Follow That Link - A New Job Search Technique.parts 1

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

by: Ken Sundheim 

When researching a company on the web, students and all job seekers alike, go the typical route and research basic things like the revenue of the company, the firm's website and possibly a quick glance at their competition. It's almost as if, before an interview or job acceptance it's, "Go directly to Hoovers, do not pass go and, subsequently do not collect all the available research." Hoovers only tells so much.

If you want the full picture of the company (the unadulterated version), its competitors, its marketing advantage, marketing plans and just about anything else, you can implement online marketing and social media knowledge into your current bag of tricks in order to properly carry out analysis regarding your potential employer.

Online Directories, "List of" Trick and Backlink Research:
Is your company known amongst the web community? Has anyone noticed the firm and given it recognition? Analyzing links to the site can tell the job seeker a lot about a company's reputation. That is, unless it is a complete start-up.

Trick #1 Industry Specific Directory Inclusions
Google the industry your firm is in with the word "directory" attached at the end. Therefore, if the company was in Seattle and was in the healthcare vertical, you may search something such as the following: "healthcare vendors Seattle." A whole slew of websites dedicated to simply listing these organizations should pop up.

Is your potential employer listed? If so, how frequently? This will also give you better insight as to who the firm's main competitors are. You'll be surprised at the companies that surface.

There are also some specific web directories that, if the firm is included, can allow you as the job seeker to infer many things.

Trick #2 Backlink Research

A backlink, by definition is simply a link from another website that points to your potential employer's site. Doing backlink research will allow you to decipher when / if this company has been mentioned in industry journals, has been given awards for its service, if the CEO has recognition in the industry, the blog following of the company (if applicable), the hobbies of the employees - where are they blogging, whether or not the company donates to charities and just about anything else that Hoovers is not going to tell you.

Ways to see the backlinks of your potential employer:

1. Yahoo Search: go to Yahoo Search and in the search bar, enter the following:
Site:www.yourpotentialemployersite.com.

There will be a small button to the right above the listed web pages that reads "In-links." Click on this and you will see who is recognizing this firm on the web. On the web, whenever a firm is mentioned in an article (individual employees included), that firm is given a link from the source back to its website. This is no different with your potential employer.

Look for a minimum of 400 "In-links" or you may be interviewing / accepting a job with a company that is not well-know nor is progressive in thinking. Also, Yahoo gives you the opportunity to study these links and go to the direct page of the site referencing your potential employer.