Job Listings: Week of 3/28/11

Archive for March 31, 2011

Job Listings: Week of 3/28/11

March 31, 2011 / MHB Students / No comments

Part of the MHB program is an internship, as students choose among the myriad L.A.-based job and internship listings in the following fields: HR, market research, marketing, advertising, PR, social media and management. Here are options from this week:

Graduate/MBA Human Resources Intern (apply here)
The Walt Disney Company (Burbank, CA)
“The Walt Disney Company is world-class entertainment and technological leader. Walt’s passion was to continuously envision new ways to move audiences around the world — a passion that remains our touchstone in an enterprise that stretches from theme parks, resorts and a cruise line to sports, news, movies and a variety of other businesses. The Graduate/MBA Intern will for be responsible for partnering with the Corporate Human Resources team, with specific responsibility for such things as: assisting with the major organizational development initiatives for HR — talent planning, culture survey action plan implementation and performance management; partnering with the director and HR business partners to facilitate special projects involving team development; coordinating off-site team-building programs, as well as researching development internal and external programs for recommendation; and acting as a point of contact for initial employee relations issues and job description creation.”

Marketing Associate/Executive Assistant (apply here)
The Sports Club (Los Angeles, CA)
“The Sports Club LA, the finest sports and fitness club company in the world, seeks a smart, dynamic team player to serve as the Marketing/Executive Assistant. This position is the right-hand person to the Co-Founder/President and the Director of Marketing. Duties include copy editing, writing newsletters and proofing of various marketing collateral including brochures, web and social media, working with charities and public relations as well as answering phones filing, maintaining schedules, and project time lines. The successful candidate will have excellent writing/editing skills; strong verbal communication and relationship-building skills are a must, along with social marketing savvy.”

Marketing Manager (apply here)
West Coast Dental (Los Angeles, CA)
“Our Marketing Manager represents our various specialties offered in their assigned office, ranging from Endo, OS, Ortho, Pedo and Perio. The ultimate goal of the Marketing Manager is to introduce those specialties to General Dental Offices for referrals of patients with specialty needs. Some duties would include but not be limited to the following: developing a list of general dental offices within the assigned mile radius; visiting respective general dental offices and sell our specialty services; identifying the primary contact(s) of each office; utilizing marketing material to promote the specialties; following up with offices that have been visited for consistent relationship building; and maintaining existing relationships with dental offices that already refer patients.”

The Consumer Shop-Along

March 30, 2011 / MHB Students / No comments

In the web-dependent 21st century, it’s safe to assume that typical consumers have access to a wealth of information about products, stores and sales — but one major question remains: do they actually use it? Believers in the rational choice theory, which depicts buyers as logical in their assessment of costs versus benefits, would say that they do; others aren’t so confident in humans as a reflective and discerning race. Dan Ariely, for instance, an MIT professor and the author of Predictably Irrational, contends that myriad outside factors propel consumers to act nonsensically in the marketplace. Perhaps they’re managing their own social image with clothing purchases; perhaps they’re shopping in an emotional state that comprises their otherwise clearheaded nature; or perhaps they’ve fallen victim to retail tricks like the decoy product — an expensive good not intended for actual sale but meant to make other items seem more attractive for their lower price and similar quality. To get to the heart of these matters, behavioral psychologists use creative, onsite research methods that go beyond the laboratory limits of focus groups and surveys — one of which is the shop-along, which involves in-depth interviews with shoppers as they shop in real-world retail environments.
Earlier this month, students in the the MHB program’s Applied Research Methods class, which examines the quantitative strategies common in consumer studies, conducted mock shop-alongs at the Beverly Center in West Hollywood. For the purposes of this project (see above), students evaluated their classmates’ reports on their shopping experiences. The audience consisted of females ages 20 to 35 who were shopping at any of four target stores: Forever 21, Steve Madden, Coach and Aveda. Qualities that contributed to positive shopping experiences — as well as negative shopping experiences when they were not present — are outlined below.

Store items are organized, and easy to find/sample
It is of utmost importance that samples and trial products are provided, which allows consumers to test their preferences in real time. Mirrors and benches to try on shoes and accessories guarantee a welcoming environment. Fitting rooms are also a crucial element in any retail location: not only should they be abundant, there should also be an easy-to-see attendant to let customers in and out as necessary.

Store items are in view and within reach
Products should not be placed on high shelves or on the floor, unless it’s clear they’re for display only.

Stores display appropriate signage
Sales signs need to be accurate and visually appealing. New products or packaging should be pointed out, and stores should list sales and their end dates so that customers are swept up in the energy of buying an item as not to miss out on a deal.

Store employees demonstrate good customer service
A store’s employees define the consumer shopping experience, which they should consider a full-service job. They should greet customers and offer help upon entry, as well as explaining promotions, sales and options for buying products online. Employees should also inform customers about product changes or the introduction of new products, and they should make sure not to pressure clients into purchases.

Layout contributes positively to the experience
A store’s lighting should be pleasant, and it should allow customers to see items clearly. Music should be played at an appropriate volume and shouldn’t distract from conversation, decision making or the overall shopping experience. Isle space should be provided for larger bags and strollers — remember that customers often shop in packs — and sit-down space should be provided throughout the store. If the store is smaller, a simple and clean design is the easiest way to combat a lack of space; if larger, it should allow plenty of room for consumers and avoid a cluttered appearance.

Help Unwanted: Secrets from the HR World

March 29, 2011 / MHB Students / No comments

Job seekers be warned: the following is a look at the inside secrets of human resources departments and hiring managers, of which most — if not all — are discouraging, disheartening and downright dirty. It’s certainly nice to think of employment managers as optimistic and generous individuals, but the reality — if the findings below are indeed indicative of the entire HR industry — might not be so pretty. And especially for the entry-level candidates who find solace in the belief that they’re at least filling out applications in an appropriate manner, the information below is as terrifying as it is surprising.

In a Yahoo.com survey, which interviewed HR professionals across country about the validity of widely-accepted job search strategies, one director admitted to not reading a cover letter in 11 years. Another explained that overweight people are less likely to be hired, and that candidates with small children might be avoided if they’re overly talkative about their kids. And in superbly direct language, a North Carolinian HR manager said this of pay negotiation: “You think you’re all wonderful and deserve a higher salary, but here in HR, we know the truth. And the truth is, a lot of you aren’t very good at your jobs, and you’re definitely not as good as you think you are.”

The full list contains 22 such confessions — none of which are particularly encouraging for the up-and-coming job applicant, some of which are purely demoralizing for the aging unemployed. “If you’re in your ’50s or ’60s,” explained one HR pro, “don’t put the year you graduated on your résumé.” But if traditionally-trusted employment tactics like these are ineffective and even inappropriate, what else of the application process should be called into question? According to the Human Resources section of About.com, today’s job descriptions — many of which enumerate countless qualifications and required tasks — are often overblown and even inaccurate. Perhaps companies list an inordinate number of expected responsibilities so that hired employees have no room to complain that a given assignment is outside their jurisdiction; perhaps they’re trying to intimidate inferior candidates from ever applying. In either case, an overwritten job profile can create a relationship based on strategic truth-stretching between a new hire and a hiring manager, which seems an unideal place to start if fruitful performance is expected in the future.

Two months ago, meanwhile, hiring managers in Chicago listed the worst habits of job seekers in interviews. A few fall under the branch of common sense: interviewees should not feast on the goodies in an office candy jar; they shouldn’t badmouth their spouses or significant others; and, in a crucial bit of advice, they shouldn’t wear hats that read “Take This Job and Shove It.” But other pointers are useful and less obvious. Job candidates should ask questions during and at the end of an interview, for instance. They should research what a company does, how it operates and some of its recent work to prove their investment and belief to potential employers. Lastly, a positive and upbeat attitude can be strategically refreshing — especially in the context of an economy that has more people downtrodden about job prospects than enthusiastic about them. And just keep trying, because the clearest mark of being unemployable is consistent unemployment: “Once you’re out of work more than six months,” reported one HR insider, “we assume that other people have already passed you over, so we don’t want anything to do with you.” Wise words indeed.

Boos for Booze: Will Colt 45 ‘Blast’ Take Off?

March 28, 2011 / MHB Students / No comments

Last November, at the Food and Drug Administration’s insistence, beverage company Phusion Projects removed caffeine from the recipe of Four Loko — its incredibly popular and, according to an increasing number of scientific studies, wildly dangerous drink. Loko’s patent mixture of caffeine and alcohol, sold in a colorful, youth-slanting can and flavored like sugary, fruity soda, was said to enable binge drinking and slyly target the nearly eight million teenagers who regularly buy energy drinks. Unsurprisingly, it’s still somewhat of a scapegoat in the ongoing fight against alcohol abuse: within the last month alone, Four Loko was linked to the case of an intoxicated toddler in Houston, Phusion was sued by a man in New Jersey for allegedly causing heart damage, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission railed against the drink for its manipulative marketing strategy, and reports from New York state cited Four Loko’s involvement in all seven of its alcohol poisoning cases thus far this year — five of which concerned underage drinkers.

Throughout this assault on so-called “alcopops,” other players in the non-beer adult beverage market — which comprises sweetened drinks like Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice — have avoided high-visibility advertising and new product launches, evidently happy enough to fly under the radar. All, that is, except for one brazen booze giant: Colt 45, which on April 5th will debut Blast, its fruity foray into the most controversial corner of American liquor sales. The drink — which features packaging that, according to Vermont state representative Tom Stevens, “continues to blur the distinction between alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks” — will come in six-packs for about seven dollars, each single serving containing 1.5 times the alcohol of light beer. And, as if enough evidence doesn’t already exist that Colt is catering to teens, the company has taken on Snoop Dogg as a spokesperson and is relying heavily on Twitter and Facebook for its early promotional efforts. (Here’s a sample Snoop Dogg tweet, which, for those unfamiliar with either his hobbies or Californian street vocabulary, is a reference to marijuana: “puffin on some grand daddy…purp got grey hairs like a paw-paw 4reaL.”)

For the Metropoulos brothers, who acquired Colt 45 parent brewery Pabst last May, the Blast drink is an attempt to reinvigorate the deflating Colt brand — which has faced declining sales for more than ten years. The brothers also want in on the non-beer adult beverage industry, which is nearing $1 billion in worth after realizing a 19 percent increase over the last year. Lastly, Blast is a bid to broaden the appeal of the Colt 45 brand, which has historically been aimed at the urban, African-American consumer — and even criticized for doing so. (Two decades ago, brewers faced backlash for a commercial in which a young black man addressed the value of giving back and then reached for a Colt 45: the ad linked “black success with malt liquor [in] cynical and exploitative [ways],” argued its opponents.)

How, then, will Colt 45′s Blast beverage be viewed? And, perhaps more importantly: are FDA criticism and the involvement of watchdog groups bad things for business, or just fuel for a nation of teenagers who find new reason to seek out dubious products when society’s elders warn them not to? The drink’s earliest critics are unhappy that Colt might be unfairly exploiting urban youth; as explained by North Carolinian reverend Paul Scott, who is already calling for boycotts of Blast, the drink “is just another attempt to attract the hip-hop generation…[and] blast the minds of our children.” This line of thinking is similar to that of the black activists who attacked tobacco companies in the nineties for selling menthol cigarettes almost exclusively to African American consumers — who, despite smoking less than whites, face higher levels of addiction and lung disease because menthols are the most addictive cigarette on the market. For now, Blast’s marketing team is urging drinkers to dilute the beverage with ginger ale or juice; whether they take that message to heart in the midst of Snoop Dogg quotes, Facebook updates and a Twitter frenzy is yet to be seen.

Speaker Series: Siobhan O’Neill

March 25, 2011 / MHB Students / No comments

Each Friday, the MHB program hosts an industry pro with insight into career opportunities, marketplace trends and new ideas who engages students for two hours of class time. In the fall semester of 2010, the speaker series featured Ms. Siobhan O’Neill, a Senior Account Supervisor in the digital division at Edelman, a leading global public relations firm with offices in Los Angeles.

Ms. O’Neill engaged a stimulating discussion of the increasingly important role of social media within the world of public relations and big business. She emphasized the importance of starting with research and having a holistic awareness of the persuasive power of viral material and its ability to make or break a company’s reputation. She provided detailed descriptions of her responsibilities in supervising the digital components of PR-based Consumer, Entertainment, and Technology accounts at Nestlé and other firms. In order to effectively mitigate issues between clients and public representatives on a daily basis, Ms. O’Neill described how important it is to monitor the brand and what both employees and the public are saying about it. She also clarified the ways in which a business can successfully employ Facebook, Twitter, video campaigns and blogs to reach its consumers more efficiently.

As a young executive in the digital world, Ms. O’Neill explored the personal benefits of social networking in both the job search and in professional growth. She offered her knowledge of privacy controls on social sites, and stressed their importance; as she explained, it can be vital for an individual to differentiate between his or her personal account and his or her company account. She also shared how social media acumen can lead to new and exciting opportunities to represent a company such as Edelman, like the industry-wide competition in which she and a small team of coworkers presented ideas and innovations. Overall, Ms. O’Neill provided an engaging dialogue that reviewed essential information on the new and exciting topic of integrating social media into business practices — as well as into a personal résumé or profile.

Continue reading for Ms. O’Neill’s various social media pursuits, and more about her company.

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Archive for March 31, 2011