How do YOU do company research

How do YOU do company research You should always do research on the company and industry before you go into an interview. Thats what the experts say. You should always do this type of research to determine potential target companies. The experts say that too. How do people do this? Actually, my way of doing the research is simple, and even overly-time-consuming (read: I wasted time researching on the Internet (just one more click!)). I did not think about a model to ensure I was headed in the right direction, like what Susan Strayer or Mike Murray have in their books. I just used Google to search on various things like product manager my city. I would spend a lot of time sifting through job boards, seeing who was hiring for what position, and then use Google to do research on either that job title or that company. Im not even sure I knew what I was looking for, other than anything I could find. In the last year Ive met some people that do research for a living. Heres what Ive learned: Research with a purpose. Figure out what do you need to know about the company or industry, and then begin to look for answers to those questions. My mud on the wall research sessions had to be inefficient. Get help and advice. I have friends that are good at research. I have mentors that think a couple of levels above my level of thinking (of course, thats what a mentor is!). Find out from them what the questions should be, and what tools they use. Outsource, if possible. I didnt have the money, and the exercise was good for me, but I know some of you dont have the time or technical skills to effectively do a research project. It makes sense to outsource the project to someone that knows the questions and can get you the answers quicker and more complete than you can. Dont have time?? Even if you are unemployed and dedicate your entire time to a job search, there are lots of things you need to do. Networking is one of them. Dont neglect some of the harder things (networking is hard for lots of people) to do the easier things (surfing the internet is easy for most people). Make effective use of your limited time! Get familiar with tools other than Google, tools that were designed to do this type of research. Ive been jealous of the research tools that outplacement companies offer their clients Im talking about the expensive databases they have available to do this research. But Ive found websites that will help you do the same thing one of these days Im going to go more in-depth on these tools but for now you can start to get familiar with any of these: LinkedIn did you know you can do research here? Just go into the advanced search screen and you can search on companies, industries, titles, etc. Recruiters do it all the time to find candidates (thats why you should have a good, fleshed out profile with keywords that they might search for you should also have a network bigger than 5 people, as your search results are limited to your network (I think up to three degrees). Jigsaw Inc. Magazine calls it the worlds biggest rolodex basically you upload your contacts which gives you currency you can then get a certain number of contacts out of it. Salespeople use this all the time as they are trying to network into a company (sound like familiar advice?) ZoomInfo The search engine for discovering people, companies and relationships go search your name, or your companys name and see what comes up. This is a great way to find where you have been mentioned, and the way it shows the results is more geared towards this type of research than a regular search engine is. Google and Yahoo Ok, so these are incredible tools but I doubt research experts actually use just one. Dont neglect the easy tools the results wont come back as nice or precise as the others, but youll likely find different kinds of information. Have guerrilla marketing tendencies? Find a way to get access to the premium services. Ive tried ZoomInfos premium services and it is INCREDIBLE. But you wont be able to afford it, personally (if you could, step on over to the JibberJobber upgrade page and buy lifetime access while you are at it, by two! ;)). Perhaps you know someone that might have access to some advanced tools maybe a law student that has access to LexisNexis, or something like that. Be creative and think about who you know that might have the access you need. Of course, when you do this company research make sure you keep good records. This is where JibberJobber comes in. You can either record your notes as log entries, or you can put them in a Word document, put that in the Document Manager, and then link it to the company. And of course, make sure you put all the company contacts in (regular users get one free company contact, premium get unlimited contacts per company). Finally, if you are interested in outsourcing this check out Fast Track Transition Career Research. If nothing else, sign up for the newsletter to see what they think about, what they talk about. (I think its important to know what industry leaders do, thats why the links on the left include recruiters and other employment experts resources for you to better understand the employment space). For some of you they are affordable (and worth it!) and they have a two to four day turnaround better than you fidgiting around for two to four days! How do you do research? What tools/techniques are beneficial to you? How do YOU do company research You should always do research on the company and industry before you go into an interview. Thats what the experts say. You should always do this type of research to determine potential target companies. The experts say that too. How do people do this? Actually, my way of doing the research is simple, and even overly-time-consuming (read: I wasted time researching on the Internet (just one more click!)). I did not think about a model to ensure I was headed in the right direction, like what Susan Strayer or Mike Murray have in their books. I just used Google to search on various things like product manager my city. I would spend a lot of time sifting through job boards, seeing who was hiring for what position, and then use Google to do research on either that job title or that company. Im not even sure I knew what I was looking for, other than anything I could find. In the last year Ive met some people that do research for a living. Heres what Ive learned: Research with a purpose. Figure out what do you need to know about the company or industry, and then begin to look for answers to those questions. My mud on the wall research sessions had to be inefficient. Get help and advice. I have friends that are good at research. I have mentors that think a couple of levels above my level of thinking (of course, thats what a mentor is!). Find out from them what the questions should be, and what tools they use. Outsource, if possible. I didnt have the money, and the exercise was good for me, but I know some of you dont have the time or technical skills to effectively do a research project. It makes sense to outsource the project to someone that knows the questions and can get you the answers quicker and more complete than you can. Dont have time?? Even if you are unemployed and dedicate your entire time to a job search, there are lots of things you need to do. Networking is one of them. Dont neglect some of the harder things (networking is hard for lots of people) to do the easier things (surfing the internet is easy for most people). Make effective use of your limited time! Get familiar with tools other than Google, tools that were designed to do this type of research. Ive been jealous of the research tools that outplacement companies offer their clients Im talking about the expensive databases they have available to do this research. But Ive found websites that will help you do the same thing one of these days Im going to go more in-depth on these tools but for now you can start to get familiar with any of these: LinkedIn did you know you can do research here? Just go into the advanced search screen and you can search on companies, industries, titles, etc. Recruiters do it all the time to find candidates (thats why you should have a good, fleshed out profile with keywords that they might search for you should also have a network bigger than 5 people, as your search results are limited to your network (I think up to three degrees). Jigsaw Inc. Magazine calls it the worlds biggest rolodex basically you upload your contacts which gives you currency you can then get a certain number of contacts out of it. Salespeople use this all the time as they are trying to network into a company (sound like familiar advice?) ZoomInfo The search engine for discovering people, companies and relationships go search your name, or your companys name and see what comes up. This is a great way to find where you have been mentioned, and the way it shows the results is more geared towards this type of research than a regular search engine is. Google and Yahoo Ok, so these are incredible tools but I doubt research experts actually use just one. Dont neglect the easy tools the results wont come back as nice or precise as the others, but youll likely find different kinds of information. Have guerrilla marketing tendencies? Find a way to get access to the premium services. Ive tried ZoomInfos premium services and it is INCREDIBLE. But you wont be able to afford it, personally (if you could, step on over to the JibberJobber upgrade page and buy lifetime access while you are at it, by two! ;)). Perhaps you know someone that might have access to some advanced tools maybe a law student that has access to LexisNexis, or something like that. Be creative and think about who you know that might have the access you need. Of course, when you do this company research make sure you keep good records. This is where JibberJobber comes in. You can either record your notes as log entries, or you can put them in a Word document, put that in the Document Manager, and then link it to the company. And of course, make sure you put all the company contacts in (regular users get one free company contact, premium get unlimited contacts per company). Finally, if you are interested in outsourcing this check out Fast Track Transition Career Research. If nothing else, sign up for the newsletter to see what they think about, what they talk about. (I think its important to know what industry leaders do, thats why the links on the left include recruiters and other employment experts resources for you to better understand the employment space). For some of you they are affordable (and worth it!) and they have a two to four day turnaround better than you fidgiting around for two to four days! How do you do research? What tools/techniques are beneficial to you? How do YOU do company research You should always do research on the company and industry before you go into an interview. Thats what the experts say. You should always do this type of research to determine potential target companies. The experts say that too. How do people do this? Actually, my way of doing the research is simple, and even overly-time-consuming (read: I wasted time researching on the Internet (just one more click!)). I did not think about a model to ensure I was headed in the right direction, like what Susan Strayer or Mike Murray have in their books. I just used Google to search on various things like product manager my city. I would spend a lot of time sifting through job boards, seeing who was hiring for what position, and then use Google to do research on either that job title or that company. Im not even sure I knew what I was looking for, other than anything I could find. In the last year Ive met some people that do research for a living. Heres what Ive learned: Research with a purpose. Figure out what do you need to know about the company or industry, and then begin to look for answers to those questions. My mud on the wall research sessions had to be inefficient. Get help and advice. I have friends that are good at research. I have mentors that think a couple of levels above my level of thinking (of course, thats what a mentor is!). Find out from them what the questions should be, and what tools they use. Outsource, if possible. I didnt have the money, and the exercise was good for me, but I know some of you dont have the time or technical skills to effectively do a research project. It makes sense to outsource the project to someone that knows the questions and can get you the answers quicker and more complete than you can. Dont have time?? Even if you are unemployed and dedicate your entire time to a job search, there are lots of things you need to do. Networking is one of them. Dont neglect some of the harder things (networking is hard for lots of people) to do the easier things (surfing the internet is easy for most people). Make effective use of your limited time! Get familiar with tools other than Google, tools that were designed to do this type of research. Ive been jealous of the research tools that outplacement companies offer their clients Im talking about the expensive databases they have available to do this research. But Ive found websites that will help you do the same thing one of these days Im going to go more in-depth on these tools but for now you can start to get familiar with any of these: LinkedIn did you know you can do research here? Just go into the advanced search screen and you can search on companies, industries, titles, etc. Recruiters do it all the time to find candidates (thats why you should have a good, fleshed out profile with keywords that they might search for you should also have a network bigger than 5 people, as your search results are limited to your network (I think up to three degrees). Jigsaw Inc. Magazine calls it the worlds biggest rolodex basically you upload your contacts which gives you currency you can then get a certain number of contacts out of it. Salespeople use this all the time as they are trying to network into a company (sound like familiar advice?) ZoomInfo The search engine for discovering people, companies and relationships go search your name, or your companys name and see what comes up. This is a great way to find where you have been mentioned, and the way it shows the results is more geared towards this type of research than a regular search engine is. Google and Yahoo Ok, so these are incredible tools but I doubt research experts actually use just one. Dont neglect the easy tools the results wont come back as nice or precise as the others, but youll likely find different kinds of information. Have guerrilla marketing tendencies? Find a way to get access to the premium services. Ive tried ZoomInfos premium services and it is INCREDIBLE. But you wont be able to afford it, personally (if you could, step on over to the JibberJobber upgrade page and buy lifetime access while you are at it, by two! ;)). Perhaps you know someone that might have access to some advanced tools maybe a law student that has access to LexisNexis, or something like that. Be creative and think about who you know that might have the access you need. Of course, when you do this company research make sure you keep good records. This is where JibberJobber comes in. You can either record your notes as log entries, or you can put them in a Word document, put that in the Document Manager, and then link it to the company. And of course, make sure you put all the company contacts in (regular users get one free company contact, premium get unlimited contacts per company). Finally, if you are interested in outsourcing this check out Fast Track Transition Career Research. If nothing else, sign up for the newsletter to see what they think about, what they talk about. (I think its important to know what industry leaders do, thats why the links on the left include recruiters and other employment experts resources for you to better understand the employment space). For some of you they are affordable (and worth it!) and they have a two to four day turnaround better than you fidgiting around for two to four days! How do you do research? What tools/techniques are beneficial to you?