Company Growth * Is the company in growth mode? Why or why not? * Is the company in growth mode? Why or why not?* What external factors affect its growth?* Where is this company in the cycle? At the end or just the beginning?* Who are its Tier I and Tier II compet.i.tors?* Is there turnover in senior management? Has it been forced by the board or did people reach retirement age? Was a successor being groomed in the wings?
Financial * What do the numbers say? How are the company"s balance sheet, income statement, earnings per share, dividend(s)? What do they indicate about the company"s health? * What do the numbers say? How are the company"s balance sheet, income statement, earnings per share, dividend(s)? What do they indicate about the company"s health?* What is the debt-to-equity ratio? Remember, cash is king.* How is the stock price doing? Why is it moving?* How is the stock doing against its compet.i.tors? Against the market as a whole?* Are there other companies where you should be interviewing?* What do the a.n.a.lysts think?
Strategy * What were last year"s short-term and long-term strategies/ objectives? Were they met? * What were last year"s short-term and long-term strategies/ objectives? Were they met?
Market Share * Are they dominant players? Why? How big is the market? What percentage of the market do they own? What is the next market? * Are they dominant players? Why? How big is the market? What percentage of the market do they own? What is the next market?* Does the company have any new products/services/patents?* Is the company strong or weak domestically versus overseas? Where does the company make most of its profit?* What do each of the regions and products/divisions contribute to the whole?
Technology Issues * Can cost efficiencies be driven through modernization? * Can cost efficiencies be driven through modernization?* How does the Internet affect the company? If it is a threat, does the company have a strategy to address it?
Legal and Regulatory Issues * Are there any pending bills or regulations that might have a significant impact? * Are there any pending bills or regulations that might have a significant impact?* Are there any patent infringements?
People * What do people say about the company publicly? * What do people say about the company publicly?* Is the company being sued or has it been sued by former employees?
a.s.sessing Fit
You don"t want to waste your time and effort on companies that are not going to be a good fit. Guerrilla, use this information to get a picture of the organization. Do you think the company/organization has a future? Why or why not? What factors impede the company? It is critical that you understand this information thoroughly before you approach the company. Armed with this background information, you will be able to answer with confidence these typical interview questions: * What do you know about our company?* What are your thoughts on the challenges facing our industry and how can you help us?* What would you do in your first 90 days if we hired you as a ?
Imagine how surprised the interviewer will be when you can articulate what the company"s issues are-how your experience fits with their needs and what you would do first. You"ll blow them away. On the other hand, if you haven"t done your homework before you go in for an interview, you"re dead on arrival.
Librarians Are Your Allies
If you"re having trouble finding lists of companies or information on specific companies, call your local library and talk to the research librarian. Treat these people like gold. Put them on your Christmas list. Bring them boxes of candy. Buy them flowers on their birthdays. They have forgotten more about how to retrieve information than you will ever know. They are the Sherlock Holmes of reference information. So make friends, ask lots of questions, and take notes, but only after you have at least tried to find some of the information on your own.
If your local library does not have anything on hand in the periodicals, business, or reference sections, then inquire about the interlibrary loan service. Chances are the information you need is available somewhere, just not there. Many people don"t realize that libraries all over the world formally share books, CDs, and other reference materials with each other. The definitive source for any book published in the United States is the Library of Congress. If it is in print, the Library of Congress has it and your local librarian can get it.
The libraries may be able to help you access some of these market resource firms as well: * Aberdeen Group (www.aberdeen.com)* Forrester Research (www.forrester.com)* Gartner Group (www.gartnergroup.com)* IDG (www.idg.com)* Business.com http ( http (www.business.com)
Alternative Sites
The Internet allows you to search all types of alternate sources of information that may be of value to you as you narrow your list of companies: * The Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org)* The Digital Librarian: a librarian"s choice of the best of the Web (www.digital-librarian.com)* Vault (www.Vault.com)* The Standard (www.thestandard.com)
Of particular interest if you"re trying to get information on private companies is the Search Systems Free Public Records Directory at www.searchsystems.net. This is the largest directory of links to free public record databases on the Internet. What is of interest to guerrillas are the business information and corporate filings sections. Sometimes the best information is that which the company has no control over.
Then there is a very low-tech way-the Yellow Pages or sites that support business phone number listings on the web: * Big Book (www.bigbook.com)* GTE Superpages (www.superpages.com)
How to Find the Hiring Managers
Now that you have a list of 10 to 20 companies, you need to find the people who can actually hire you.
Alternative 1
Guerrillas know the most direct way is often the easiest. Use your telephone. I always call first and ask who is responsible for "X." "X" is the t.i.tle of the executive I want to speak with. Seven out of 10 times this will work. If it doesn"t, call back at lunchtime and ask the noon hour receptionist; generally, they are not as guarded about the information they give out.
Figure 4.6 "Without the words." "Without the words."
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Alternative 2
Go to each company"s web site. If you are lucky, it will identify all their senior executives. Web information should be up-to-the-moment, but phone and verify.
Alternative 3
Google your way in. If you are having difficulty finding the name, go to Google"s advanced search box. Type in the company name in the first box and the t.i.tle of the person you think your future boss reports to in the third box. Try doing this with the company "Google" in the first box, "vice president" in the third, and "free" in the fourth box "without the words" (see Figure 4.6 Figure 4.6).
If you run the search, you will find a list of Google"s executives at: www.google.com/corporate/execs.html. This is a simple way to find information fast.
Once you have the name, run a search on the individual through Google. This time you put the first and last name in the first box and the company name in the third box. This will produce a list of conferences the person has attended, speeches, press releases, news articles, clubs the executive belongs to, and so on.
A GUERRILLA RESEARCH ALTERNATIVE
What if you don"t have time to do a full search because you need a job now or at least by tomorrow afternoon? Is there a faster way? Yes!
Here"s a super-fast way to find nearly all the companies in your area that can use your skills: * Decide what job you are going to look for. In our example, we are going to look for retail management jobs in New York City. * Choose key words that are specific to the type of job you are looking for. In * Choose key words that are specific to the type of job you are looking for. In Figure 4.7 Figure 4.7, we use Retail and Manager. You can use a job t.i.tle if you wish, in which case you need to enclose the term in quotation marks: "retail manager."* Add these 4 words: "job," "resume," "submit," and "free" as ill.u.s.trated in Figure 4.7 Figure 4.7.
As constructed, this search string instructs Google to return web sites that have retail manager jobs but are not ads for resume-submitting businesses.
In the "without the words" option, we type the word "free." Why specifically ban the word free? Because the word free is not used on corporate web sites nor is it used in job descriptions. It is, however, used to sell resume-submitting services, and we don"t want to waste time wading through those sites to find the real jobs.
You can see the number of hits that are returned by adding the words one at a time (see Table 4.1 Table 4.1).
Figure 4.7 Advanced Google search. Advanced Google search.