Finding Company Information for an interview or a decision to accept an offer of employment

To get started, consult the company information flowchart linked from http://www.unl.edu/vbaldwin.

Other posts on this blog give you more information about the online resources named in the flowchart and tell you how to access and use them.

Sure you can use Google to do a search on the Web to find Web sites that refer to “your” company. You will probably find some useful information such as your company’s Web site. UNL Libraries resources will be helpful in your quest for company information for three general reasons:

1. Your search will be directed to specific news articles and other sources of interest that may be hard to dig out of a general Internet search.

2. By searching in sources and tools that the UNL Libraries has paid for you will find proprietary information that is not freely available on the Internet.

3. Your search may lead you to collections and sites that organize information to your advantage when looking for a good synopsis.

These are the online resources you will want to consider:

Lexis-Nexis Academic (Business news, company profiles, and company legal information and intellectual property disputes)

Business Source Premier (Business news, company profiles, investment analysis)

Mergent Online (Company histories, profiles, financial information, etc.)

Reference USA (Detailed information about private as well as public companies)

Check the blog postings for information about these resources and how to access them online.

Question: What should I know about this company to prepare for an interview?

Some research that may be valuable in a job interview:

If the company is private, there may be only limited information about the company. You can, however, find information regarding the private company's public competitors, and use that information to ask relevant questions at the interview. For example, if a competitor has opened up a new market, you could mention that fact during an interview and ask what the prospects are for new markets.

You can do research about the industry that a company is in and get some idea of prospects for the industry, relate that during the interview, and ask a relevant question.

What is the company's patenting history, and how much does the company stress the importance of increasing its patent portfolio?

Question: What should I know to help me decide whether to take a position with this company?

Some research that may be valuable in making a decision about an offer of employment:

Credit rating
Legal disputes, intellectual property infringement issues
Company debt
How many employees in the company, how many in other company locations, subsidiaries, etc.?
What are the company's assets and liabilities?
How does this company stand up against its competitors (technologically and financially)?
What is the health of the industry the company is in?
What is the median household income and median home value for the area in which the company is located?

Check the blog postings to learn how to use these resources to answer these questions and how to access them online.

For basic information about obtaining a specific article of interest, whether available at aUNL library or at some other library, read the tutorial "Basic Access" at http://unlenglibem.blogspot.com/2006/09/basic-access.html, especially paragraph 2 "Request Materials".
For basic tips that can give you a better search, read http://unlenglibem.blogspot.com/2006/09/search-techniques.html