Go to the Web site of a company that you're interested in working for. If you don't know of any companies that fit the bill, go to www.hoovers.com. In the site search section, chose "search by industry." Then enter the name of an industry you're targeting, like "fashion." Hoovers will come up with a long, healthy list of companies for you to investigate, including the corporate Web address for each of those companies.
When you've gotten to the corporate Web page of a company you'd like to explore, have a look at the section of the Web site that is announcing current job openings. Is your job there? What kinds of specific words are used to describe the job title and its responsibilities as well as the requirements for skills and education, and especially personal traits and competencies?
Now look back at your skills summary page in Chapter 2. Are your skills a good fit with this company, or do you think that you might need to pick out some other skills from your arsenal to emphasize to this particular employer?
After exploring the whole Web site, what are the personal traits and competencies that appear to be called for by this company and this job?
Is the company looking for loyalty or risk taking? Does it prefer the use of time-tested conventional methods or innovation? Is the company looking for highly independent or more team oriented people? Do they expect you to come in and "hit the ground running" or learn more slowly as you go?
Researching a company from information that they supply in print or on the Web can obviously put you way ahead of the competition and more at ease in the interview, because you know whom you're talking to.
There is, however, something missing when you operate only from the information that the company wants you to hear about it. It's important to also look at what other people are saying about this company-analysts and others in the media who know the industry and this company's place in it.
What do major magazines and newspapers and financial and business analysts have to say about these organizations their stability, their treatment of employees, their place among their competitors, or their outlook for the future? Here are a few things you might look for in others' assessment of a company:
• Is this a company that is in a major union dispute?
• Does this company have a reputation for receiving many employee complaints or even lawsuits?
• Is the CEO just about to resign?
• Is management trying to delay a layoff that appears to be inevitable?
• How does the public view this company-as a philanthropic community hero or as a greed-driven monster?
All of these things have a great deal to do with both your shortterm satisfaction and long-term stability at a company. How do you find out about these things? My favorite places are either on www.hoovers.com or at the reference desk of my friendly neighborhood library. Both sources are free, and both have more information on company stability, image and "culture" than you can imagine.
Let's pick a medium-sized hypothetical company from hoovers.com. We enter the company name, and we are immediately greeted by a great deal of useful information, including the following:
• The location of company headquarters and subsidiaries
• The names of executives and vice presidents
• The names and information of the company's main competitors
• The scope of the company's products and services
• A brief history of the company
• Some views on its further development
• Its ranking on a number of financial and business lists,
including the Fortune 500 list.
• Archived press releases sent out by the company as well as recent (even same day) media reports on the corporation
Can you imagine an employer asking you, "What do you know about our company?" and your responding with the following statement:
Well, I know you were founded in 1977 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Steven Gibbs, and that your current CEO is Karen Solomon. I believe that you first started with the production
of only televisions and radios, but today the company is currently number 702 in the Fortune 1000 and has expanded
its product line to a very wide array of electronic products that includes a launch of a wireless telephone device next
month. I know that you have been voted as one of the top 20 companies to work for, according to Forbes magazine, and that all of those things would make me very proud to be a part of your team.
A little research beforehand and you'll be in command of all this data! You'll sound like you've been researching all night. Not only is it flattering to the employer that you know so much about his or her company, but it also says a lot about you. One would imagine that a person with this much relevant information under his or her belt would not only be well prepared but also intelligent, persistent, diligent, proactive, and persuasive-just to name a few qualities. Tell me one employer who wouldn't want an employee like that!