Company Research for Employment

Researching a company for employment after finding that they are looking for someone with your skills, should begin with knowing about the products or services of the company, something about their history and who their major competitors are. You should also know whether the company is success-driven and progressive, and if they are likely to offer the challenges, environment, and opportunities that are right for you. Finally, you should know what they expect from you and what you need to know to be successful in the new company.

Normally, good company research goes through three phases: 1. getting basic information, 2. finding out the reputation and solvency of the firm, and 3. discovering the culture and leadership style of the organization. Culture and leadership is normally found when good questions are developed from what you discovered in phase 1 and 2.

Basic information should reveal:

• the size of the company (number of employees and annual revenue),
• the type business (industry) they are in,
• the number of years they have been in business.

Basic information is located in directory listings such as Dun & Bradstreet, Standard & Poor’s, Reference USA, Manta or Hoovers for example. Directories can be found on the Internet or in the public library.

Hoovers gives free information on public and larger private companies at http://www.hoovers.com/, as does Standard & Poor’s at http://www.spglobal.com/, while Corp Tech (http://www.corptech.com/) has information on technology companies and Thomas Net (http://www.thomasnet.com/) provides details on manufacturers.

Most of the time your local library has good print directory resources, or you can find information on larger companies online at stock brokerage companies such as Schwab (www.schwab.com), Smith Barney (www.smithbarney.com), Merrill Lynch (www.ml.com), Edward Jones (www.edwardjones.com) and others. If the firm is a public company you can discover important information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) web site at http://edgar.sec.gov/cgi-bin/srch-edgar.

Private companies require more effort. Start with the area library nearest the company’s headquarters to see what is published and how you can access it. Dun & Bradstreet is the largest directory of private company information available, so look for their directory in your best business library or purchase a report online at http://www.dnb.com/. Keep in mind that Dun & Bradstreet obtains their information from the company itself and after being added to the directory, it may take time before the company's listing is verified from objective sources. Also note that there is always some information available on every legitimate company, regardless of the size.

If the company is incorporated check the state corporation records. If you do not have the Internet address, do a simple search engine query or visit the National Association of Secretaries of State to locate the state corporation records: www.nass.org/sos/sos.html. Corporation records will tell you basic information such as date of incorporation and principal officers. If the company engages in a profession that is regulated by the state government such as health or food-related, legal, accounting, etc., find state regulatory sites at http://www.searchsystems.net/. Also look for county registrations such as business licenses to find records that may provide additional information (look on the county web site or call the applicable county office).

For reputation and solvency, start with general research using http://www.google.com/ and http://www.bing.com/ and meta search engines like http://www.ixquick.com/, http://www.icerocket.com/ and http://www.beaucoup.com/. Remember to use the advanced search features of the search engine and alter your search phrase to find the right terminology that will lead you to important links. Also search social media sites and group pages to see what is reported (see the search engines recommended on the right hand column here).

Another often overlooked web site that finds information on most companies as well as non-profits is the Better Business Bureau web site at http://www.bbb.org/. And for detailed information on non-profits use http://www.guidestar.org/, which requires registration but is free for basic information.

Next, start searching news reports and industry publications to discover media coverage on the company, what their marketplace looks like and significant competitors. Pay attention to legal or regulatory issues that surface. Begin with the news links on
http://newslink.org/menu.html and also view http://www.yahoo.com/, going to Business & Economy, then to News and Media, then under categories select Magazines, then select Trade Magazines. Magazines and newspaper links can be found at the Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.org/div/news/) and Online Newspapers.com (http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/). Also see http://www.abyzneslinks.com/. For scholarly sources visit http://infomine.ucr.edu/. For companies that are outside the United States and do not have a significant presence in the U.S., you may contact us for free resources (info@e-clarity.us) as this is outside the scope of this article.

Always check with your local library to see what other resources are available and what you can access on their web site. Often the library web site allows you to access newspapers, magazine and journals that are free using your library card. Make sure to find out if the library has biographical and genealogical directories for key persons that you may be interviewing with, and be sure to ask the reference librarian for help in finding out about the company and it’s principals.

When looking for biographical information, find out if the target company web site may feature a bio on your subject. Or can the person be found on search engines using variations of his or her name? Often information about people can be found in magazines or newspapers in their local area. Another good resource for both companies and people is the Groups tab in Google, and be sure to see my blog entry on this site for detailed searching on people.

For those who want to learn more, there are two outstanding tutorials for researching companies, first from expert business researcher Deb Flanagin www.learnwebskills.com/company/index.html, next the Law Librarian’s Exchange www.llrx.com/features/co_research.htm.

The last phase of the research requires good questions derived from the information you uncovered. By steering the questions to what the organization’s environment is, you can find out what will drive the company in the years to come and what strategy they plan to implement for their growth, product development and future prospects.

The following are some questions to get you thinking about what the right questions are for you to ask of them:

• What are the needs of the position in the next year?
• How does the position's department support the company’s main mission?
• Which employee management style is encouraged by the organization, i.e. reason, rewards, friendliness, coercion, sanctions, etc?
• What are the company's main strengths and weaknesses compared to their competitors?
• What is the particular strength of the company’s products or services and why do customers buy?
• What are the main forces that you see shaping the company in the next five years?
• What are the company’s corporate mission and core values, and what performance-based measurements are taken to determine if the company is achieving them?
• Is the company being investigated by any regulatory agency; have they been investigated in the past, or are they subject to any possible investigative procedure in the future?
• Has the company ever had to re-state their financial earnings?
• What type of background investigation is conducted on the financial officers of the company?
• How many officers of the company sit on the Board of Directors? How many major shareholders who are not officers sit on the board?

Asking open-ended questions will help you find out if the company is right for you and will have the added benefit of presenting you as a sophisticated and highly informed candidate.

Of course, we recommend hiring a professional information company to do high-level research on the company you may be accepting a position with. The research results will surpass anything you can find on the free Internet, and your career should be worth the investment. Please contact us at info@e-clarity.us or visit our web site at http://www.e-clarity.us/.

For more information on researching the most difficult of companies (start ups, small companies and troubled companies), send us an email with your questions (info@e-clarity.us), call us or contact your local reference librarian. For information on the basics of competitive intelligence research, see our PDF-format paper at http://www.e-clarity.us/pub/Competitive_Intelligence.pdf.

Good luck!

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Comments on Thorough Research and e-Clarity LLC: You can quote our comments provided you cite the author (us). Neither Thorough Research nor e-Clarity engage in link exchange programs. Thank you for your interest!

Finding Information on People (Supplement)

Thank you to Lead 411 and OneSource for informing me of their comprehensive databases of premium information on not only people, but companies as well. Lead411 provides detailed information on people and companies in Canada as well as the U.S., while Onesource databases include the U.S. and several foreign countries.

Another source that has recently been brought to my attention is Snitch.name, which searches numerous sites including social, search engines, professional sites, blogs, and various other free sources. I found that Snitch.name calling itself, The Social White Pages is an understatement.

If you know of other sites that provide information on people or companies, please post a comment to this blog or email me at rguffey@e-clarity.us.

Finding Information on People

(All links open in a new window)

There is so much information on the Internet, it is likely that there is something on the person you are curious about. This is a basic search article - for more detailed information, download my article on researching Background Information in PDF format.


Start with the search engines, using quotes around the person’s name. Use more than one search engine since they index different content. You can also try running the phone number or address (if you have it) to see if the person is found in this way. If so, look through the web pages showing up to make sure you have the right person, then chose the web sites that contain information you are seeking. Some of the best sources would be “About Us” pages on company web sites and networking or social sites such as those shown below where a resume or biography might exist.

Next try this, two good sites for searching information on people are Pipl and 123 People. Other good general sites include the people search feature for Yahoo!, as well as Whozat and Yoname, which searches across Web 2.0 sources. Then there is PeekYou which claims over 180 million profiles online. The next best sources are the professional networking sites that include the following major sites:

· Zabasearch
· LinkedIn
· Spock
· Ryze
· Plaxo
· Spoke
· Jigsaw
· Zoominfo
· Ziggs.

Should the person not be found in these sites, consider the vast amount of public records that are generated for people in their day-to-day lives. Business filings, driver’s licenses, vehicle registration records, property ownership and real estate records, voter registration records, and much more are kept in the Courthouse of their county of residence. The same holds true for international citizens, depending of course on the country of origin. Each bit of information helps you build the profile you need. In the U.S., you can find a variety of state and county records on the Internet. Click here for links to state records.

In difficult cases, contact your local librarian for help. If this doesn’t find what you are looking for, consider hiring a private investigator or researcher to discover what you are looking for. Of course, if you opt for the investigator or researcher, verify their reputation and billing rates before hiring them. For more information on what to do in hiring professional research services, visit The Research Process on my web site.

Microsoft Live Search

Microsoft Live Search is a worthy search engine and has the search ability for images, video, news, maps and much more. Live Search also allows searching for health, local (search within a city or zip code), books, academic materials, feeds (blogs and news headlines) and farecast for deals on hotels and flights. The search engine also has a translator.

Using the advanced search options allows a search by site, country or language and also allows for the use of the following symbols to modify your search:

• ' + ' or ' AND ' or ' & ' immediately preceding the word or phrase requires that word or phrase in the search results. Capitalize the word.
• ' - ' or ' NOT ' immediately preceding the word or phrase excludes that word or phrase. You must capitalize NOT.
• " " means find this exact word or phrase.
• ( ) Parenthesis identifies a group of words.
• OR or finds webpages that contain either of the terms or phrases.

You can use up to 150 words or 10 phrases in your search. Basic searches are not case sensitive.

Here is a sample search: +Microsoft +"Windows 2000" NOT server AND (drivers OR software OR add-ins) will find information about Windows 2000 drivers, patches and support. Notice the + is immediately next to the word or phrase (same applies when using ' - ' or ' & ') and the group of words 'drivers' 'software' 'add-ins' is grouped by parenthesis.

Live Search Instant Answers can recognize many common questions and provides useful answers. Type what you are looking for in the search box on http://search.live.com/, and then click Search. If an Instant Answer is available, it appears at the top of your search results.

Instant answers appear in the following general categories:

Answers and facts from Encarta, including astronomical locations, geographical locations, historical figures, and other categories.

Medical information, such as descriptions, symptoms, causes, tests, and treatments for many diseases and conditions.

Find basic mathematical operators, exponents, roots, factorials, modulo, percentages, logarithms, trigonometry functions, and mathematical constants. In the search box, type the equation that you want to solve or the constant that you want to find the value of.

Convert units of measurements for distance, weight, time, volume, and temperature. For example:

There is much, much more.

Go to Advanced Search for links to keywords which include filetype, intitle (words that appear in the title of the site), and more. Remember that local search requires city, state and zip and weather or forecast requires city and state.

Take time to review the features of this excellent search engine and practice. Take time to practice so you become good at it.

Because Microsoft is pursuing Yahoo to purchase their search engine, we have not included the current “Cash Back” program. A link to that program is on the main Live Search web page at the time this entry is written.

Be flexible and you can access most of the indexed materials on the web.

Finding What You Are Looking For

This web log (blog) has been created to help you find information on the Internet. It requires only that you take the time to read and practice a little. If you consider all the time you have wasted getting poor results from your past Internet searches, you will be saving time overall if you just learn the practices outlined in this blog and the recommended pages. Remember, once you learn how to search effectively, you have the skill for life and can find almost everything you are looking for.

• At the time of this posting, Google still dominates the Internet search world. It is the largest, fastest, and most innovative Search Engine out there. Google is followed closely by Yahoo! and Ask, with MSN Live and AOL Search all trying to keep up.
  
  
• The best thing to hone your Internet skills is to first learn about using Google. In addition to this blog, see also the Google Guide. Another great web page is the UC Berkley web site "Goggling to the Max". See also the Unofficial Google Advanced Search site and Cool Things You Can Do With Google.
  
  
• The next best thing you can do to improve your skills is to learn the advanced commands of at least one other major Search Engine.

Besides the Search Engines, there are a number of Internet sources out there. For a general overview of some excellent searching resources, see How To Do Internet Research from e-Clarity. There are also many alternative Search Engines that will help you find what you search for. If you have a favorite, use it! But supplement it with one of the top Search Engines listed above, since they each index information that the others do not have. And do not hesitate to explore and test new Search Engines and Internet search tools. Happy hunting!

Unlock the Power of Yahoo! Search

Most people know that Yahoo allows searching of news, images, shopping sites, provides free email, and allows searching of Yellow Pages among other things. But did you know that Yahoo Answers provides human-generated answers to questions? Or that Yahoo Advanced Search allows you to access professional-grade, subscription databases for a small fee?

When you look at the many features of Yahoo, you can see why it is the 2nd most popular Search Engine. To get the most out of Yahoo's capabilities, start with Yahoo Basics, where you will find search tips, shortcuts and ways to do special types of searching. Next, visit Yahoo Shortcuts, where you can learn how to look up anything from stock quotes, weather reports, zip codes, even find synonyms and word definitions plus much more.

Once you conduct a search, Yahoo results gives you many tools including the ability to view a web site's cached pages, or search just within a particular web site. For researchers, Yahoo also provides a Finance page, giving a formidable company search resource. There are also many other Search Services that include desktop search or a toolbar that includes shortcuts to search tips.

Also worth adding to your Yahoo search strategy is Yahoo Groups, searching within online communities, as well as occasionally visiting their informative/instructional Yahoo Blog. The Yahoo News Alerts gives you email notice of news on subjects, people or companies, and the Yahoo Directory gives you a specific, human edited gateway to various subjects.

Advanced search instructions are also available for:

News Search
Local Search
Image Search
Video Search
Audio Search

As you spend a little time learning Yahoo's advanced features, you will be able to find anything in their vast index of web sites. When the other Search Engines do not have the content you need, or when it is indexed in ways you would not expect, your investment in discovering Yahoo will become invaluable.

How to Use Google's Advanced Searching

Not only is Google the largest and most popular search engine, it also has numerous advanced search features that help you find almost anything on the Internet. Take a few minutes to learn some of its features and you will soon be locating everything you search for.

• Your first stop should be the Google Advanced Search area, where there are many options for composing a complex search.
• Your second stop should be to review the Google Guide, an easy reference to many ways of advanced searching.
• Third stop is the Google Cheat Sheet, where you find the terminology to use to locate exactly what you are looking for.
• The fourth stop is also worth reviewing: The Essentials of Google Search, where you can learn how to refine your search phase and wording so you can narrow in on what you want.
• To understand what your search found, take a look at Google's Search Results Page Explained, which gives you a clear picture of what the results revealed after you ran a search.

Google also has a Directory, allowing subject-specific or regional searching in several languages.

These sites show you some of the ways to learn very sophisticated searches with Google, but the list would not be complete without these pages:

Advanced News Search

Advanced Image Search

Advanced Book Search

Advanced Scholar Search

Google Government Search

Google Patent Search (U.S.)

Google Shopping

Google Catalog Search

Finally, Google Alert will send you a daily email when information on a word or phrase appears anywhere on the Internet (sign up required), and Google News Alerts notifies you when your search term appears in Internet news sources.

If you take a small amount of time to become proficient with Google, you will be able to quickly find the information you are seeking and end up saving hours of time that it would have taken you to search without advanced skills.

Invest the time to learn Google's advanced features, it is worth it!

Added: Google Cheat Sheet now available as a PDF download.