| Researching
employers: why and how |
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| Why research |
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To effectively sell
yourself as a job candidate, you need to be able to persuade
the employer that you are a fit for that employer's needs. Even when
the job market is great for job seekers, employers aren't going to
interview and hire candidates who are not a match for their needs. |
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You can't present yourself
— in cover letters or interviews — as
a match for the employer's needs if you don't know enough about
the employer to do so. |
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By doing research, you
get information to decide which employers to contact.
Rather than sending
fifty letters/e-mails and resumes to employers you know little to nothing
about, send ten letters and resumes to employers you know something
about and have a greater chance of securing an interview.
Targeted letters, individualized to the recipient are more effective
than "form" letters — you know a form letter when
you receive one; employers do too. |
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In interviews,
employers expect you to arrive knowing background information about
the organization. If you don't, you look like you're not really
interested in the job. You have to be able to answer the critical
question of why you would like to work for that employer —
and not sound like you would take any job. |
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Research helps you formulate
intelligent and appropriate questions to ask in your interview. |
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| How
to research specific employers |
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Talk to people:
Find people who work for or know about the organization. This
could be people you meet at a career fair, family members, neighbors,
parents of friends, students who graduated ahead of you, alumni
contacts — VT CareerLink
is Career Services' alumni networking database — you can search
it for alumni contacts working for particular organizations. |
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The employer's
web site: This is a no-brainer! Look for basic facts, information about mission, culture, values and more. If the web site posts jobs and/or
the organization invites e-mail from job seekers and/or accepts resumes
online, follow the instructions the employer provides. |
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Internet research. Note sources of information you find and gauge the credibility of those sources. |
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Call or write
the organization and ask for information AFTER you've searched for it elsewhere. This is
perfectly appropriate to do if you simply cannot find information about the organization
through their web site, or if the information is not clear. If you have an interview scheduled
with an employer, the employer should have already provided information
(web site, brochures, etc.); if not, by all means, ask for this. |
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Be careful. If you e-mail with a question the answer to which you could have found online with a little effort, you'll be perceived negatively as a potential employee (lazy, not smart....). As a potential employee, you want to be perceived as a person who does work, not creates more for someone else.
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