Think you’re doing everything you can to find the right IT job? After you’ve already done all you can to polish your resume, develop a professional presence on social media and build a network that will match you with opportunities, you need to follow up by taking the next step. Successful job seekers do their homework and check out potential employers with a little advance research.
Why? At every stage of your search – whether you’re just starting to look, or have already landed an interview – you’ll want to be prepared and ready with as much information as possible. At the beginning of a job search, that information can help you craft a better cover letter and custom tailor the resume you send out. During an interview, a basic level of knowledge about the organization will impress an interviewer. You’ll come off as serious, intelligent and diligent – about your work, and the job opportunity.
Checking out prospective employers will also help you to have some idea whether or not you’re a good fit for the company. In addition, you’ll want to be sure that any company you’re applying to work for will help you reach your professional goals. You don’t want to waste your time. A targeted job search is a better strategy to find what you’re looking for.
Get started by making a few decisions about what you want out of the right IT position. For example, are you looking to grow with a company? Do you want to work for a smaller startup, or a larger organization? Do you have ideas about how you want to use your talents and skills, or are you just happy to contribute to a larger picture and work with talented colleagues?
Once you’ve made some decisions, you can research companies and organizations with your goals in mind. To help you with your search, we have a few ideas that you can use as a starting point. Here are some of the basics you should be checking on during your research of any potential employer:
1) Find out what the company does, the history and mission statement of the organization. What are the products and services they provide, and how would the position you’re applying for fit into that equation?
2) Try to learn more about the size of the company. How many employees do they have? What kind of market share? Would you be just another face in the crowd, or a core team member?
3) Can you tell whether or not the mission of the company matches your core values? What is the organizational culture? If you’re a creative problem solver you’ll want to work with likeminded colleagues that value innovation and unique solutions, but if you prefer structure and guidelines you’ll want to search for more clearly defined job parameters and systems.
4) Find out more about the organization’s customers and competitors. This can help you find other opportunities, and give you some idea of whether or not you’ll be a good fit. Would they expect you to be their in-house expert, or would you work within a specialized area of expertise?
5) Look for any information about the company reputation, insights and growth forecasts from industry experts. If you’re looking at a smaller business, you could also check out the market predictions for the sector they serve.
Once you’re ready to start your research, start by checking out company websites. You can expand your search by checking company reviews online. We recommend you start by checking the reviews posted on Linkedin, Glassdoor.com and Indeed.com. You can find great recommendations for other top sites to research a potential employer here.
Broaden your search by reading industry journals, business journals, national newspapers for larger companies, or local newspapers to check out smaller organizations. When you’re looking at corporate websites, don’t forget to check out any press releases provided.
Finally, don’t forget to get in touch with us at Market Street Talent! We represent client companies to create detailed IT job requisitions and pre-screen candidates. Start by checking out our jobs page, and be sure to submit a resume. We can help you find the job you’re searching for and learn more about available opportunities!