bright Enough?

I’ve probably said this before about other companies, but I’m not sure that I’ve seen a client list as impressive as Brightcove’s customer list. It includes names like The New York Times, Discovery Channel, Sony Music, U.S. Army, and Ticketmaster, so you know that Brightcove isn’t just some flash in the pan startup. They have top flight clients who are paying lots of money for the Brightcove platform. With that said, it will be interesting to see how online video delivery develops in the next 5 to 10 years and how Brightcove adapts to those changes. If you want to be a part of the future of online video, then you need to check out Brightcove’s Internship listings. They have quite a few positions posted including Sales Data Specialist Intern, Quality Assurance Intern, Partner Marketing Intern, and Marketing Operations Intern. There’s no word on whether these positions are paid or not, but you can apply online directly from the links above.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you seen websites that use Brightcove to deliver video?

Franklin Fuel Cells

Willy Franzen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:47:05 +0000

Whether you think the human race is going to end at the hands of the greenhouse effect or you just don’t like paying 3 bucks a gallon for gas, you likely have a vested interest in alternative energy. There’s a good chance that some time in your lifetime our main energy source will be something other than fossil fuels. Then again, I’m just coming to the realization that I won’t see flying cars in my lifetime. Hopefully I’m wrong about that one. Anyway, there are a ton of companies that are vying to win a big share of the alternative energy market. Many of these are small startups that you’ve never heard of. Their websites are ugly, and they’re usually not located in big cities. You’d never guess it from their appearance, but they’re actually at the forefront of engineering technology. One of these companies is Malvern, PA based Franklin Fuel Cells. Their focus is on “commercializing a unique solid oxide fuel cell (SOFCs) technology that can operate directly on today’s hydrocarbon fossil fuels as well as future fuels such as, biofuels and hydrogen.” I don’t really know what that means, but it sounds pretty cool.

Career Alternatives in Alternative Energy

Franklin Fuel Cells has a few million dollars in venture capital funding, and they’re working on technology that originated at the University of Pennsylvania. It’s hard to say whether they actually have any products, services, or licensing deals to bring in revenue yet, but it’s very clear that their focus is on developing technology that will shape the future. This is a long term play. Franklin Fuel Cells only has about a dozen employees right now, yet they do offer internships for both undergraduates and graduate students. If you take a look at the Franklin Fuel Cells’ Jobs page, you’ll see a posting for Research Engineer Interns. They’re looking for students in “mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, ceramic engineering, chemistry or materials engineering,” so if that’s you, you can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to epaz@arbfc.com. Engineering internships are usually paid, so I’m going to guess that Franklin Fuel Cells pays their interns.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think fuel cells will play a big part in our future?

Slide

Willy Franzen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:45:40 +0000

It looks like Yahoo! Finance has taken a page out of my book and used Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list to highlight some companies that are hiring. I found the link on Twitter, and was pleased to see that I had already featured a number of the companies. One that I haven’t yet featured (and don’t remember hearing about before) is Slide. They’re a San Francisco based startup that claims to be “the world’s leading social entertainment company.” I think that’s a bit of a stretch, but they do make social networks more fun for hundreds of millions of people. Their 40 Under 40 CEO is Max Levchin, who co-founded PayPal (which was sold for $1.5 billion to eBay). He is apparently well on his way to having built another billion dollar company, considering the fact that Slide was valued at $550 million last time that they took money.

Slide into a New Internship

The basic premise behind slide is that social networks are better when you can bring outside content in—whether it’s sharing something that you’ve made like a slideshow or using an application that allows you to throw sheep. People want customization, yet they don’t have the web development skills to do it on their own. They need help, and that’s where Slide comes in. Monetizing social network traffic isn’t necessarily easy, but Slide seems to be heading in the right direction when it comes to turning their massive traffic into revenue. Not only do their investors believe in them, but so do advertisers like Starbucks, Sunkist, Activision, AT&T Wireless, Discovery Channel, Estee Lauder, McDonald’s, Lionsgate Films, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures. I guess 5 million sheep thrown a day is worth more than I thought it was. Slide is very clearly growing, and as I mentioned in the opening of this post, they’re hiring. Although they don’t list internship openings on their Jobs page (at least right now), I do know from LinkedIn research that they take interns in Marketing, Business Development, and probably Software/Web Development. Slide allows you to submit an résumé for an unlisted position, so my recommendation is to either try that or do some networking to learn more about their internships.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Slide?

The Boston Globe

Willy Franzen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:59:32 +0000

It feels pretty good to be talking about a Boston based newspaper today knowing that they have to report on another trip to the World Series for the Yankees; although, I’m sure they’d much rather be publishing stories on what Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon are doing during their offseason (possibly watching the World Series from their couches). Now that I’ve gotten in my dig at Red Sox fans, we can take a look at The Boston Globe, Boston’s most widely read newspaper. The paper is owned by the New York Times and has an excellent web presence at Boston.com. Much like other newspapers the Globe has had significant financial struggles, and The New York Times even threatened to shut the paper down if the paper’s union didn’t accept major concessions. Apparently those problems have been worked out, and The Boston Globe is now on more stable ground. At least that’s what the fact that they’re hiring would indicate.

Navigate The Globe

When it comes to newspapers and magazines, there’s no better way to get to know them than to read them. Luckily, you can do that online at Boston.com, which is a good example of how newspapers should use the web. I’m especially impressed with their Big Picture photoblog, which is constantly getting voted up on social media news sites. Since you’re going to have to start reading The Boston Globe to get a feel for them, let’s jump right to their internships. They offer both a Newsroom Summer Internship program and a Co-op Program. The Internship program is for students who are interested and journalism, and it does offer paid opportunities. The program is held in extremely high regard, so it’s worth checking out before the November 1st application deadline. The Co-Op program deadline has passed for the January-June period, but you have until March 1st to apply for the July-December period. The Co-Op program is also paid, and offers opportunities in a wide range of areas including Business Pages, City Desk, Editorial Design, Editorial Page, Events Marketing, Finance, Globe Foundation, Living Arts, Niche Publications, Photography, Public Affairs, Regionals, and Sports. You can find all of the information you need on each of these programs on The Boston Globe’s Internships and Co-Ops page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Boston Globe?we

American Rivers

Willy Franzen — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:52:32 +0000

I love rivers (mostly because they’re where I usually go fly fishing). They’re the lifeblood of our society, and even though we’ve figured out ways to move water on our own, they’re still a huge part of our infrastructure. There’s no question as to why most major cities sit on the banks of a large river. The problem with that is that it means that many of our greatest rivers have been subjected to significant abuse. Dams, pollution, irrigation, and overconsumption have left many of our rivers in pretty sad states. American Rivers is a Washington, DC based non-profit that hopes to fix this. They describe themselves as “the leading conservation organization standing up for healthy rivers so communities can thrive.”

Go with the Flow

American Rivers focuses on five program—Rivers and Global Warming, River Restoration, River Protection, Clean Water, and Water Supply. These are extremely important issues that are sometimes ignored by other environmentalists. For instance, many environmentalists advocate hydroelectric dams, yet they fail to realize the damage that these dams can do to our watersheds. I’ve also noticed that even the most environmentally conscious cities (cough, Ithaca) destroy their rivers by bounding them with concrete and allowing trash like shopping carts and mattresses to litter their riverbeds. Many of our rivers are healthier than they were 10 years ago, but there’s still plenty of work to be done to ensure that future generations have healthy rivers. Here’s a video from American Rivers that outlines the issues better than I can:

If American Rivers looks like somewhere that you might want to intern, you can check out their Jobs page here. They don’t have any specific internships posted, but they say that they are looking for “applicants with a commitment to the environment that are energetic, creative, and enthusiastic about river conservation.” The positions are unpaid, and you can find out more about how to apply on the Jobs page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite river?

Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:00:35 +0000

When I saw the name and location of Winston Salem, North Carolina’s Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, I was instantly reminded of one of my favorite recent reads—Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley. A North Carolina based non-profit with Reynolds in it name has to be tied to the tobacco industry, and it is. “The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation was established in 1936 as a memorial to the youngest son of the founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company,” and it seems to be one of the few good things that has come out of the tobacco industry—”a trust for charitable works in the State of North Carolina.” The Foundation is focused on making grants to non-profit organizations in the areas of Community Economic Development, Democracy and Civic Engagement, the Environment, Pre-Collegiate Education, and Social Justice and Equity, which, in my opinion, is a huge improvement on the other things associated with the Reynolds name.

Improving North Carolina Grant by Grant

The cool thing about foundations like the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation is that they get to give out lots of money. That’s what allows them to have such a wide range of focuses. Instead of having to do everything themselves, they can find the best organizations with the best people and fund them. Although the Foundation has had to make some changes due to the economy, they still have plenty of money to spread to do-gooders in North Carolina. If you’d like to spend some time working at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, then you should check out their Internships page. The Foundation offers “one internship each summer for an undergraduate or graduate student who desires experience related to philanthropy, the non-profit sector, public policy, advocacy and/or community service in North Carolina.” It comes with a stipend and a housing stipend for non-local interns. The deadline for applying is January 11, 2010, and you can find all of the details on the Internships page, so check it out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation?

20×200

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:00:42 +0000

Since we’re going to talk about art today, I have to give my little sister a shout out for her Vernissage benefitting Artists for Charity tomorrow. If you’re in the Fairfield, CT area and enjoy art, you need to check it out. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not all that into art. With a painter for a sister, a graphic designer for a mom, and an architect for a dad, I’m the black sheep of my family. Designing this site is about as far as my artistic talent goes. With that said, when you combine art with a cool web based business idea, my ears perk up. That’s exactly what happened when I saw a friend post an article about 20×200 (a part of Jen Bekman Projects) on Facebook. 20×200 is an online art and photography gallery based out of New York City, and they just closed a first round of $800,00 in venture capital funding. Now, you don’t typically see art galleries getting VC funding, but you also don’t typically see art galleries using the power of the Internet to make affordable art available to the masses either.

20×200 ≫ 4,000

The idea behind 20×200 is based on a pretty simple formula: (limited editions x low prices) + the internet = art for everyone. It all started with limited edition runs of 200 pieces sold at $20, and now 20×200 offers more sizes at more prices. Still, the goal remains to keep art affordable so that it becomes more accessible. It’s a brilliant idea because it takes advantage of exactly what the Internet is best at doing—making inefficient markets more efficient. Matching artists with buyers is tough work, and brick and mortar galleries just aren’t big enough to do the job well. 20×200 matches these people up easily. That’s why investors saw potential in them, and now 20×200 is looking to grow. It’s going to be an exciting place to be over the next few years, and there’s no better way to get your foot in the door than interning. If you check out their Jobs page, you’ll see that they’re currently looking for an Office Intern. Yes, it comes with a bunch of administrative tasks, and it’s unpaid, but it still looks pretty cool. Heck, they’ll buy you lunch and pay your subway fare, and you’ll still be interning at one of the few venture backed art startups out there. They’re extremely particular about what they’re looking for, so read over the internship description carefully before applying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you buy anything on 20×200?

SurveyMonkey

Willy Franzen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:12:16 +0000

One of my goals with One Day, One Internship is to get more interactive. I’d like to get more feedback from you, the readers, on what you want to see, and I’d also like to use the collective wisdom of thousands of college students to develop better content. The best way to do that is through reader surveys, which is why I recently signed up with SurveyMonkey. They’re a Menlo Park, CA (formerly Portland, OR) based “startup” that has been helping people run online surveys for the last decade. While most Internet companies that started in 1999 have since flamed out and most companies started in the 2000s have relied on flashiness to bring in venture capital money, Survey Monkey and its outdated look have been laughing all the way to the bank. By providing a dead simple way for business owners (they’ve worked with more than 80% of the Fortune 100) to collect data, SuveyMonkey has built an insanely successful business.

SurveyMonkey Says…

As TechCrunch reported last month, SurveyMonkey has finally taken on some outside money and started to take growth seriously. They’ve more than doubled their staff over the last year, and they’ve revamped their management team. You won’t find a lot of information about SurveyMonkey online, but you will find a lot of people who have used their software. SurveyMonkey has never seemed to care much for flash or attention. Instead they have used the “Freemium Model” to bring in thousands of paying customers. If you’ve always wanted to intern at a web startup, but were wary of the “scene,” then SurveyMonkey might be the right place for you. Although SurveyMonkey doesn’t have any internships posted on their Jobs page right now, I have seen that they offered internships in Marketing and Legal in the past. I’d also imagine that they’d be more than willing to take Software Development interns. To reach out to SurveyMonkey and learn more about internship opportunities use their online form to apply for an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever responded to a SurveyMonkey survey?

Delivery Agent

Willy Franzen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:32:50 +0000

Product placement started out as a secret. Companies realized that they could pay to get their products featured in books, television shows, and movies, so they did. And we, the viewers, assumed that these products were included for editorial reasons. At some point we got smart and realized what was going on. It didn’t really change much, but we became a little more skeptical. Now product placement is assumed. If someone is promoting something, you take for granted that they’re getting paid for it. Delivery Agent is a San Franciso based company that realized this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They’re taking product placement to the next level with a level of integration that we’ve never seen before. They call this “shopping-enabled entertainment.” When you see Dwight Schrute wearing a great looking shirt on The Office—ok, bad example—when you see a beautiful necklace on Gossip Girl, you can go to the show’s website and check out the “Seen On” section for more information how to buy the necklace. There’s also SeenON.com, which aggregates the information from all of Delivery Agent’s clients and makes it easy to “shop by show” or “shop by celeb.”

Become an Agent of Delivery

Delivery Agent is killing it right now. They currently monetize 90% of the Nielsen Primetime Top 50 Shows, and they just closed a $25 million round of financing. Their “Seen On” service is what has been driving most of the attention publicly, but they’re also doing some pretty cool stuff behind the scenes—they’re pushing to convince companies whose products are featured on tv to buy supporting advertising during the show. It’s a brilliant idea. The best part is that they’re already working with the most impressive names in entertainment, which is the biggest challenge a company like this has to overcome. When you can list ABC, CBS, NBC, MTV, FOX, and many more as partners, you’re in a great place to grow your business.

Even cooler is the fact that Delivery Agent has taken product placement and made it more results based than it has ever been before. They’ve also made everyone better off. Viewers can find the products they want. Media companies can more easily monetize their content. And companies with products increase their sales. I’m extremely high on Delivery Agent, and I strongly recommend that you check out their Jobs page. Right now they have quite a few jobs posted, but only one internship. Still, Delivery Agent is the kind of place that you want to get your foot in the door—now, so you should check out their unpaid Merchandising Internship. You can apply online, so get to it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you buy anything through Delivery Agent’s “Seen On” service?

College Prowler

Willy Franzen — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:04:09 +0000

Back when I was looking at colleges, I had to rely on traditional guidebooks to get relevant information like average SAT scores, whether freshmen are allowed to have cars, and what the food is like. Finding solid information online was pretty much out of the question, and none of the guidebooks that I looked at seemed to have a good read on what the campus was really like. Then along came College Prowler in 2002 (after I was already at Cornell, which turned out great). They’re a Pittsburgh, PA based company that aims “to be the most accurate, complete, and honest resource on colleges and universities across the United States.” Although those are their words, I think that a more accurate description of what they do (also in their words) is:

No university affiliations. No half-truths. No out-of-touch authors who haven’t been in school for decades. A class project turned company, College Prowler produces guidebooks that are written by actual college students and covers the things students really want to know.

College Prowler’s guides are what college guidebooks should have always been. Unfortunately, it took a long time for anyone to realize how big the need for “real” information was. Along with guidebooks, College Prowler has also built an awesome web resource to help high school students make informed college choices. The best part is that they’ve recently made all of their online content free.

Prowling for Internships

The business side of College Prowler is an interesting story, as I recently learned in an Inc. Magazine article. The short of it is that College Prowler is doing a fantastic job of helping students make the right college decisions, but they’re not nearly as successful at monetizing the attention that they’re getting (I can sympathize completely). As publishing has become less necessary with user-generated content sites like Unigo.com delivering free content, College Prowler has had to reevaluate its strategy. They still have a great brand and a great idea, but there’s a reason that they’re an Inc. Magazine Case Study and not a member of the Inc. 5000. If you’re up for a challenge and want to help make a cool company become significantly profitable, you should check out College Prowler’s Internships page. Although all of the positions are unpaid, they’re looking to fill the following positions: Contributing Editor Internship, Photojournalism Internship, Editorial Internship, Blog Managing Editor Internship, Marketing Internship, and Student Blogger Internship. These internships sound like they carry some big responsibilities, so if you’re interested, reach out to Mark Tressler at tressler@collegeprowler.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

CollegeProwler.com
Internships at College Prowler
About College Prowler
CollegeJolt.com (College Prowler’s Blog)
College Prowler in the News

Did you use any College Prowler guides?

Disney Theme Parks and Resorts

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:28:02 +0000

You know Disney. You love Disney. Who doesn’t? As a company they’ve stretched way beyond Mickey Mouse, but when it comes to Disney Theme Parks and Resorts, which includes Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, FL and Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, it’s still all about Walt Disney’s imagination. There are few things as exciting to a child as a trip to Disney World or Disneyland, and the same can be said for a lot of adults. If there’s any company that I don’t need to tell you more about, it’s probably this one. What I can tell you is that your friends are going to be insanely jealous when you tell them that you’re going to be a part of the Disney College Program while they’re unlinking paperclips and making copies in some boring internship. You’ll also have something on your résumé that will always be the first topic of conversation. How could someone not ask you about your time at Disney World or Disneyland?

Magical Internships with Disney

Disney Theme Parks and Resorts has a very structured internship program called the Disney College Program. It’s offered at both Disney World and Disneyland, and it’s extremely competitive. Although the internship programs are run separately, they seem to mirror each other very closely. Now, I could give you all of the details on the Disney College Program, but Disney is one of the few companies out there that actually does a fantastic job of providing information on their internships. With that said, there’s a ton of information available, so you might be a little overwhelmed. I mean, how many internship programs have their own Wikipedia page? The Disney College Program is paid, and it offers start dates in January, February, March, and April (there are also ongoing internships for culinary interns), and a lot of the recruiting for the program is done on campus—so be sure to check if your school is on their schedule. Students in the program actually get to work in the park, and there are a number of different areas in which you can work. Some options are “food and beverage, operations, custodial, hospitality, and character work” (from Wikipedia). If you want to put on your Mickey ears, then use the links below to find more information about the Disney College Program.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Who’s your favorite Disney character?

Common Cents

Willy Franzen — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:26:20 +0000

How worthless is a penny? The only reason people pick them up off the ground is for good luck. Stores have dishes in which they give pennies away. And there’s a group of people who fervently advocate retiring the penny. In fact, the value of the metal in pennies produced prior to 1982 (that’s the year they switched from copper to zinc) is higher than the currency value of the pennies themselves. We’ve pretty much established that pennies are worthless; however, there’s a New York City based service learning non-profit that has a very different take on the penny. They’re called Common Cents, and they are the creators of The Penny Harvest. Since 1991 they’ve worked with children aged 4-14 to make $6.8 million in grants to community organizations. How have they mobilized kids to do this? By collecting pennies! That’s right. They’ve collected $6.8 million in pennies.

Are You a Penny Pincher?

It’s a pretty simple idea to collect pennies and turn them into something big. You’ve probably done the same thing yourself. You either tirelessly rolled your coins and then deposited them in the bank, or you took the easy way out and went to Coinstar. I’ve done it, and I have to say it’s pretty cool to turn a whole bunch of change in to a $134.76 Amazon gift card (that way you don’t have to pay a Coinstar fee). Now, just imagine how cool it is to work with kids to collect pennies and then make a grant to a charitable organization. This is how the whole process works. Since there are billions of dollars in pennies out there, I think that there’s a ton of potential for Common Cents to keep growing. You can be a part of that by interning at Common Cents. Right now their Jobs page shows one internship opportunity, while Idealist shows two. One internship is in Development (fundraising), and the other is in Youth and Community Development. And if you don’t yet grasp how cool it would be to work at Common Cents, just take a look at this to be blown away. And if that’s not good enough, the internships are paid—and not in pennies!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you do with all of your pennies?

Cultural Tourism DC

Willy Franzen — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:58:15 +0000

Being a tourist is fun, even if it makes you feel a little stupid. The only problem with doing touristy things is that you miss out on a lot of what a city has to offer. Major attractions have the resources, reputation, and connections to bring in lots of people, but they often lack the local feel that tourists often seek. Smaller attractions often struggle to get people in the door, despite the fact that they are many times more interesting than their larger counterparts. Cultural Tourism DC is a non-profit organization that is trying to change that in Washington, DC. They aim to “strengthen the image and economy of Washington, DC, neighborhood by neighborhood, by linking more than 200 DC cultural and neighborhood organizations with partners in tourism, hospitality, government, and business.” It’s a perfect idea for a city that is so packed with history and culture that you could probably do the tourist thing every day for a year without running out of things to do.

Are You a Cultural Tourist?

Tourism plays a huge role in the Washington, DC’s economy, and Tourism DC is doing it’s best to spread that wealth around the city. By helping the less visited tourist attractions and neighborhoods make the connections and partnerships that they need to bring more people in, Cultural Tourism DC is improving the city and bringing tourists to places that they never would have visited before. While some tourists would prefer that cool, cultural places stay “off the map,” they have to realize that “off the map” attractions often disappear because they can’t afford to stay open or be maintained. If you’d like to help people truly experience Washington, DC, then you’ll want to check out internships at Cultural Tourism DC. Right now they only have one position—Heritage Program Intern—and it’s paid. It looks like a cool opportunity, and you can apply by sending a “résumé, cover letter, and writing sample via email to Reply@CulturalTourismDC.org with ‘Heritage Programs Intern’ in subject line.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite attraction in DC?

Care2

Willy Franzen — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:58:01 +0000

Social networking is a new thing, right? Not at all. Social networks have been around almost as long as the Internet. They’ve just become way more mainstream in recent years. Take Redwood City, CA based Care2 for example. They’re an online social network that aims “to help people make the world a better place,” and they’ve been doing it since 1998. That’s impressive, not only because it means that they were early to social networking, but also because it means that they survived the dot com bust of the early 2000s. “Making the world a better place” used to be strictly the territory of non-profits, but now we’re seeing more and more companies like Care2 that are choosing to be B Corporations. That means that they can do good and build a profitable businesses at the same time. That’s exactly what Care2 is doing with their “more than 50 employees, 11 million members, 400 nonprofit partners and hundreds of responsible advertisers making a difference.”

Care2 Intern at Care2?

If you’ve ever read Seth Godin, you know how important it is to build a “tribe” of loyal fans. Bringing together people with similar interests is a great way to build a business, and that’s exactly what Care2 has done. The community that they’ve built not only encourages people to do good, but it also provides a fantastic platform for the right companies to market the right products. It’s hard to call a site with 11 million members niche, but its Care2’s focus on bringing together “do gooders” that has enabled them to build a social network that actually makes money. If Care2 sounds like something that you want to be a part of, then you should check out their Internships page. Right now there’s one opportunity posted, and it’s for a Business Development Intern in Washington, DC. It looks like a really cool opportunity, and there’s a lot more detail about it on the Internships page. The only question I can’t answer is whether it’s paid or not. Care2 has also offered internships in Writing/Content Development, Marketing/Communications, Competitive Analysis, and Research in the past, so there may be options along those lines too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you participate on any sites like Care2?

The Daily Beast

Willy Franzen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:58:09 +0000

Once you start interviewing for internships, you realize how important it is to stay well informed. Whether it’s staying up on the industry that you want to work in or just keeping up with current events, you need to be able to speak (somewhat) intelligently about a wide range of topics. Chit chat and small talk play a big part in the impression that you make, so don’t try to use the fact that you “live in a bubble” at college to explain away your ignorance. Instead, you should subscribe to the The Daily Beast. It’s a cheat sheet for current events that covers a wide array of topics. Some would call it a news aggregator, but they like calling what they do “curating.” The site was created by Tina Brown, who was formerly the editor at Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. The Daily Beast, which is based out of New York City, launched just over a year ago, and has been able to garner a huge amount of traffic pretty quickly. I guess it might have something to do with their IAC backing.

Beast on This Internship

The way we consume news is changing, and The Daily Beast is a perfect example of how smart startups can create growth in what many people deem to be a dying industry. I could go into more detail about what The Daily Beast covers, but you’re better off just checking it out for yourself. After you give it a look, be sure to read their About page, which is really a Q & A with Tina Brown, the company’s founder. It will give you a lot of insight into what the company is all about. It’s an extremely entertaining Q&A, so I’m sure that you’ll like what you see. If that’s the case, then you’ll probably want to check out The Daily Beast’s job postings. Their internship listings are mixed in with all of the job postings from other IAC companies, but it’s a pretty easy list to scan through. It’s pretty obvious that The Daily Beast is growing well judging by how much hiring they’re doing, and this should carry over to internships. There’s only one internship posted right now—Editorial Internship in West Hollywood, CA—but I’m sure there will be more coming soon. The position is unpaid, and you can apply online. And remember, be sure to read The Daily Beast before your interview.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Daily Beast?

Classified Ventures

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:02:02 +0000

I remember being in middle school and deciding that I wanted a drum set. I already had a snare drum, but I knew that a full set would be much cooler. My mom bought me a copy of the Bargain News, a local paper full of classified ads, and helped me pore over the listings in search of a drum set. That’s certainly a relic of the past, but classified ads are far from dead. They’ve just moved online. You’re probably most familiar with Craigslist, and maybe you’ve considered using Facebook Marketplace or something like that. What you probably didn’t realize is that there is still a huge business behind classified ads. Take Chicago based Classified Ventures for instance. They’re another Inc. 5000 company, and they’ve increased their revenue from $146.7 million to $297.5 million over the past three years. They’ve done this with four distinct businesses: Apartments.com, Cars.com, HomeGain.com, and HomeFinder.com. You’ve probably noticed at least one of those sites before, which is exactly what they’re looking for.

Get Classified

Whether you’re looking for a car, an apartment, or a home, Classified Ventures is going to do its best to grab your attention and show you some ads. Since classified ads are the kind of ads that people actually seek out, Classified Ventures’ main focus is on driving traffic. As long as they can keep linking up more buyers and sellers, their business is going to grow. They’re already a pretty good sized company with “offices in Chicago, IL, Emeryville, CA, Santa Monica, CA and Austin, TX, and over 1,100 employees in 37 states,” but they’re not stopping there—their Jobs page shows 33 current openings, and a few of those are internships. You’ll want to take a look at the following positions: Mobile Products Intern – Apartments.com (Chicago, IL), E-Commerce Intern – Cars.com (Chicago, IL) , User Experience Research Intern – Cars.com (Chicago, IL), and Business Analytics Intern – Cars.com (Santa Monica, CA). Unfortunately, there’s no mention of whether or not these internships are paid. You can apply online directly from the job descriptions, so see which of these internships suits you best—no need to scan the classifieds.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used classified ads in your internship search?

ZooLoo

Willy Franzen — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:56:49 +0000

I’ve never found a use for start pages and portals. Until Safari came out with a feature that allowed me to view a dozen of my most visited sties at a glance, I just set a blank page as my home page. However, I realize that many people have very different web browsing habits, and a lot of people find start pages really useful. One company that is trying to update the start page by making it social is ZooLoo. They’re a Phoenix, AZ based startup that, despite an unfortunate name that sounds like a bathroom at a wildlife park, is trying to own the market for customizable start pages. They’re competing with behemoths like Google and Facebook to be your home page, but they do have an advantage in that they’re laser focused on start pages and only start pages. They think if they can own that market, they can deliver lots of relevant advertising and make lots of money.

Do You ZooLoo?

One of the things that makes ZooLoo stand out is that you can buy your own domain name to host your start page. That means that your ZooLoo page can be more than just your home page—it can also be an online résumé, portfolio, or other type of personal website. This requires a paid upgrade, which shows that ZooLoo isn’t putting all of its eggs in the advertising basket. I guess it’s working, because ZooLoo seems to be growing pretty quickly. They’re up to 24 employees, and according to this blog post, they’re looking to add some interns. In fact, they’re running a contest to select their newest PR/Marketing/Social Media Interns. Don’t worry, the prize is actually good (the internship is paid). The instructions for entering the contest are:

1. Create a video no longer than two minutes creatively explaining why you are the best candidate for the position. (If you want an idea of what we’re looking for, go here to view the top 7 from our last intern contest, and go here to see who received the position.) Post your videos to this blog post.
2. Build a Web site on ZooLoo to show us why you are the most qualified and that you have a good understanding of how the site works (don’t worry, it’s actually really easy!). Post your website’s URL to this post with your video and your contact info.
3. Email your resume to aaron@zooloo.com
4. All submissions are due by Monday, October 26. We will be conducting interviews that week.

It looks like fun, and if you have any questions you can contact aaron@zooloo.com. The internships will start in November and run for 3-6 months. They’re going to accommodate for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, so don’t worry about that.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

ZooLoo.com
Internships at ZooLoo
About ZooLoo
What Is ZooLoo?
Why ZooLoo?
ZooLoo in the News
ZooLoo FAQs
JeffHerzog.com (ZooLoo CEO’s ZooLoo Page)

Will you create a ZooLoo page?

Facet Technology

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:00:43 +0000

In my day… Columbus Day was a real holiday. Now there’s a huge portion of the population that doesn’t even get the day off. Yes, I understand that Christopher Columbus was a bit overrated as a historical hero (and a lot of the things that we learned about him in grade school were inaccurate), but I’m still amazed that he had the guts and the persistence to make a voyage across the Atlantic happen. Now we’ll barely take a walk down the street without a GPS enabled device in our pocket. Navigation and exploration have a long history, but I’m not sure how much more advancement is possible. Facet Technology would disagree. They’re an Eden Prairie, MN based software and services company that is changing what state of the art means when it comes to the Transportation, Mapping and Food Processing Industries. They’re another Inc. 5000 company with 110.4% three-year growth, and I think they’re going to shoot up the rankings over the next few years.

Explore Every Facet

Computers are pretty good at identifying objects when they know what to expect. For instance, a factory that makes widgets can quite easily set up computers that use vision technology to ensure that the widgets are consistently produced. Every widget should be the same, so detecting differences isn’t all that difficult for computers. This all changes when you leave a controlled environment. This is how Facet Technology responds:

Many environments, however, don’t allow full control over all the parameters that make standard computer vision tools easy to use. By changing one of the parameters – either moving the man-made object into an uncontrolled environment (outdoors) or by changing the man-made object into a natural object (grain, fruit, meat, poultry, etc.) – the identification and inspection task becomes several times more difficult. This is where Facet’s patented technology shines and allows computer vision tools to now be used successfully. Facet allows you to control the uncontrollable.

Think about how this technology can change the way we navigate—the possibilities are endless. It really is the next step after GPS and location aware devices. If you’re intrigued by what Facet Technology is up to, then you should check out their job postings and think about getting an internship with them. Although they don’t explicitly mention internships on their site, they have offered internships in the past. They’re a relatively small company, so reaching out to them with a cover letter and résumé to jobs@facet-tech.com and inquiring about an internship has a high likelihood of yielding results.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How important do you think Facet Technology will be in the future of navigation?

Best Shot Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:25:19 +0000

Some of the most fun that I had during college was playing in a charity dodgeball tournament. My team was doing really well until we ran into a team of future NHL players, pitchers from the baseball team, and some former softball players (they threw underhand, and they threw hard) in the semifinals. That match was pretty ugly, but even when you lose at dodgeball, you have fun. We’ve seen dodgeball gaining more and more popularity, and with that trend we’ve seen more and more non-profits using dodgeball to raise funds. Best Shot Foundation is a Washington, DC based non-profit that is doing just this. They’re an organization that is focused on bringing attention to the fact “that pneumonia kills more young children than any other disease,” and then doing something about it.

Give It Your Best Shot

Even here in America pneumonia can be a major problem for people—especially those whose immune systems are compromised in some way. However, across the world it’s a much bigger problem. According to UNICEF:

Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness—more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Over 2 million children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for almost 1 in 5 under-five deaths worldwide. Yet, little attention is paid to this disease.

That’s a startling statistic. Best Shot Foundation is focused on fixing this problem by focusing on “the belief that increased public commitment will drive increased health resource allocation.” They’re getting things started by organizing dodgeball tournaments at college campuses across the country. I love the idea, and I think that you should help. Since Best Shot Foundation is a startup non-profit, they need the help of interns to grow the cause. Right now they’re looking for an Intern to “assist the Special Coordinator in organizing local, regional, and national dodgeball tournaments across the country.” It’s a paid position, and looks like a lot of fun. In addition to this internship, Best Shot Foundation is looking for 16 Regional Tournament Organizers to take on the challenge of running these tournaments. You need to do more than just send a résumé to apply for either of these positions, so check out all of the requirements in the job description before applying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever played in a dodgeball tournament?

Shedd Aquarium

Willy Franzen — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:21:05 +0000

My parents are in town for the weekend, and I’ve been thinking of fun things to do with them around Chicago. One place that came to mind is Shedd Aquarium. I don’t think that we’ll end up getting a chance to make it there this weekend, but it was certainly a good thought. And once I thought about it, I realized that they’re probably have internships. Shedd Aquarium is much like other aquariums now, but it really stood out when it was opened in the 1930s. The aquarium was founded by John G. Shedd, retired president of Marshall Field & Company, and financed by him with $3 million in gifts. The goal was to bring Chicago up to par with other “cosmopolitan” cities that had aquariums, and by the end of the project Chicago’s aquarium “housed the greatest variety of sea life under one roof.” It also happened to be “the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater collection,” which meant that they had to ship millions of gallons of seawater from Florida on trains to provide a proper habitat for the sea life.

Shedd Your Internship Worries

To this day, I still find it extremely impressive that an aquarium in Chicago can have whales and dolphins. The idea of a Beluga Whale in the heart of the midwest blows my mind. Although now the aquarium is more focused on education than on bringing up Chicago’s status, it’s still a great tourist attraction and a wonderful resource for the city. I’d imagine that Shedd Aquarium is very much like other aquariums in its mission and values, which means that they’ll have similar internships. Right now they have a number of internships posted, and they all look great. These include positions in Staff Training, Fishes, Horticulture, Marine Mammals, Photography, Public Affairs, Special Events & Donor Relations, and Veterinary Services. All of the positions are unpaid and typically last 12 weeks. Check out their internship listings for more information on specific positions, and then check out this page on how to apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever been to Shedd Aquarium?