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Six Step Job Search Ladder
Library and Internet Resources for Superior Job Searches
Thorough preparation is a key component to a successful
job interview. As you seek the exact job offer you want, knowing your
target company's history, competitors, industry and culture both impresses
your interview panel and helps distinguish you from other candidates.
Follow the steps below to ensure that you rise to the
top when searching for your ideal job. Click a step number and you'll see
recommended paper and electronic resources -- the best job search strategies
will generally consult both types of materials.
| STEP |
WHAT
YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH |
| One |
Consult the Career
Management Center |
| Two |
Locate Job Listings |
| Three |
Target a Specific
Company |
| Four |
Research an Industry |
| Five |
Network |
| Six |
Learn about Company
Culture |
| And
To Stay At the Top... |
Additional Resources |
STEP ONE -- The Career Management Center
All Johnson students are encouraged to consult with the
Career Management Center (CMC) staff when preparing for job interviews
or at any stage of their job search. Remember -- the
CMC is your job search partner. Their staff are eager
to share their career expertise with you, and can even get you
in contact with JGSM alumni who now work at a specific company.
Visit them in-person at their offices on the 2nd floor of Sage
Hall, or electronically via the Johnson School web site.
STEP TWO -- Locate Job
Listings
Though not all MBA jobs are advertised, numerous
ads do appear daily in newspapers, on company websites, and in Internet career
centers. Additionally, recruiters regularly visit the Johnson School
and meet with interested, qualified candidates; contact the CMC to learn
more about on-campus recruiting.
If you know which company you wish to work
for, begin checking its website's employment section regularly. Not
only will you be one of the first to see new job postings, but you'll also
gain a sense of overall human resources changes in the organization.
Continual turnover may be a red flag of something more serious within the
organization.
For a broader selection of job listings,
consult the Management Library's Business
Internet Index (BII). The BII provides a selected
collection of job
listing websites as well as selected online resume
posting services. The BII also has selected salary
information resources and MBA
occupational profiles.
STEP THREE -- COMPANY RESEARCH
Now that you've located pertinent job listings, you need
to locate information about specific companies.
A. IS THE COMPANY PRIVATE OR PUBLIC?
Developing your career search strategy will depend in
part on the company's status -- public company information is more readily
available than private company information. Use a company directory
to determine a particular company's status.
NOTE:
If you don't have a specific company in mind, use Career
Search to help find appropriate firms. This database,
which is available remotely to the Cornell Community, allows a user
to develop a list of companies based on selected criteria such as
industry, location, size of the firm or annual sales. Updated monthly,
this database includes summary data on over 200,000 companies.
|
| PAPER
RESOURCES |
ONLINE
RESOURCES |
| Selected
General Directories:
- Million Dollar Directory,
Ready Reference, HF 5035 M65
- Directory of Corporate
Affiliations, Ready Reference,
HG 4057 A21 --
Includes information on public, private,
international and American companies.
- World Business Directory,
Ready Reference HG 4009 W67
Selected Specialized Directories:
- Directory of American
Firms Operating in Foreign Countries, Ready
Reference, T12 D582
|
- Thomson Research
-- Database available remotely to the Cornell Community.
Contains annual reports, other SEC filings, as well as 10 years
of annual financials downloadable in Excel format for public companies
only. Thomson Research is international in scope.
|
B. WHAT IS THE COMPANY'S HISTORY AND
PROFILE?
Once you know the company's status, it's time to take
another step and research the company's history. Short factual histories as
well as more expansive descriptions are invaluable information.
| PAPER
RESOURCES |
ONLINE
RESOURCES |
Public Companies:
- International Directory
of Company Histories, Reference,
HD 2721 I62
Private Companies:
- Everybody's Business:
A Field Guide to the Leading 400 Companies in America,
HD 2741 E93, Career Planning Section (First
Floor)
Specialized Company Coverage:
- Hoover's Handbooks
-- Hoover's publishes a range of reference
books that provide information about different types
of companies. Selected titles include:
Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies,
HF 5035 H78, Ready Reference;
Hoover's Handbook of Emerging Companies,
HG 4057 A32, Ready Reference; Hoover's
Handbook of World Business, HG
4009 H78, Ready Reference.
|
- Cornell
Library Catalog HINT: Use the company
name as a subject. For example, s=arthur d little
- Hoover's
Online -- Provides brief profiles for over 10,000
companies. Search for companies by name, ticker symbol,
keyword search, or industry.
NOTE:
A more complete Hoover's report is available to
members of
the Cornell Community via LEXISNEXIS
. On LEXISNEXIS
's main page, click
on Business, then choose the Company Financial
link. Type in a
company name, then select Hoover's Company Reports
from the pull-down Source box. |
For
more recommended online resources, see the Company
Information section of the BII,
our Business Internet Index. |
|
|
C. FIND COMPANY FINANCIALS
For public companies, a great deal of financial information
is available. For private companies, however, check their website and
then conduct article research.
| PAPER
RESOURCES |
ONLINE
RESOURCES |
Annual Reports:
- An extensive collection of major AMEX and
NYSE companies is located on the Library's 2nd floor.
Financials:
-
Mergent
Manuals, Ready Reference
-- Blue pages in the center of each manual contain
financial data. Manuals cover OTC Unlisted,
Public Utility, Industrial, Transportation, International,
etc.
Remember
that financial data for American public companies
is readily available in multiple sources due to US financial
filing regulations. It will be trickier to locate
financial data for private companies because they are
not obligated to disclose financial information. |
|
Annual Reports:
- PRARS
-- Provides a free mailing service of hard copies of annual reports,
prospectuses or 10k's on over 3,200 public companies.
Financials:
- Thomson
Research -- Database available remotely to
the Cornell Community. Contains annual reports and
other SEC filings, as well as 10 years of annual financials downloadable
in Excel format. Thomson Research is international in
scope.
- Bloomberg -- Available in
the Library. Good source for market performance data on
worldwide publicly traded companies. Can print but not download
data.
- Research Insight -- Available
in the Library. Annually updated set of compact disks that
contain financial information on publicly traded U.S. companies.
Twenty years of annual data, ten years of quarterly data and five
years of daily stock prices are reported. Also included are business
segment information, market data, and ratios.
- Multex
Investor -- Allows for searches by industry, name,
or ticker symbol. Such information as margins, valuation ratios,
and total debt are given.
|
D. FIND RECENT ARTICLES
Article research will provide both substantive and current
information about companies and their strategies. It is particularly
useful to consult articles when researching private companies.
| ONLINE
RESOURCES |
- Factiva
-- Database available remotely to the Cornell Community.
Contains 8000 journals and newspapers, mostly in full-text format.
- ProQuest
Direct -- Database available remotely to the Cornell
Community. Contains academic and popular business literature,
60-70% in full-text. Articles can be downloaded, printed, or e-mailed
(with a few exceptions).
- LexisNexis -- Database
available remotely to the Cornell Community. Contains full-text
articles and abstracts from newspapers and business magazines
worldwide, as well as wire stories.
- Business
Source Premier -- Database available remotely
to the Cornell Community. Provides full-text
for nearly 930 journals covering business, management,
economics, finance, banking and accounting. It also
includes abstracts and indexing for over 1500 business
magazines and periodicals from 1984 to present. Has
all issues of the Harvard Business Review.
|
It's important to understand the structure, trends, strengths
and weaknesses of the industries covered by your target company. Note
that articles from the article section above will also include
industry information.
| PAPER
RESOURCES |
ONLINE
RESOURCES |
- Standard & Poor's
Industry Surveys, Ready Reference, HG
4921 S78 I39 -- Provide broad industry overviews.
- Encyclopedia of Emerging
Industries, Ready Reference, HC 102 E533,
Reference -- Includes hard-to-find industries
such as retirement villages and juice bars.
- Dun and Bradstreet/Gale
Industry Reference Handbooks. This series
contains very current, informative data. Industries
covered include (all in Ready Reference):
Pharmaceuticals HD 9665.3 D86, Reference;
Chemicals HD 9650.3 D86, Reference;
Health and medical services R
711 D86, Reference; Computers and software
HD 9696 C6 D86, Reference; Telecommunications
HE 7601 D86.
|
- Market
Insight -- Database available remotely to
the Cornell Community. Electronic source
of S&P Industry Surveys.
- First Call -- Web-based
resource available in the Library. Provides full-text research
notes, earnings estimates, and fundamental analyses from brokerage
firms on publicly traded U.S. and international
companies. Notes are retained for forty-five days.
- Factiva
-- Database available remotely to the Cornell Community.
Allows you to compare a firm's stock performance against market
indices.
- STAT-USA:
Federal database available remotely to the Cornell Community.
Covers well the following international areas: trade opportunity
leads,
international industry, market analysis, imports, exports, and
guides for U.S. companies doing business in different countries.
|
STEP FIVE -- Networking
As you attend functions at the Johnson School,
and make additional business contacts elsewhere, keep in mind that almost
everyone you meet could be either a direct or indirect source of job leads.
Not all jobs are advertised, and sometimes merely knowing someone who works
in an organization will be a crucial first step inside that organization.
STEP SIX -- Coporate Culture
Knowing how you personally will "fit"
a firm's particular culture shouldn't be overlooked as you seek your dream
job; far better to know in advance how the firm's style matches your own,
than to accept a tempting job offer and find that your personality does not
match. Several recommended resources for learning about a company's
personality are:
-
talk to current or former employees of
the company
-
contact JGSM alumni who are or have been
associated with the company. Get in touch with these individuals
by using one of the several versions of the JGSM Alumni Directory
-- a print version is available on reserve in the library and there is
an electronic version online.
-
consult "insider"
publications that describe what it's actually like
to be an employee. On reserve in the Management Library are selected
publications by WetFeet
Press and Cornell students also have access to Vault's Online Career Library. Both of these sources give frank views of specific
companies (ie. McKinsey and Co.) and certain industries (ie.
consulting and venture capital). NOTE: Vault Reports are
also available as e-books via the Library
Catalog.
You may set up a consultation
with the reference staff at the Management Library at multiple points during
your job search. We will show you resources to find the information for your
particular needs (industry, specialty, geographic location, etc.) at each
stage of the process. Sign-up for a consultation
today.
Additionally, several general sources of career information
that may help you in your job quest are:
- The materials in the Management
Library's Career Planning Collection on the 1st
floor of the Management Library. Here you'll find career-related
books such as The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America
as well as selected recruiting information filed in binders.
These binders will give you an idea of the image a firm would
like to project, may help familiarize you with the products
it manufactures, or identify the standard career paths available
in the company.
- On Reserve in the Library are three Harvard Business
School Career Guides, one for Finance, one for Marketing,
and another for Management Consulting.
- If you are keen to work in a specific geographic area,
it's always wise to read local news for that region. You can do this
via several means:
-
Factiva
-- This database is available remotely to members of the Cornell Community.
It allows you to select publications pertinent to specific American
states, or newspapers from specific towns/cities.
-
Free Internet news services.
The web is rife with online versions of paper newspapers
as well as Net-only companies such as Yahoo! that provide
local news. Websites such as Total
News organize news by state.a
| Do
you have ideas for job search topics not covered here? Send your suggestions
to Angela Horne, Reference Librarian at akh8@cornell.edu |
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