How to find a new and better job

The contracting U.S. job market isn’t exactly breaking news to anyone these days. Stories of company layoffs are relentlessly reported in newspapers and on the evening news, and the unemployment rate is at its highest level in fourteen years. With this decline in employment comes a bittersweet increase in library use in general and a boost in the number of job seekers using our library on a daily basis.

For finding actual job postings, we’re no better than the Internet. But we’re nonetheless a great source for job-hunters. Consider this: When embarking on a search for employment in a thoughtful, knowledgeable way, the onus is on you to choose a career that fits your skills, to find an industry that is growing, and to eventually identify a company that will offer a reasonable amount of security. Put simply, you’ll have to do some legwork to earn that perfect position. And we’re here to help. Today, we’ll carbo-load in preparation for that legwork by highlighting resources to identify attractive careers and industries, and by looking at online tools to locate and learn more about prospective employers.
 

Career Research

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Finding a career you love is great – until that career goes away. Use these resources to identify career paths that will remain vital and even, gasp, grow in the years to come.

If you aren’t already locked into a career, use the O*Net Skills Search tool to find one by identifying skill areas in which you excel. The tool will connect those skills to applicable jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides all manner of information on employment, including employment by occupation and employment projections.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook profiles hundreds of careers and offers data on the nature of the work, training requirements, earnings, and job outlook.

Salary surveys can provide an idea of where wages are trending in an industry. See our recent post about finding salary surveys online for guidance in tracking down a salary survey for your chosen career.

FastCompany puts out a list of the Best Jobs for 2008 that ranks professions by salary. Forbes creates an annual listing of the Best – And Worst – Paying Jobs.


Industry Research

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In addition to identifying a specific career, you might also attempt to identify industries that hold interest for you and are likely to sustain a career for an acceptable span of time.

To find fast-growing industries, start with a post we put up in May on identifying the hottest industries. This post includes links to the BLS’s fastest-growing industries data along with many other useful sources.

You can track the performance of broad industries using the Dow Jones Best Performing Industries ranking. This is very current data, based on the performance of publicly-traded companies in these industry sectors.

To find the top industries in your area, use the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns database. Select either a county, zip code, or metro area and you’ll be shown a table with statistics profiling businesses in that place.


Company Research

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Once you’ve got a career and/or industry in mind, the next step is to identify companies near you in those industries. Then you can work to learn as much about those individual companies as possible.

Building specific lists of companies using free online sources is difficult. However, consider a site like ThomasNet where you can search for manufacturers by state, or a site like Manta where you can perform a keyword search by business category and location.

The best way to build lists of businesses is by using a library. Our HillSearch members get access to the Dun & Bradstreet Total database, which lists – at least in theory – every U.S. business, and can be used to build very specific lists of companies. Public libraries often purchase a competitor database to D&B called ReferenceUSA.
 
With a list of companies in mind, you can start to investigate individual businesses to learn about their structure, operations, products, news, executives, and anything else that might give you some insight into the business.

If you’re researching a public company, find out how to access their SEC filings and gain valuable internal information with our Researching a Public Company with EDGAR post. If you’re researching a private company, look back to a company directory database like D&B or ReferenceUSA, and supplement that data with article database searching. Again, our HillSearch members get access to several business article databases, such as EBSCO Business Source Corporate or ProQuest ABI/Inform, and your local public library may offer access to a similar product.


Other Sources

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There are numerous agencies and organizations that can help you in your job search – often at no charge to you. In addition to the resources mentioned above, consider contacting the following sources.

First, biases and paychecks aside, I’d submit the Hill Library as a highly valuable resource. If you can make it to our physical location, you’ve got free access to all of our research databases. You can also get access to some of these with a HillSearch membership. However you get them, these databases provide the ability to locate and research potential employers and to uncover industry trends and details that’ll make you stand out as an exceptional, informed candidate. Public libraries are another good source that may offer similar tools. Contact your local branch for more information.

Your state’s economic development office is a good source for regional industry and employment statistics. Contact them; you’ve already paid for their services with your tax dollars. Look for workforce development centers, which are usually operated at the county level. These can offer retraining opportunities and help with job applications. Consider contracting with a career counselor for personalized guidance. And definitely look for a job search support group to join. In terms of the people who use our library for job-seeking, the most confident and well-prepared seekers are those with the biggest support group. You don’t have to do this job-hunting on your own.

Looking for a new and better job may not be easy, but the more efficient work you put into it, the more you’ll get out. You’ll find openings that are a good fit for you, you’ll have better luck applying and interviewing for those positions, and you’ll be happier in your shiny new job. Good luck! And give ‘em hell.