Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Career Search Tactics: Creating Company Profiles

In contrast to the last few weeks' entries, this week I'd like to focus on something more specific to your actual job search. For anyone looking at co-ops for the Spring 2010 semester or who will be graduating after the Fall 2009 semester, this tactic will hopefully help you in your search and also with your interviewing skills.

The first step to this process is to figure out what companies you'd like to create profiles for. You can do this with the help of the career search blurb at the bottom of this blog which helps you refine your top company list.

After you have created your company list, you can use that information to create company profiles. Here's what to do. Once you know who you'd like to research, get out a piece of paper, or make an Excel or Word document. On this page, make a table with the following categories:
  • Company Name
  • URL of Company Website
  • Size of Company (Number of Employees, Divisions, Etc.)
  • Locations (Headquarters, Plant Locations, Regional Headquarters, Etc.)
  • Financial Profile (Annual Income, Trends over the last 5-10 years, Stock trends, etc.)
  • Recent News (Significant news relating to company over the last few years)
  • Products/Services (General list of products and services provided by the company)
  • Company Contacts (List any contacts you may know at the company)

The advantage of making company profiles with these categories is that you can not only use them to prepare for interviews, but you can also use them if you are considering multiple offers from different companies. By utilizing a one-stop resource for useful information, you'll be able to make more informed decisions when the time comes to decide on which company is going to be best of you.

Confused on where to find this information? Most companies' websites actually have the majority of this information. Larger companies will generally publish their most recent annual reports which contain useful information like their annual income, company size, and major changes in company structure or significant mergers, acquisitions, etc. Some companies also publish fact sheets with many of these details as well.

Doing your research is one of the the most valuable things you can do to expand your job search. Making company profiles like the one suggested above with help you be moved informed of significant company information so that when you speak with recruiters, interview, or consider job offers, you'll be informed and ready for action.

As usual,

Good Luck Job Seekers!

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