Your job not only consumes 40+ hours each week, but also determines how
you spend the remaining hours. Would you consider taking a vacation
without any information about your destination? Not likely. Yet many
base their employment decisions on little or no information. Utilizing a
combination of resources mentioned in this article will give you an
edge in optimize Canadian Email Database your job search and satisfaction.
Through firshand research, you will gain information that goes beyond
the selective, often superficial, information exchanged during the
interview process. The benefits include:
First, information about a company's financial health, hiring/cutback
practices,
treatment of employees and corporate culture will provide a
more realistic picture of prospective employers to help you make more
informed decisions.
Second, research will help you expand your job possibilities and
industry knowledge, as well as help you focus your search on the best
opportunities, careers, salaries and geographic regions.
Third, research will increase your effectiveness during the interview
process, creating a more prepared impression than someone who uses job
interviews for information gathering.
Get the scoop about employers
Once you've identified your target employers, investigate an employer by
finding answers to questions about its age...locations...services and
products...number of employees...size ..divisions and subsidiaries ...
publicly or privately
owned...sales...assets...earnings...competitors...reputation...growth
pattern, plans and forecast...foreign owned...mission and
culture...recent events, product launches...major issues...key
achievements
Off- and online sources of information
There's a vast universe of information sources-people, publications and
online-that can be overwhelming. Because there are countless Internet
sites and publications for researching information, this article will
get you started with some of the most key resources.
Print and Internet Sources
The reference department of any library offers online databases, CD-ROM
products and printed sources such as directories, magazines, journals,
newsletters and reports. You can compile lists of employers and search
firms, as well as data on your target industries and employers through
print and on-line resources.
Data on Companies and Industries
o Directories in Print: lists thousands of business and industrial
directories of all types in any field
o American Business Information Directory: database of 10 million US and
one million Canadian companies
o US Big Business Directory: list of companies with 100+ employees
o American Manufacturers Directory: 500,000 manufacturing companies can
be found in this directory offering information on headquarters,
employee size, branch locations, metro areas and sales volume
o Standard & Poor's Register: 55,000 public and private companies by
region, state, city zip code, area code, product lines, as well as
400,000 executives and biographies of 70,000 corporate officers and
directors
o SEC Documents
o The Big Book: companies are listed by industry or state
o Hoover's On-line, vault, knowX and dnb: provide information on
companies as well as detailed fee-based company reports
o Thomas Register: 155,000+ companies listed by trademark and type of
product
o Directory of US Private & Public Companies
o Directory of Corporate Affiliations-US Private: financial and other
data on 8,000+ privately held companies
o Wall Street Research: links to company SEC filings, stock quotes and
history, news releases, earnings and other data
o Annual Reports: free service providing links to annual reports of
thousands of companies
o Patents: patent information by invention type or description
o Vertical Net: has the scoop on a variety of industries
Federal Government Agencies and Position Announcements
o US Federal Government Agencies: lists government agency home pages for
researching information and finding job leads
o How to Find Business Intelligence in Washington: identifies sources of
information, including key experts, in the federal government
News Releases and Publications
o Business Wire: check out company news releases by industry
o On-line and print business periodicals: Wall Street Journal, Business
Week, Forbes, Industry Week, Financial Times, Chronicle of Higher
Education, Fortune, New York Times, Barron's, Fast Company,
Institutional Investor, BizJournal and other newspapers and magazines.
o Company web sites: find recent articles and news releases on company
web sites that can provide ideas to prepare informed, well-conceived
questions to ask at the interview
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