You’ve often heard that companies perform background checks on potential hires. But shouldn’t you do your own background check on them? There are many reasons you HAVE TO do this.
Can They REALLY Support You?
You need to make sure the department you are hired in is growing. Human resource managers may need you right away because someone quit. You want to be part of a department that is growing — a company that is growing. There are a number of ways to check this, and luckily with so much information on the Internet this is easy. First, check the general news about the company using Google News. Then, try looking up the company using ZoomInfo. ZoomInfo will give you the company revenue, number of employees, and relevant news stories, as well contact information. LinkedIn is another popular service that companies themselves often provide. Beware any information a company tells you about itself. Using these services, you should look for keywords about the particular department you are planning to work in.
ZoomInfo will even tell you competitor names. Would you be working for the lesser company? For example, if you were applying to work at General Motors, but found out Ford was a competitor and closer to a turn-around, shouldn’t you work there instead? Interestingly, if you are good at what you do competitors will reach out to you and offer you more money. Do your homework. A temporary boost in pay at a weaker company may backfire.
When you search news sites and search engines, be sure to put the company name in quotes “” with the location next to it. For example, large companies often have multiple divisions and many different companies have the same name. So if you wanted to work at DownTown Disney in Anaheim, CA, you would search “Downtown Disney” Anaheim, CA. The quotes tell the search engine to look specifically for that phrase, while the keywords Anaheim, CA can appear separately in the article or page.
Articles about scoring new business, the company pioneering new research, or winning awards are all great things. Healthy companies should have year-over-year growth in revenues and profits. Make sure there is no government regulation coming that could jeopardize company profits or jobs. For instance, if you are looking to work on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and environmental regulation is coming that could eliminate drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, you would be in the unemployment line.
Bigger Companies Generate More News
When you are applying to work at a small company, realize there may not be a lot of information present. Small companies may not even have a PR department. Large companies, however, generate lots of news. For instance, when the iPhone was first released, there were thousands of news articles, blog posts, and research papers written. A great place to find blog posts on publicly traded companies is Yahoo! Finance. While you are there, research the company financials. Stay away from companies with large amounts of debt. Bondholders want their money, and when they want to collect it may be your job!
What Are People Saying?
If you’ve ever used social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, you probably know some people can’t keep their opinions to themselves. While this may not be desirable for general posts, it’s fantastic for Web sleuths! Harnessing the opinions of loudmouths can give you the company zeitgeist. Twitter is a better tool for searching public opinion because people are more liberal on Twitter. The connections are more superficial and the search system is real-time and powerful. Just like other ratings on the Web, people tend to be more vocal about negative impressions than positive. So what you want to look for is the volume of relative negative opinions. On the flip side, good companies should have people mentioning positive things. For example, a co-worker of mine tweeted that he was thankful to our company for sending him on a conference. On a negative side, using LinkedIn, one of my co-workers mentioned that he was laid off before Thanksgiving and that wasn’t how you should treat a member of the corporate family. People get laid off all the time, but the timing certainly is interesting. It made me think. It should make you think.
Have more suggestions for Web sleuth tools and methods? Feel free to comment. (Photo courtesy Digiart2001 | jason.kuffer)
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