THE JELLYVISION LAB NEEDS ALEX PRODUCTION APPRENTICES

We here at Jellyvision are the proud parents of ALEX®, an interactive employee communications platform that happens to share some DNA (and a sense of humor) with the smash-hit trivia video game YOU DON’T KNOW JACK®, created by Jellyvision's founder. ALEX makes navigating tricky decisions—like choosing and using employee benefits or improving your financial wellness—easier, faster, and more helpful, not to mention entertaining. The success of the ALEX platform has exceeded our wildest dreams (except for the part right before we woke up where our mom was riding a giraffe), which is why we need talented folks like you to help us help ALEX take over the world…er…continue to grow and succeed.

THAT’S LOVELY, BUT WHAT’S THIS I HEAR ABOUT AN APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM?

We’re looking for a select group of apprentices for an extended apprenticeship program with our ALEX team to help deliver perfect, customized versions of our software to our awesome customers. Before we get into specifics, here’s the lowdown on the program in general: 

Length: The apprenticeship will start in May or June and wrap up in November. Only candidates who will be available for this entire period will be considered. Apprentices work full-time, Monday through Friday. 

Who’s eligible: Students graduating in May/June 2018, recent grads, or any awesome folks who are looking for an excellent short-term opportunity.

What does the Jellyvision apprenticeship program offer?

• Competitive pay. Specifically, $600/week.
• The opportunity to work with the software tools and products that we’ve built in-house.
• The opportunity to contribute to Jellyvision’s award-winning interactive ALEX products through specific short-term assignments. You’ll be doing work that matters. You won’t be making copies all day, stuck in a back room filing papers, or fetching coffee—apprentices sit with and are valued members of the team.
• An environment voted one of Chicago’s best workplaces by Crain’s Chicago Business in 2014, 2015 and 2016. We also were on Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces List in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Lastly, Symplicity named us one of the Best Places to Work for Recent Grads in 2016 and 2017.
• Training to understand the complex world of health care benefits and other communication issues employers face.
• Professional development support, mentoring, and feedback from members of Jellyvision’s award-winning staff.
• Experience in organization, scheduling, and getting products out the door through the magic of project management, process improvement, and teamwork.
• Summer social events designed to give apprentices exposure to staff outside their core work area.
• Bottom line: the opportunity to do good work with fun people.

OKAY, I COULD COME HANG OUT WITH YOU JELLYPEOPLE THIS SUMMER. WHAT ARE YOU SPECIFICALLY LOOKING FOR IN A PRODUCTION APPRENTICE?

During our very busy software implementation season, our production team delivers many customer-tailored versions of ALEX in a short period. Why so short? There’s a tiny window between when our customers design their employee benefits packages and when ALEX must be live online for those customers’ employees to use.

We make customer-specific versions by editing, formatting, building, cat-herding, and otherwise doing whatever it takes to get each customer’s ALEX experience just right. The production apprentices keep the process running smoothly while also supporting the development of great content. 

We’re looking for perfectionists who can hit deadlines and pioneers who understand that detail-heavy work involves discipline and planning. You’ll mostly be ensuring the accuracy, formatting, and general goodness of already-created content, rather than producing brand-new creative work. To that end, we’re looking for folks who have:

• A love of problem-solving, amazing organizational skills, a great eye for detail, a spirit of helpfulness,and a calm, can-do attitude.
• Experience with editing, proofreading, quality assurance, technical writing, or other detailed nerdwork.
• Interest in contributing to fantastic products that help people learn.
• An inquisitive, curious nature and a passionate love of learning new processes and homegrown tools.

And we’re hoping for these bonus features:

• Experience using weird software: We use many homegrown tools here, so you should be fearless in the face of technology. We’ll train you on the job, but you should be a fast learner who loves trying new tech.
• Some exposure to a production atmosphere, such as working on a website or publication, making movies, manning the trapeze at your local circus…any time spent collaborating with a team on great work.

I’M A DETAIL-ORIENTED, TECH-FRIENDLY HUMAN! BUT WHAT EXACTLY WOULD I BE DOING FOR JELLYVISION AS AN ALEX PRODUCTION APPRENTICE?

• Editing content and data for spelling, grammar, and style.
• Setting up versions of ALEX using our very own content development software.
• Investigating and helping fix bugs (technical problems in the software).
• Making sure customers’ features from last year look awesome in this year’s version, uploading new files when a bug is found, and otherwise helping with version control.
• Assisting with projects that improve our products and processes.

SOUNDS FUN! SO, WHAT DOES A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ALEX PRODUCTION APPRENTICE LOOK LIKE?

• 9:13: Start your day with some locally roasted coffee from the office kitchen. Check your email and job queue… nothing’s on fire, so you get ahead on setting up files for new customers.
• 10:00: Connect with your teammates about how their day is shaping up. One of them anticipates needing some help later today, so you promise to check in again in the afternoon to see how things are going.
• 10:09: Hear from three different Production teammates that three different customers are seeing similar errors—but the bug’s slightly different for each of them, and no one knows why. Time to play detective! Try to recreate the errors and help your teammates solve the problem.
• 12:04: Grab some lunch in the neighborhood with your coworkers. Finally try tofu in your burrito, like your friend from the Product team suggested. Verdict: Pretty good—he is as smart as he seems!
• 1:02: We’ve just learned that Customer B has an unusual plan design, which means a bunch of customizations need to be in their product—ASAP. Get the scripts from a Production teammate, check ’em for typos, and get them into our system—before the 2:00 recording session.
• 1:50: Run a series of checks on six customized versions of ALEX that have to go out the door today.
• 2:38: Follow up with that teammate from earlier like you promised—right on time to help them tie up a few loose ends for one of their big deliverables!
• 3:55: Now turn to some work for tomorrow—run the database checklist and make sure the bugs from last time are fixed. Get a few missing customer details from the account managers.
• 4:41: Take a quick break to work on a jigsaw puzzle with some folks from the Implementation team. No worries—there’s no checklist for this part!
• 5:21: Today’s versions of ALEX are out the door, and the team couldn’t have done it without you.

ANYTHING ELSE? Yes. We share a commitment to excellence and a desire to work in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere, so we only hire nice, bright, funny people who are willing to work hard. Our credo is a simple one: be helpful. And we think we can be most helpful if our workforce is as diverse in thought, perspective, and culture as the people who use our products. We are looking to add amazing folks to our team who will bring diversity across many lines, including race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, sex, and country of origin.

SIGN ME UP! HOW DO I APPLY?

Send us a cover letter that clearly indicates:

• what year you are in school and when you plan to graduate (if applicable),
• what you think you could contribute to Jellyvision as a Production Apprentice this summer,
• what you hope to get out of the apprenticeship, and
• who you are. Really let your personality shine through your cover letter! (We weigh them heavily, so have some fun with it.)

Also send us a resume that fills us in on your experience to date.

You will receive an auto-reply confirming that we've received your application. 

Please know that every single application we receive is read by a real live human being. However that kind of thoughtful review takes time, so it may take us a little while to get back to you (but we will, we promise). In the meantime, NO FOLLOW UP PHONE CALLS OR EMAILS, PLEASE. It’s not that we don’t love hearing from you. It’s just that time spent responding to follow ups could be spent…well…reading your application. Please rest assured that if you received a confirmation from Recruiting Robot, we’ve got your application, and will get back to you really soon. We knew you’d understand.

If you still have pressing questions in the meantime, please feel free to check out our handy-dandy FAQ page.

Thanks for your interest in Jellyvision, and good luck.