Research, Research, Research

Research is crucial before you write a cover letter, tailor your résumé, complete an application form or go to an interview. It helps you prepare and it proves your interest to employers. These days, with all the readily-accessible information about employers, it's the least that you can do.

Facts About the Job in General

You will impress the interviewer with your knowledge and greatly increase your ability to negotiate successfully if you do your research about the job in question beforehand. (See Negotiations for more information.)

What to Know

Here's just some of the information you should learn about the occupation:

• Average salary, nationally and locally
  
  
• Economic outlook: is this field growing or declining?
  
  
• Typical advancement opportunities

Where to Get the Information

You can get this information from many sources:

• OSCAR (see Step One: Assess for more information)
  
  
• Texas CARES (see Step One: Assess for more information)
  
  
• SOCRATES for occupational profiles and employer listings at http://socrates.cdr.state.tx.us
  
  
• Career-oriented websites, some of which can be found by clicking Texas Job Hunter's Guide at http://www.cdr.state.tx.us/shared/JobHunters.asp.
  
  
• Internet search engines
  
  
• Professional associations
  
  
• People employed in that position (see Information Interviews)

Facts about the Employer

Don't bother to show up if you don't know a little about the company where you're applying! It's so easy to get information these days that not doing it automatically means you don't want the job.

What to Know

Here's just some of the information to research:

• Products
  
  
• Organizational structure
  
  
• Services
  
  
• Financial status, e.g., stock prices
  
  
• Competitors
  
  
• Reputation
  
  
• Recent major changes
  
  
• Upcoming major changes
  
  
• Goals
  
  
• Interviewers' personality, background (optional)

Where to Get the Information

You can get information from many sources:

• Public library
  
  
• Company's newsletter and PR publications
  
  
• Company's website
  
  
• Company's annual reports
  
  
• Internet search engines
  
  
• People you know and their friends
  
  
• Company's customers
  
  
• Human resource and public relations departments
  
  
• Competitors and former employees