When conducting research about a company it is important to consult sources of information from the three main types (a graphic and overview are in part 1 of this series.) One of the best places to start is information from sources that fall into the category of Business News. Typical free sources of this information are the websites of the major publications (Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, etc.) The problem with these sources is that they mainly focus on current events, and are harder to focus searching on specific companies (unless they are in the news currently...). This kind of search can be important to prepare for an interview or communication with your company of interest, but for a more conclusive search databases that contain deep collections of these types of publications allow for more complete picture of the company.
In part 2 of this series I provided information about how residents of most every state has access to these types of databases. At my FPOW (former place of work) I helped students prepare for job searches and interviews. These resources played a crucial role, I taught the students best practices for searching them and how to best use the information they find.
Tips:
1. When searching a subscription database, all results will be high quality. Therefore, simple 'google like' searches will result too many hits. Instead of just searching for "Ford" or even "Ford Motor Company" you want to include some additional key words that help narrow to the type of work you may be seeking. For example "Ford Motor Company AND financing" or "Ford Motor Company AND sales trends"
2. With all the information you find in your search you will always want to determine how best to integrate that into your interview responses or how to match it to your skills and abilities. For example if your search for "Ford AND financing" resulted in articles describing how they have changed or adapted... or mentions methods that you have studied or have knowledge about, then these are things worth mentioning in either interviews or other communications with the company.
3. Another angle to explore, is to search for information about the companies competitors. If you find news about GM or Toyota for example while searching for information about Ford... pay attention. You can also try to work in those articles into your communications.
4. Try to avoid using only national or local sources of information... if all your information comes from one geographic area and some important is happening elsewhere that is affecting the company you may miss it. I typically recommended searching in publications based in the geographic region of the company's headquarters as well as the location you plan/hope to work.
These basic tips for searching business news databases should help to not only narrow searches, but also to analyze the results that you find. If you use any of these tips and have positive results please share.
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