I am looking for employers with career opportunities in Chicago that
are known for one or many of the following:

--High employee morale
--Large segment of young staff (i.e. 22-30 years old)
--Preferably a smaller employer, i.e. fewer than 500 employees
--"Rewarding" experiences - this could be anything from core
responsibilities of helping to feed starving kids to fringe benefits
like getting in free to events at the United Center.
--Unique benefits, i.e. company-sponsored happy hours, vacation day on
your birthday, etc. - the kind of thing that helps the employer stand
out as being fun/exceptional.

Would prefer employers or specific opportunities that touch the
spectrum of one or more of the following:  education (not necessarily
"teaching"), staff training/development, event coordination, nonprofit
management, creativity (non-technical, so excluding design,
post-production, etc.)

Good examples of companies that I'm looking for:
--www.envisionemi.com (education, marketing & management company,
ranked as one of America's Great Places to Work)
--www.gmmb.com (political advertising agency)

Good examples of jobs I'm looking for:
--Volunteer Manager for the Lincoln Park Zoo
--Educational Programs Manager for the Chicago Park District
--Director of Special Projects for Teach for America

--I will tip a little if you find answers that lead me to think of new
places on my own.
--I will tip well if you find answers that lead me to apply for an opportunity.
--I will give you the best tip you've ever gotten if you find answers
that lead me away from the job that I just took two weeks ago and
already hate!

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 15 Oct 2004 18:52 PDT

Hi justjoe-ga,

What is your background -- education, experience, special
qualifications that would make you an attractive candidate for the
companies you're targeting? Thanks.

~ czh ~

---

Clarification of Question by justjoe-ga on 15 Oct 2004 22:14 PDT

Hi CZH,

I have about four years of combined experience in the areas mentioned
- education, student affairs, event coordination, hiring/training
staff members, nonprofit management, media relations - all were prior
functions of my job.  What this basically means, is if I were applying
for a job with an event management company, it would be easy for me to
highlight a significant amount of experience in that field. 
Subsequently, if I were applying for a job in higher education, I
would also be able to call on my experience working with young people.
 I guess it is also worth mentioning that I am 26, and a "mid-level"
professional - I'm not terribly concerned with salary, but to put it
into perspective, I earn a little more than $50K per year at my
current job (but would gladly take a $20K paycut for a job I enjoyed
going into every day).

Thanks for your help, if you have other questions please don't
hesitate to ask.  I hope you enjoy your job more than I like mine!

Joe

Hell again justjoe-ga,

I answered your other question earlier today. I?m sorry you?re so
unhappy in your new job. The information you?ve furnished shows that
you?re fairly clear on what you?re looking for. Some of those criteria
are easy to find by researching target companies. Some of your
qualifiers might be impossible to get other than through personal
contacts who have access to inside information. Getting demographic
information about the average age of employees would take a lot of
digging. What image a company projects about ?morale? may be at odds
with how employees really feel.

Because it?s so difficult to get this information, I focused instead
on identifying companies that fit your interest areas. I think I?ve
located a selection of resources that should help you with generating
new ideas of what you might want to do and some likely target
organizations that might provide more fulfilling opportunities.

I suggest that you research specific companies or organizations that
interest you and then try to network your way to getting a personal
referral to someone who might be interested in what you have to offer.

I hope the information I?ve collected will help set you free from your misery. 

Best wishes for a fun and fulfilling career change.

~ czh ~


==============================
EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT JOBS
==============================

http://www.marcusevans.com/html/profile.asp 
http://www.marcusevans.com/job/jobindex.asp
Marcus Evans, Ltd.

marcus evans is one of the world's leading provider and promoter of
Strategic Conferences, professional training, In-Company Training,
Business-to-Business Congresses, Corporate Hospitality and on-line
information.

***** This is a worldwide company with about 2000 employees that has
an office in Chicago. Many of their services might be of interest to
you, especially events and conferences and professional training
programs.

-------------------------------------------------


http://education.jobs.net/Illinois-Chicago.htm
Latest Chicago Education Jobs

***** This is a broad-based collection of jobs in education that might
give you some new ideas for specific areas or companies you might want
to consider.

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.job-hunt.org/jobs/illinois.shtml
Illinois Career and Job Search Resources
Jobs in Illinois Education



=====================
EVENT MANAGEMENT JOBS
=====================

http://www.chicagoevents.com/csem.html
Chicago Special Events

Chicago Special Events is well known and respected in the
not-for-profit community, by the City of Chicago, Mayor's Office of
Special Events and the Chicago Park District, as well as various
chambers of commerce, suburban municipalities and a host of national
charitable organizations.

***** Even if there are no current openings, it might be worthwhile to
try to get some informational interviews with members of the staff.
Their profiles may give you some ideas of other organizations to
research.

-------------------------------------------------


http://chicago.craigslist.org/jjj/
craigslist > chicago > jobs

***** Searched for ?event? in ?all jobs? and found some listings that
looked interesting based on your criteria. I was looking for employers
that might be worth exploring or categories of jobs in the field that
might provide new keywords to search by. This is how I found Highlife
Adventures and the category of Social Networking and Activity Clubs.
These might be worth exploring.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/etc/45987325.html
Adventure Club Event Coordinator 
http://www.highlifeadventures.com/contact.html
Highlife Adventures Inc.
Highlife Adventures is a member of the National Association of
Activity Clubs, with affiliates across the country:

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/30/EBG897S6O71.DTL
Berkeley: Urban activity clubs provide a place to grow, explore and maybe meet

Urban Diversion http://www.urbandiversion.com/ and Outdoor Adventure
Club (OAC) http://www.sfoac.com/

Like the social networking Web sites Friendster.com and Tribe.net,
these clubs exist to bring people together to meet without a specific
agenda.

***** This article talks about clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area but
I thought they might be of interest to you as possible pointers for
the types of organizations you might want to look for in Chicago.



==========================
NON-PROFIT MANAGEMENT JOBS
==========================

http://gateway.northpark.edu/ 
Greater Chicago Nonprofit Gateway

Gateway is Chicago?s premier online resource center for today?s
nonprofit practitioner.  Through the use of on-line technologies,
Gateway provides linkages to resources, nonprofit news and
announcements, as well as learning opportunities and local nonprofit
events.  Gateway?s interactive features facilitate communication and
collaboration across the local nonprofit community.

http://gateway.northpark.edu/employment/
Nonprofit Employment Gate

***** Lots of resources to help you explore opportunities in the
Chicago non-profit sector, especially the very extensive list of
non-profit job boards.

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.npo.net/
NPO.NET: For and About Chicago Area Nonprofits

The NPO.net Jobs Service is THE place for nonprofit jobs in the Chicago area. 



=============
CREATIVE JOBS
=============

http://backstagejobs.com/chicago.htm
BackstageJobs.com. -- Chicago Area Jobs

This is a free job listing service for all behind-the-scenes jobs in
the live entertainment industry. "Everything but acting."

***** Even if you don?t see any suitable jobs you might find some
interesting volunteer opportunities at this site.


====================================
CHICAGO RESOURCES ? JOBS, NETWORKING
====================================

http://www.launchchicago.com/index.shtml
LaunchChicago.com is an online technology portal that centralizes
Chicago's high-tech resources and promotes the city's high-tech scene.
It's really easy to join a Linux group, donate a computer, or find a
freelancer when the information is indexed at one website---and then
located down the block. Launch! Chicago hopes to encourage community
involvement, improve access to public resources and accelerate growth
of startup initiatives.

***** See especially the sections on Clubs/Organizations, Networking,
and Nonprofits for starting points to continue your explorations.

-------------------------------------------------


http://chicago.craigslist.org/
Craigslist Chicago

***** Browse the listings by category or search for specific job
types. Craigslist advertisers tend to be smaller employers and many of
them are more personal in their hiring than large organizations. I
suggest that you look for categories of jobs and job titles that you
might not be familiar with that might suit your talents. You might
also come across companies that seem interesting even if the current
opening is not suitable for you.

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.nbc5.com/irresistible/3783114/detail.html
Chicago Magazine Lists Top 25 Local Workplaces

Company Perks Equal Happy Employees, Magazine Finds
In its October edition, Chicago Magazine published a list of the 25
best places to work in the city and suburbs.

The 25 Best Places To Work, according to Chicago Magazine:
1.DDB Chicago
2.Chubb Insurance
3.Trading Technologies
4.Weber Shandwick 
5.Allstate Insurance
6.Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises
7.Schiff Hardin
8.CareerBuilder.com
9.Children's Memorial Hospital
10.Northwest Community Healthcare
11.Winston&Strawn
12.Foote Cone&Belding
13.CDW Corporation
14.Dade Behring
15.Jones Lang LaSalle
16.Kanbay International
17.Draft
18.William Blair&Company
19.ASAP Software
20.USG Corporation
21.Volkswagen Credit
22.Equity Trust Properties Trust
23.Abbott Laboratories
24.Deloitte&Touche
25.First Midwest Bank

***** Unfortunately, the Web links are not included so you?ll have to
look up each of these companies for yourself to see if any of them
might be suitable targets for your search.

-------------------------------------------------


http://directory.google.com/Top/Regional/North_America/United_States/Illinois/Localities/C/Chicago/Business_and_Economy/Event_Planning/
Regional > North America > United States > Illinois > Localities > C >
Chicago > Business and Economy > Event Planning

-------------------------------------------------


http://curtrosengren.typepad.com/occupationaladventure/2004/09/making_a_differ.html
Making a difference

***** This is a blog that addresses the issues of finding meaningful work.


===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============

best employers Chicago
best places to work chicago
"25 Best Places to Work in Chicago."
event management jobs Chicago
education jobs Chicago
meaningful jobs chicago
young companies Chicago

---

Request for Answer Clarification by justjoe-ga on 29 Oct 2004 11:42 PDT

Hello again CZH, not so much of an answer clarificaiton - just wanted
to say thanks for working on my answers - for this one you actually
came across most of what I had already stumbled upon over the past few
months, but it is reassuring to know that I'm on the same track as a
professional researcher :)

It is worth noting that my previous question regarding studies that
correlate unique benefits with employee retention/productivity was
posed as a baseline for investigating the start of a new business. 
For a while now I have been thinking about starting a small consulting
business for companies that want to redefine their internal culture
and find ways to create happier environments for their employees.  It
seems so could be better...

In any case, thanks again.  Will likely have more questions needing
answers in the future.

---

Clarification of Answer by czh-ga on 01 Nov 2004 17:15 PST

Hello again justjoe-ga,

Thank you for the kind words and tip. I'm sorry about the delay
getting back to you. I was out of town with a family emergency. I wish
you well for you career.

~ czh ~

Found some good stuff...

Just wanted to say that I also found this research to be EXTREMELY
helpful.  I am currently searching for a meaningful job with the same
traits.  I am very excited to check out these links.  I have a degree
in film, and 7 years of professional experience in communication,
training, and event planning, and am really just looking for a place
where I can use my talents, and have a good time with work!  Thanks
JustJoe, for asking this question - and if you ever decide to start
your own gig, know that you have someone who would be very happy to
share their skills!  I really want to believe that there is an
environment out there conducive to doing meaningful work, and being
happy while doing it!