Research Your Next Employer

Desperate times call for desperate measures but sitting down and sending out resumes to every job posting is a bad idea. If you have ever gone fishing then obviously you are trying to catch a fish even if not a specific kind. Depending on your fishing hole you might catch some sea weeds or stereotypical boot.

It is essential that you research your next employer you are going to be applying with and not just blindly applying. There are 2 main reasons for this:

1) Avoid scams.

There is an immediate concern if you haven’t heard of the company or are unfamiliar with it.

This may sound funny but try a Google search with “employers name + scam” to see if the company is legitimate. Depending on what that yields you move onto looking for generic information on Wikipedia.com depending on the size of the company.

More info on avoiding hiring scams and how to spot a scam recruiter.

2) Any information you can get on an employer may help you land an interview, and help you again when you are at the interview.

Once you have decided with reasonable certainty this business is legitimate you start the real digging.

Part A: Why are they hiring?

Break it down further – Are they growing? Simply replacing retiring workforce, replacing lower cost workers etc?

Look for this info at Yahoo / Google finance if the company is publicly traded.

Part B: Are they international?

You may not be looking to travel overseas but this might help you determine if your US location is the headquarters or simply an afterthought.

Part C: What is the Job outlook at the company?

Is turnover really high? If you search for the company on the better business bureau does it look like the company is going down in flames? Can you find any employee commentary online?

If you can answer these 3 sub questions you can then figure out if it make sense to take an honest run at one of the job postings you found online.