Greetings from Massachusetts,
I don't have much written today, so here's some news from the 9/24/2000 edition of the Boston Sunday Globe:
UMass-Amherst has started an honors program, but participation rates are low because the differential treatment of honors students is seen as elitism. Honors students at Amherst get good dorms, smaller classes, and faster internet access. The honors program is set up as a separate college within the university. Is it right to spend money on the "good" students at the expense of the hoi polloi?
Yet another article on the gender gap in science and technology. The focus on this article is economics and the recent "Girls, Women and Money" conference. The idea is that the technology fields are fueling the growth of the economy, but because not as many women are in technology, women lose out economically. The article also mentions that girls need to be educated about finances and money-- something that isn't happening now. "Girls, ages 12 to 17, earn on average $5.50 hourly compared with boys, who earn $5.75, according to a Merrill Lynch survey."
An article about online grocery shopping services. These companies will buy food for you and deliver it to your door. The big idea is that not only do you save precious time by not having to shop, but you can also save money (even with the price-markup) by reduced impulse buying. A few weeks ago, I overheard a woman at Shaws who said that she does all her grocery shopping by deliver service and that she saved money by doing so (she was at the supermarket picking up a cake).
A report that Boston-area employers are now aggressively recruiting college students to work part-time during school. And these aren't just bagel jobs-- they're good jobs like working at the Boston Aquarium or managing computer networks. "Hourly pay for students is rarely less than $8 and more commonly between $10 and $20, according to placement officers. Even child care jobs pay well-- up to $14 an hour for some of those currently posted at Simmons College. ... freshman computer science students make $20 an hour and up, working part time. ... top seniors in UMass-Lowell's engineering programs get $50 to $60 an hour, with employers wanting to hire more."
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus put a full-page ad in the Arts section to say that they treat animals well.
For the rest of the month of September, all Boston Globe archived articles are free. Normally only the current day's paper is available free online. (http://www.boston.com/freearchives/)
SEPTEMBER 28, 2000 IS THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT RESUMES FOR ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWS WITH THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES. GO TO THE CAREER PLANNING WEB SITE TO APPLY:
OCTOBER 3, 2000 IS THE DATE OF THE TECHNICAL JOB FAIR.
Job seekers, here are your assignments for this week.
It's that time of year...
Here are job ads found in the Boston Sunday Globe. I've selected some of more prominent and/or amusing ads:
I've finally finished going through the "Big Help" section. The funniest ads from that and this week's "Boston Works" section:
CMS: "New College Grads. We'll show you the money! ... At CMS you can earn 45 - 60K your first year." The positions are for phone collections.
Octave (octavecomm.com): "Everything you've heard is true." I've never heard of this company.
Daniel Webster College (dwc.edu): an ad for their academic programs, including the ubiquitous Certificate in Webmaster Technology. Accelerated Bachelors degrees. "Finish in as little as 18 months." They offer web-based distance learning programs.
Lancast: "The chorus of horns. The harsh glow of brake lights. Oh! Route 3. There's nothing more frustrating than spending hour after hour in traffic, slowly working your way towards Boston... staring at the rear bumper of the car in front of you... glancing at the clock every two minutes... finally passing 495 and thinking, 'almost there!' It's a kind of poetry in motion-- except for the motion."
TeleKnowledge: Not a funny ad, but a full-page one. Dot.com backlash: "We're not your typical pre-IPO software company. ... Not a 'dot com,' TeleKnowledge has _real_ working products in use by _real_ paying customers worldwide."
StudentAdvantage.com: is hiring. Lots of tech-type positions. They are located 2 blocks from South Station.
Longwood Security Services: If they select you for an interview, they'll give you 2 free movie tickets! They claim to have "the best wages" which they say is $9-10 per hour.
Sanders: This is that Lockheed Martin company. You've got to be able to get Top Secret security clearance to work for them, but if you can do so, then you get every other Friday off.
iBasis (ibasis.net): Perks include 3 weeks vacation, free telephone cards, and free lunch on Wednesdays.
Celox Networks (celoxnetworks.com): Lists "FREE FOOD!" as one of their perks.
Be Free (befree.com): Forget about iBasis and Celox. Be Free offers on-site chair massages, 3 weeks of vacation, 10-cent snacks and sodas, fresh fruit, popcorn machine, fun Fridays, jukebox, foosball, and pinball.
Beansprout.net: claims that up to 95% of all .coms will fail in the next 2 years, but they are one of the 5% that "are here to stay :)"
HomeRuns.com: This is one of those online grocery delivery services. They are hiring IT people.
OpenTV: Seems to do stuff with interactive television. If you go to their open house and fill out an application, you'll be entered in a drawing to win a Palm Pilot V.
Mindseye: "No cubes. No ties. No bureaucracy. ... Wide-open loft office near South Station. Beers and margaritas provided on occasion (any occasion) and visits by our bulldog mascot."
Habama: "Habama! Visitors to our company early on a Friday morning might be surprised to see our entire staff throwing their hands into the air and cheering 'Habama!', but there's a very good reason for it. As we share the past week's accomplishments and look forward to the challenges of the next week, we remind ourselves that Habama is an expression used by the Dogon tribe of Mali to mean 'We have done well together!' It's a phrase that represents our business philosophy of outstanding client partnership while saluting our most critical assets-- our people." I hope I never have to work for this company.
AtomicTangerine: "Turn your career into a rocket ride. ... Pre-IPO"
AC: They used to be Andersen Consulting. Now they have an ad which features a picture of a candy box, opened to reveal various varieties of cookies, all in the shape of an "e". "Want more than a taste of the new economy?" They are recruiting for their Dot-Com Launch Centre.
Perkin Elmer Instruments (perkinselmerxray.com): Features an ad with a picture of a Teddy bear. "It's soft, it's fuzzy, it's cuddly. And it could take a 747 *right out of the sky*" They make airport x-ray equipment.
There's a radio ad on WBZ touting the Massachusetts "South Coast" (the post-industrial rust belt of Attleboro/Fall River) as a good place to locate a company. The ad claims that the "South Coast" has "everything a dot.com business needs", yet they don't seem to have a web site. Instead, you have to call a telephone number for more info.
If you have any questions about academics, job hunting, or the Boston area, please email me at ( bfan2 "at symbol" yahoo "dot symbol" com ) and I'll try to answer them.
Until next time,
Ben
P.S. Habama!