Websites
and Print Resources You need to Know About
Where do most job candidates
come up short? When you speak with hiring authorities, the answer you hear
most often is — “Candidates know surprisingly little about our company
when they come in for the interview.”
This is an amazing fact, considering
that one of the ways in which candidates are judged is by how thorough and
organized they are in preparing for a challenge. Today, more than ever
before, the resources are available to gain knowledge about businesses,
industries, and job trends.
Simply put, there's no excuse for being
unprepared, or being perceived as unprepared, in today's fast-moving and
highly competitive professional world
The good news is that information is abundant.
Chances are if you need to research a business or industry, you can find the information
needed. In fact, you may find that there is too much information.
To make your
efforts in this area more productive, we have organized some of the best sites to go to
for your background research.
WEBSITES
MAJOR
SEARCH ENGINES / DIRECTORIES
Copernic
Desktop Search
"Queries leading search engines to bring you relevant, high quality
results."
Dogpile
Multiple search engines in one.
Infospace
"The easiest way to find businesses and people."
Google
You know what this is—the premier search engine!
Metacrawler
"Search the search engines."
Webcrawler
"The Web's top search engines spun together."
Yahoo!
The original organizer of the Web—a combined directory and search
engine.
GENERAL
CAREER SITES (job leads and recruiters)
Monster.com
A monster of a job board.
Yahoo!
Hotjobs
Job board.
Careerbuilder.com
Job board claiming "The nation's largest employment network."
America's
JobBank
Job board.
Recruiters
Online
Job board that claiming they are "the web presence experts for
recruiters."
Jobs.com
Search jobs by geography or category.
Dice
Claims to be "the #1 job site for technology careers."
JOBcentral
Job board with jobs in 200 major metro areas and 6,200 cities.
Top
Echelon Network
Jobs posted in the "the world's most successful placement network.
EXECUTIVE-SPECIFIC
CAREER SITES (free and fee-based)
General Job Search
TheLadders.com
The fastest growing six-figure job site. Free and fee-based depending
upon level.
6
Figure Jobs
Leading executive portal for $100K plus jobs.
hundredK.com
Center for $100K+ job search and recruiting.
futurestep
A Korn/Ferry company, a major leading in middle management recruiting,
offering job candidates customized recruitment solutions to employers.
Management
Recruiters International (MRI)
Global leader in recruitment solutions.
BlueSteps.com
Giving senior executives continual exposure to over 4000 search
professionals in more than 70 countries.
SpencerStuart
Leading, privately held, global executive search firm.
Heidrick
& Struggles
Leader in top-level executive search.
ExecuNet
Membership network where accomplished executives advance their careers.
NETSHARE.com
Membership-based organization dedicated to providing executives with
quality $100K plus job listings and networking opportunities.
RiteSite.com
Helping senior executives contact and build relationships with 485
retained executive search firms.
Executive
REGISTRY
$100K+ jobs via executive recruiters.
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NICHE JOB
SEARCH AND INFO SITES
www.pamdixon.com/jobsearch.htm
by Pam Dixon, author of Job Searching Online for Dummies—info on
major career websites and niche sites.
www.jumpstartyourjobsearch.com
by Pat Kendall, author of Jumpstart Your Online Job Search—sites
for company research, niche sites, diversity sites, freelancing,
international sites, etc.
www.dbm.com/jobguide
The Riley Guide—the original cyber job search guide—still great
info.
www.airsdirectory.com/directories/
Broad compilations of job boards, recruiters, classified, etc.
www.recruiterresources.com
Recruiter resources.
www.google.com/newsalerts
Google News Alerts are sent by email when news articles appear online that
match the topics you specify. Great for collecting info on target
companies, industries, or individuals.
www.greatplacetowork.com/best/lists-us.php
100-best lists in cooperation with Fortune magazine.
www.CEOupdate.com
Not just for CEOs—other sr. level jobs, too.
Hint for a geographic search:
Use a search engine and type in "best companies" or "best
companies, location" or "business directory, location."
JOB
SEARCH RESEARCH (free)
stats.bls.gov/home.htm
Bureau of Labor Statistics site with detailed information on employment
and industry trends. Includes the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
www.bls.gov/oco/cg/home.htm
Career Guide to Industries. Included in the BLS site above.
www.acinet.org/acinet/default.aspCareerInfonet
America's Career Infonet. Research employment by occupation, industry and
state trends.
www.annualreportservice.com
Largest free directory of annual reports on the Web.
Annual
Report Service
Free annual report service on select companies organized by
industry.
www.corporateinformation.com
One of the best portals for researching public companies. Limited
information on private firms.
www.superpages.com
Allows search by city or within an X-mile radius of a city—requires
industry catergory or industry name.
www.business.com
News, research, contacts for 10,000 public and 44,000 private companies
www.pac-info.com
Large collection of free public records (majority of which are free.Great
way to get lists of companies whose industries require licensure. Ex—engineering,
securities, social services, etc.).
www.hoovers.com
Solid, timely info—fee-based options for more in-depth info.
www.forbes.com/lists/
Forbes 500. Forbes Magazine's company research incorporating a variety of
lists/rankings.
www.wetfeetcom
Also solid company info from an "insiders" perspective—company
culture, hiring practices, etc. Fee-based "Insiders Guides" give
in-depth industry and corporate info.
www.thomasregister.com
Free with registration. Widely searchable biz info. String results can be
sorted by state.
www.careers.wsj.com
Career pages of the Wall Street Journal—read the top stories every day
to keep yourself up-to-date in current market conditions and executive
career issues.
www.libraryspot.com
Huge array of information available.
www.melissadata.com/lookups/index.htm
30 free look-ups—from zip codes to labor statistics.
www.sec.gov
Links to EDGAR database of SEC filings (www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm)
www.jobhuntersbible.com
Job Hunters Bible is also a great source of information on a wide
variety of job search topics. For company research click onto
"Researching Careers or Fields." "Researching
Companies" and "Research-knowledge is power."
www.ceoexpress.com
Portal to tons of prime exec-friendly info—publications, search engines,
business issues, media sites, etc. Great resource.
www.ask.com
One of the simplest sites to use. Just type in a question as you would
normally ask.
www.pac-info.com
A large collection of free public records, most free to access. A good
way to sleuth out contact names.
Wetfeet.com
Company and industry research.
FEE-BASED
RESEARCH SITES
www.harrisinfo.com
Sort more than 360,000 manufacturers by industry, city, state, SIC code,
and zip code.
www.profileresearch.com
Recruiter, company, and VC lists with contact info. Mailing campaigns,
e-mail campaigns, fax campaigns.
www.hoovers.com
Advanced search info is for fee. Limited searches are free.
www.infousa.com
Thorough but not perfect—can't always get a contact name. This is the
same info as the library's American Business Directories.
Fortune
500 and Fortune 1000
Fortune Magazines top company lists including fastest growing
companies.
North
American Industry (NAICS) Association
Company target lists and industry stats.
Vault.com
Company and industry reseach. "Behind the scenes" insight and
perspectives from employees of companies profiled.
www.bizjournals.com/bookoflists/
(company target lists)
Listing of "hot" companies by geographic area. Includes key
decision makers, their titles and contact information.
ASSOCIATION
SITES
www.marketingsource.com/associations
2,500 national and international business associations with contact
info. Free on-line download of the Directory of Associations.
www.trainingforum.com/assoc.html
10,000 US business associations hosted by Interactive Training.
www.asaenet.org/main/
American Society of Association Executives
RELOCATION
GUIDES
Most sites are searchable and
some are interactive. Lots of facts and figures on prices, crime rates,
schools, government, etc.
Regional Info
123Relocation.com
Homefair.com
RelocationCentral.com
monstermoving.com
City Info
www.citysearch.com
SALARY
AND COST OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Salary.com
Salary surveys and compensation issues.
JobStar Central
Salary surveys and compensation issues issues—a site supported by
Careerjournal.com.
www.datamasters.com
Mostly IT, but has cost of living comparisons for nearly 400 US cities and
metro areas.
www.careers.wsj.com
Lots of links to salary sites.
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LIBRARY
RESEARCH
Good reference librarians are
passionate about their work; they love sleuthing; they are dogged in their
determination to find you what you want and your clients need. You want
them on your team! They will not do the work for you, but they will steer
you or your clients to the best print and Web information available to
meet your research goals.
Some of the business
directory resources available at your local library are:
-
Regional, state, or local
business directorires
-
Service company
directories
-
Manufacturing directories
-
Directories of specialized
business
-
Chamber of Commerce lists
and directories
Additional "must
use" resources are:
B&B Business Rankings:
Public and Private Businesses Ranked Within Industry Category
Ranks US public and private companies by size, location, and industry.
Helps with competitor comparisons using SIC codes, sales volume, etc. You
will be able to see all major companies in that SIC code, with their key
information.
American Business Disc
Directory information on ten million public and private US businesses.
Includes credit ratings and net sales range.
Adams Job Bank (series)
Thousands of local employers listed by category and company size.
Directory of American
Firms Operatin in Foreign Countries
Very useful if oversears relocation is your goal or if you'd like frequent
travel to off shore offices.
Standard and Poor's
Register of Corporations (3 volumes)
Lists officers, products, SIC numbers, sales range and numbers of
employees. Geographic and SIC index. Updated annually.
Million Dollar Directory
(Dun & Bradstreet)
Information on leading US public and private companies. Updated annually.
Dun's Directory of Service
Companies
For service company information. Companion volume to Million Dollar
Directory.
Ward's Business Directory
of US Private and Public Companies
Good general business listings and information.
Standard Dictionary of
Advertisers
Over 25,000 companies listed and described with key information. Updated
annually.
Thomas Register of
American Manufacturers (10 volumes)
Comprehensive listing of American manufacturers.
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