Targeting An Employer

Qualifying an Employer as a Target

First, they must be in a field that is of interest to you. The Yellow Pages exercise was designed to awaken your interest in a field. This may be the very first time in your entire life that you have actually chosen a field on its merits alone.
For most, the process goes something like this:
Set 1

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Where are the job openings?

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What does it pay?

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What benefits does it have?

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Is the job distasteful (hours, work, location, clientele?)

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Can I do the work?

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Can I arrange my résumé in such a way that I can get an interview?

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Can I present myself effectively at the interview to get the job?

                                                In recent years people have begun asking themselves the questions:

                                                       Set 2

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Does the field really interest me?

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Does the work appeal to me?

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Does it match my values?

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Does it call to me at a deep, personal level?

Set 1 Questions are highly objective and impersonal. Set 1 question 4 is the only personal question in the lot, as it requires an opinion of the work itself, and only if the work is distasteful will it be rejected. The idea that work must be appealing is not a set 1 thought.

Set 2 Questions are the ones that are usually being asked by mature job seekers. Men and women who have been burned or burnt out know the price they paid for jobs that they hated, even though they paid well. They don’t want to repeat that experience.
Many who ask set 2 questions first and then set 1 questions have more difficulty finding the right job. But they also have greater satisfaction once they get it.

Notice, I did not say that Set 1 questions are not important. It’s just that set 1 questions are not the primary questions for everyone. Increasingly, set 2 questions are the primary questions, with the assumption that the objective criteria for job satisfaction will develop as the job develops.

The New Method proceeds from a Set 2 mindset. Since you, too are of the Set 2 mindset, we must proceed in this fashion:
You have selected a field that interests you and that has problems or opportunities that interest you. You have a history of solving those types of problems and/or capitalizing upon those types of opportunities. You have dollarized your successes and created simple statements that capture the essence of your dollarized contribution to a former employer, team, project, job, or endeavor. Your chosen field has at least three competitors with the means to pay you for your contribution.
Now, you must research them as if you were going to compete against them in business, by using A Baker’s Dozen Research Steps

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Call the company and request sales literature, annual reports, technical information, product brochures, and price lists. Pose as a potential customer, investor, consultant, or researcher for a prospective buyer.

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If the product is a retail item, visit stores that sell it. Buy it if it is affordable. Then use it. Talk to the salespeople about it. Get the salespeople’s opinion of the product and the company, their ideas for new products or additional products that would complement the main product. Find out about competing products and manufacturers.

•	If the product is sold through a distribution system, visit a local distributor. Ask about product quality, sales force skill and training, new market opportunities, and technical support.

•	If the product is sold directly to customers, call some of them. Ask them their opinions on delivery, company and product reputation, innovations or lack thereof, sales personnel, and warranty issues.

•	Call the company’s customer service department. Use their 800 number. Analyze the experience.

•	If the product is advertised, call the advertising agency and talk to the account executive in charge of the account. Find out where you can see or hear the advertising (what type of media: print, electronic, etc.)

•	Find out about the trade shows the company exhibits at and attend one, if possible. (You will see their competitors there!) Get copies of all their literature. View their display. Question their personnel in the booth. (Often you will find high level executives working the booth.)

•	There are magazines and newsletters for nearly every industry. Subscribe to them, or call the editors and tell them about your research. See if they will give you a few copies of recent back issues. (While speaking to them, interview them about the company and the challenges of the field.)

•	Talk to salespeople and employees of the company and its competitors.

•	Get competitors’ literature for comparison. See if they are selling the same product in the same way. Look for subtle, but significant differences.

•	Call suppliers of the company (or research them on the Internet).

•	Do a Lexis-Nexis search.

•	Go to the company’s website for information about: the executives, the company’s mission statement, news releases, new product announcements, recent promotions, and explanations about downsizing or new markets.