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Career Exploration
Learn About a Company
Learn all about a company before your interview or application.
Learning about the organization you are applying to or interviewing at is critical. You want to showcase your knowledge of the organization's history, leadership, operations, and trends. The extra work to learn the ins and outs of a company will help you stand out from other applicants.
Preparing will help you compile interesting and relevant questions to ask at your interview and make you more comfortable.
Researching a company can be done using the databases available at the library (listed below) or by going on the company website and looking for "About Us," "Investor Information," or "News." Look for recent press releases to give you the most current information.
Public companies must file annual reports with the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) found on the EDGAR: SEC Search Portal database.
SWOT analysis shows a company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Several databases showcase this information:
Private companies are not publicly traded on any stock exchange and, as a result, are not obligated to submit detailed information to the SEC. The absence of mandatory disclosure makes accessing information about private companies challenging. Company websites and articles in trade journals and business newspapers are often the best sources of information on private companies.
What to Look For When Researching a Company
- Mission, vision, and values
- Names of key players
- Managers' backgrounds
- Training programs offered
- Office, division, and headquarters locations
- History
- Recent news and current events
- Recent layoffs
- Benefits and employee-perceived "quality of life"
- Brand objectives
- Future direction (where is the company headed?)
- Products and services
- Who the customers are
- Direct competitors, their products, and what differentiates them
- Company size, number of employees, and locations
- Recent accomplishments
- Reputation/industry standing
- Short- and long-term goals
- Financial status
- Career and growth potential (do they hire from within or outside?)
Library Databases for Company Research
- ABI/INFORM Complete This link opens in a new window
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Business related articles from journals as well as trade publications, dissertations, conference proceedings, market reports and wire feeds. - Gale Business: Insights This link opens in a new window
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Company and industry profiles including SWOT reports, market share and financial reports, industry rankings, products and brands, marketing data, and more. Contains articles and abstracts from journals and news sources. - Business Market Research Collection This link opens in a new window
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Company, industry, and geopolitical macroeconomic market research from three sources: Hoover's Company Profiles, OxResearch, and Snapshots Series, which includes market research overviews on 40+ industries and countries to 2008. - EDGAR: SEC Search Portal This link opens in a new windowProvides public access to the full-text of documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These include annual reports on form 10-K, quarterly reports on form 10-Q, etc.
- Key Business Ratios This link opens in a new window
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Mining information from the Dun & Bradstreet (now a subsidiary of Mergent, Inc.) database of financial information on 60 million+ companies from 209 countries around the world, Key Business Ratios (KBR) can be used to assess a firm's strengths and weaknesses relative to competing firms or an entire industry. - Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
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Financial information on thousands of companies worldwide; also includes industry reports. Company information includes annual reports, company histories, SEC financial statements, stock information, directories, etc. - Small Business Collection This link opens in a new window
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Ideal for business schools and entrepreneurs, Small Business Collection is updated daily and provides insights, tips, strategies, and success stories. Users find more than 500 subject-appropriate, active, full-text periodicals, including: Beverage Industry, Black Enterprise, Economist, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, HR Magazine, Real Estate Weekly, Restaurant Business, and Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. - Statista This link opens in a new window
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Find statistics, consumer survey results, and industry studies. Categorized into 21 market sectors, the platform provides direct access to quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas of interest or markets.
Data sources include market research reports as well as trade publications, scientific journals, and government databases. - ValueLine Investment Survey This link opens in a new window
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Reports on 1700+ U.S. stocks including projections and company and industry commentary. New data issued weekly. Iona subscription is limited to 3 users at a time; to the 'Investment Survey' section only.
- Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
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Click the "D&B Private Company Database" box to search for private companies in the Basic and Advance search tabs.
- Forbes MagaizineForbes magazine lists America’s Largest Private Companies.
- Inc.Inc. magazine lists the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies.
- U.S. Private Companies Library Of CongressResearch U.S. Private Companies on the Library of Congress Research Guide.
- NYPL Easy guide to Finding Company InformationA digital card to NYPL (New York Public Library) is available to anyone who lives, works, or attends schools in New York State.
Sign up for a digital card through this link NYPL Digital Library Card