Most job hunters think that reading a company's web site is all the research they need to do before a job interview-but they are wrong. Guerrillas know that it is only a start. In fact, it is not even where most guerrillas will start. When an interview is imminent, guerrillas will visit the company's web site and those of their chief compet.i.tors. Then they Google the company for: * Articles* Personal and corporate blogs* Company newsletters* Industry newsletters* News clips* Speeches or keynote presentations* Membership in a.s.sociations* Resumes of former employees

The research skills discussed in this chapter enable you to fully research any industry or company any time, anywhere, and show you how to direct-source jobs like a headhunter. These 2 skills give you the inside track. You will be able to fill your opportunity pipeline full of jobs that other job hunters will never know exist.

YOUR RESEARCH BUDGET

Time, not money, buys the best research. Most of the information you need is available free through your local library or online. There certainly is a lot of information that you can buy, but usually these reports are summaries of information you can find yourself with a little digging if you know where to look. You won't learn these techniques anywhere else.

The basis for all good research starts with understanding what you need to know. You want to understand the intricacies of the industries that interest you and how to best position yourself-not just into your new job-but also into a succession of jobs that you can parlay into a 5-star career. To accomplish this, do your research in 3 steps: 1. Identify which industries you want to, or are qualified to, work in.2. Locate which companies in those industries are of interest.3. Evaluate who has the authority in those companies to hire you.

Researching an Industry

To select an industry to research, you need to know which industries employ people with the skills you are marketing. Skills a.s.sessment can be tricky if you don't have access to a career counselor or career coach. Don't fret; the fastest, most effective way to determine which industries use your skills is to visit America's Career InfoNet online at www.acinet.org.

Go to their home page. Click on 1 of 2 sections depending on where you are starting your search: (1) Skills Profiler (if you are a new grad or career changer), or (2) Industry Information (if you know which industries you want to explore).

Skills Profiler

If you need to get a better understanding of the industries that use your skills because you are just starting your career or want to switch careers, start with the Skills Profiler. It has a menu-driven a.s.sessment tool called "Skills Explorer" that will tell you, in about 5 minutes, which occupations and industries employ your skills. This is the most comprehensive tool of its kind on the Internet, and it is free. Not only will this easy-to-use tool tell you which industries use your skills, but when used in conjunction with the Industry Information tools that are available on the site, it will identify opportunities in your city or town that match your skills. Even if you already have a strong sense of what you want to do and where you want to do it, don't pa.s.s up the opportunity to consider all your possibilities.

Figure 4.1 Industry sectors. Industry sectors.

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Industry Information

The Industry Information section includes a menu-driven tool that allows you to look inside an industry and see which sectors employ those skills. If we use the Industry Information tool to look at the construction industry, here's what we find:

First we select "Construction" as our industry (see Figure 4.1 Figure 4.1). We find the subsectors shown in Figure 4.2 Figure 4.2: Subsectors defined. Selecting the "construction of buildings" option, we get the choices shown in Figure 4.3 Figure 4.3.

Figure 4.2 Subsectors defined. Subsectors defined.

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Figure 4.3 Industry group. Industry group.

[image]Selecting "Nonresidential building construction," our choices become those shown in Figure 4.4 Figure 4.4.

Figure 4.4 Industrial or commercial. Industrial or commercial.

[image]If you select "Commercial building construction," we get a summary screen that includes additional links to the following information:* Employment guides on the industry* An up-to-date report on industry trends* Profile of an occupation in this industry* Employment trends by industry and occupation* Location of employers in this industry If you select "Profile an occupation," the link will detail all the occupations that use your skills in the construction industry. Selecting "Locate employers" takes you to another menu-driven series of screens that allows you to find qualifying jobs in any area of the United States.

To demonstrate the power of this tool, I performed a search on construction jobs in Anniston, Alabama. Figure 4.5 Figure 4.5 shows a screen shot of my search results. shows a screen shot of my search results.

Figure 4.5 Select employer. Select employer.

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As you can see, I found 36 job openings that day. Clicking on a job link took me to detailed information on the company and the job.

Guerrilla, does it get much easier? I think not.

Here are 5 questions you should be asking yourself as you start to explore industries. Some of these questions are raised and answered in the available reports, but not all: 1. What are the general trends in the industry-by sector?2. Where are the hot spots-those areas where growth will remain steady for several years? This can be represented by:a. A group of products or servicesb. A specific geographic areaConstruction may be slowing down in one section of the country and getting ready to boom in another, or residential construction may have peaked and commercial construction is rising. It is important to drill down to find details if you want to make an informed decision.

3. Which skills are in demand?a. Now and in the futureb. By discipline: sales, marketing, finance, engineering, trades4. What is the demographic profile of the workforce? These studies or reports are most often referred to as Labor Market Information (LMI) studies.You want to be able to a.s.sess whether there might be a continuing demand for your skills, and a good indicator of this may be the median age of the workforce. If the median age is, say 55, then there will be people retiring soon and this might increase demand for the profession.

5. Is the industry p.r.o.ne to outsourcing or offshoring?

Look into which businesses are starting up and getting funding from banks and venture capital firms and look at which companies the mutual fund companies are investing in. The easiest way to do this is to find the web sites of some of the mutual fund companies that are reported weekly in your local daily newspaper.

To see which industries are receiving start-up or additional funding, I recommend 3 sites: 1. The Money Tree Survey (www.pwcmoneytree.com/moneytree/index.jsp)2. PE Week Wire (www.privateequityweek.com)3. Just Sell (www.justsell.com)

If you can't find what you are looking for, you need to contact the industry a.s.sociations. When you find the national a.s.sociation, visit its web site and see what free resources are available to help in your job search. This could include: * Labor market information studies* Membership lists* Industry reports* A job board

Also see if there is a local chapter that may have networking events. Some a.s.sociations even have official discussion forums. Review all the industry information with a keen eye to what the industry leaders feel the challenges are for the future. For an up-to-the-moment view, read industry trade magazines. They are listed at www.specialissues.com/lol/.

Locating Companies of Interest

Once you have identified an industry, you need to research companies. Your research may be broad and include all the companies in the industry because, frankly, you will move anywhere for the right opportunity-or it could be very local. Your first mission is to locate national directories that include lists of the companies. A guerrilla would start at CEO Express online at www.ceoexpress.com. CEO Express has links to nearly every source of information you need to get yourself started: news, stock quotes, and IPO filings, all in one place.

Privately Held Companies

These are the hardest to research cheaply because the companies don't have a strict requirement to report to anyone but their limited shareholders. If they have anything to hide, like pending litigation or poor financials, you really have to dig. Here's where to start: * Dun & Bradstreet (www.dnb.com/us/ D&B) are masters of information, much of it a la carte or free.* Thomas Register (www.thomasregister.com).* Hoover's (www.hoovers.com).* D&B Million Dollar Database (www.dnbmdd.com/mddi) has information on approximately 1,600,000 U.S. and Canadian leading public and private businesses.* Forbes 500 Largest Private Companies (www.forbes.com/businesstech/) is always one of my favorites, but it is only useful for the largest companies.* BusinessWeek BusinessWeek works well, too ( works well, too (www.businessweek.com).* Thomas Register (www4.thomasregister.com) provides information on most manufacturers.

Publicly Held Companies

Public companies are easier to research, especially with the increased reporting requirements that have been dictated by Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. However, it still requires work. Here are your best sources of information: * Dun & Bradstreet (www.dnb.com/us/); always start here.* Edgar Online People (people.edgar-online.com/people) searches Securities and Exchange filings by a person's name or displays all people a.s.sociated with a specific company name. Very useful.* Million Dollar Database (www.dnbmdd.com/mddi/) provides information on approximately 1,600,000 U.S. and Canadian leading public and private businesses.* Lexis Nexis (www.lexisnexis.com) has legal, news, public records, and business information.* Corporate Information (www.corporateinformation.com/home.asp) is a free site that requires registration.* Financial Web (www.financialweb.com) lists stocks, SEC filings.* Fortune 500 (500 largest U.S. companies).* GrayMetalBox (www.graymetalbox.com) is the web site for Trade Scenarios Reports and Research Center.* 123 Jump (www.financialweb.com); get SEC filings, company news, and links to home pages, current quotes and graphs, and so on.* Wall Street Research Net (stocks.Internetnews.com) has the most comprehensive company news, EPS estimates, links to home pages, and so on.

Hardcore news sites you should monitor include: * www.cnbc.com * * www.money.com * * finance.yahoo.com * * www.market.w.a.tch.com * * www.foxbusiness.com

Next, visit those company web sites. If they are not available in this day and age, that will mean they are very, very small. The easiest way to research small businesses that don't have a web presence is your local Chamber of Commerce or the archives of the local newspaper.

Compet.i.tive Intelligence

Here are the questions you should ask about each company you are interested in.