{"id":2207,"date":"2015-06-11T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T16:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/?p=2207"},"modified":"2015-06-11T09:02:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T14:02:06","slug":"how-to-find-a-job-using-organization-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/how-to-find-a-job-using-organization-research\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find a Job Using Research, Part Two: Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/how-to-find-a-job-using-industry-research\/\">first post in this series<\/a>\u00a0covered ways to research the industry you\u2019re interested in. Once you\u2019ve narrowed down that part of your job search, it\u2019s time to look at organizations within the industry you\u2019ve chosen. In this instance, \u201corganization\u201d refers to any entity that hires employees, whether it\u2019s a corporation, nonprofit, political or religious group, academic, or health care group.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When researching an organization, pay attention to the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Products, services, or clients.<\/li>\n<li>Culture, mission, values, priorities.<\/li>\n<li>Specific programs or initiatives.<\/li>\n<li>Current events or media coverage.<\/li>\n<li>Company outlook and strategy.<\/li>\n<li>Company history.<\/li>\n<li>Ownership status (private, public, nonprofit).<\/li>\n<li>Size and number of employees.<\/li>\n<li>Main competitors.<\/li>\n<li>Career opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some of these items can be found on the company\u2019s website, while others will take a more detailed search.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Organization Research Strategies and Tools<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Visit the company&#8217;s website <\/strong>and note key facts that are relevant to the department or position in which you\u2019re interested. There are various places on the website to look: Try About Us Corporate Info, and FAQs. If it\u2019s a public company, it should have annual reports online, which can provide considerable detail about the organization\u2019s finances and corporate structure, as well as its mission and vision. If it\u2019s a nonprofit, look for a 990 report online, which is similar to an annual report (some nonprofits do both). Also take a look at the company\u2019s press page, both for press releases and the coverage received.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Search for companies on <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/companies\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a>. See how you are connected to employees, view the company&#8217;s profile information, and find links to relevant news articles. Some companies will post articles on their LinkedIn pages that will give you a sense of relevant company trends and happenings. Review the LinkedIn profiles of employees to gain an understanding of the company culture and working environment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Search for companies on social media, such as Twitter and Facebook<\/strong>. Find out what a company is talking about online in these more informal settings. Depending on the organization, an organization may also have Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube accounts, among others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Read articles about the organization <\/strong>in the <a href=\"http:\/\/acbj.com\/markets\/\" target=\"_blank\">American City Business Journal<\/a> for the geographic region you are targeting (if there is one).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Use a search engine<\/strong>, such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a>, to find current events or media coverage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Conduct an <a href=\"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/tips-for-a-successful-informational-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\">informational interview<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0with a current or former employee to gain insight into the organization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Use <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.glassdoor.com\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Glassdoor<\/strong><\/a> to review company ratings or gain insight into the interview process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Identify other local business periodicals<\/strong> online or at your local library that feature news about the company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Next Steps: Taking Action<\/h4>\n<p>Researching organizations can seem daunting at first, but once you dig in, you\u2019ll start to find that some companies aren\u2019t doing the kind of work you want to do, or aren\u2019t hiring in your field. You may find yourself drawn to certain types of organizations\u2014for example, nonprofits\u2014which can help you narrow down your list of potential targets even more. You might even discover companies you\u2019d never heard of that are doing work that interests you.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a good idea to keep a file or spreadsheet of information you learn that\u2019s relevant to your job search, so you can compare \u201capples to apples\u201d as you decide which organizations to approach. Keep information such as company size, location, type of organization, type of work being done, financial details (if you can find that\u2014privately held companies don\u2019t always make that information public), types of jobs available, etc. Even though it takes effort to put this together, in the long run it will save you time as you have all that information in an easily searchable document.<\/p>\n<p>Most importantly, go beyond just collecting facts about an organization. Instead, focus on making the connection to these facts that highlight your interest in the organization or demonstrate the impact you can make.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The Capella <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.capella.edu\/about\/career-planning\/\"><em>Career Center\u2019s<\/em><\/a><em> mission is to empower students and alumni to proactively manage their careers and make meaningful, and effective, career decisions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research is an important part of finding your next job, and industry research is just the first step. What\u2019s next? Diving deep into your targeted organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":2286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[191,190],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2207"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2209,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207\/revisions\/2209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}