Friday, July 27, 2007

3 Ways For Job Seekers To Gain Inside Company Information - Page 4


What Inside Information Can Help Job Seekers Most?


As a job seeker, there are a number of types of inside information that can provide value to your search:

  1. Goals: While public companies disclose their overall goals annually, they often don’t disclose how they plan to achieve them. Companies that have increased revenue goals might be planning to achieve them via an increased sales force, revamped marketing, new products, new advertising campaigns, lower prices (and therefore, lower costs), or even increased prices are some of the many ways that companies might reach higher sales goals. Gaining an understanding of the methods a company plans to use to reach these goals, helps a candidate anticipate the types of unadvertised jobs that a company might need to help them reach goals. Even better, this information can help a job seeker customize their resume to highlight how they have already helped a prior employer in a similar situation (Companies that are seeking to increase sales are likely less interested in how you helped cut costs at a prior employer).

  2. Problems: By approaching your job search as finding problems that you are an expert at solving allows you to search beyond job advertisements. Inside information can give you insight as to the core problems a company/department/manager is facing, and how they are trying to solve these problems. This not only gives the savvy candidate insight into company needs, it also provides opportunities for resume customization that can really make your work history matter to the hiring manager.

  3. Contacts: Of course contacts can be valuable inside information. Instead of asking who’s hiring, or who should you send your resume to, instead ask who is responsible for reaching goals, fixing problems, removing roadblocks. Who has pain that you can solve? What are these contact’s hot buttons? What are they like as managers, as people, what is their personal style? All of this information can be valuable in helping you reach hiring managers before they post jobs, getting ahead of the curve. In addition, by understanding who they are and how they act, you’re better able to position yourself as making a first impression that “fits” their personality style as well as fitting with the department and company.
Inside information can be extremely valuable, but is often found beyond your close network. Knowing where to find inside company information and what to look for is a skill candidates can develop, allowing them to gain an advantage over other competitors, getting their resume seen more often, increasing interview numbers, and helping them create a stronger first impression.

Readers - please add your thoughts in the comments below. What inside information do you find most valuable in your job search?

Page: <1> <2> <3> <4>

Like this article?
Subscribe here and have daily tips delivered to your email.
or delivered to your RSS reader.

For access to more information:
Become a fan of reCareered on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/reCareered/21126045429
Join Career Change Central on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1800872

Related Articles:
30 Things You Can Control In Your Job Search
How Employee Referral Bonus Programs Can Work For You ... Or Against You

Email your request to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Source: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I have found it very useful to call some of their probable customers, and speak with people who either know them and deal with them, or know them and don't. You can find out how their strengths and weaknesses are pretty easily, which certainly helps in seeking a sales position, but should be important for many related positions. It can also give you some important red flags to address, before considering the company.