If you have explored our website, you will notice there is a Job Search Checklist that we provide to help you in getting organized in your job search. Part of the checklist involves homework on companies to find out who is hiring. Many job seekers are flummoxed by this assignment and do not know how to go about researching companies. They do not know where to start or what to do.
Researching companies is a lot like detective work – you start with what you know or think and work outward. For example, Joe Jobseeker is looking for a managerial position in the heavy construction industry. He would like to stay within a commute distance of his home and avoid a move if at all possible. Because he has experience in this field, he knows the names of the heavy construction companies that lie within this commute radius. What he does not know is if they are hiring. What can he do?
A few helpful steps:
Ask around. Since he has experience in the field, he has colleagues in the field who may know more about these companies than he does. He should talk to someone in New Accounts or Business Development because those people are required to know the competition when vying for new contracts. They will know which companies are doing well, which ones are doing poorly, and which ones have good prospects. Joe can do this asking around discreetly without tipping his hand that he’s in the market for a new position.
Check the numbers. If a company is a publicly-owned company, its stock performance and profitability can give you an idea of the company’s stability and growth factors. If a company is growing, it may well be hiring.
Search the boards. An Internet search on some of the larger job boards may turn up open positions the company has. Sometimes, an open position in one location may actually mean the same position is open in another location, especially if the company opens positions to internal hire. A current employee may apply/receive the open/advertised position, thus leaving a correlative position open in another location.
Watch the papers. Companies will often publish news of new contract awards as part of their public relations campaigns. This would be an indication of new hiring. Promotions are also sometimes publicized. If you see that someone has been promoted out of a position you would be interested in winning, send a resume to the promoted. He/she may be hiring his replacement!
Lurk in public meetings. Attendance at some of those otherwise-boring meetings such as local business groups or civic meetings often generates information concerning new plans and growth, thus new hires.
