Last weekend, I joined my wife at her annual company picnic. She happens to
work for one of California's largest health care organizations, but it also so
happens that this organization is recognized by Glassdoor as being one of
the best companies to work for in California. And I got to thinking, this
would be a really good video to talk about how it is that you can discover
what the best companies are to work for out there, and then take it one step
further: How do you land at a position with one of these companies?
Before drafting this video, I went to Google and I searched the phrase, "Best
companies to work for in the Bay Area" and I think the first hit that I came up
with was a hit from Fortune magazine. But right underneath that, there
was another article that was in the San Jose Business Journal; and then
underneath that, there was an article in Business Insider. And then a little bit
further down, there was an article - it was actually the blog from Indeed Job Board.
And this was just on the first page. I actually clicked the second page and
it continued on, and I clicked on the third page and it was still going on. And
these were all unique articles, unique blogs. Which means that there's really
not a lot of consensus as to what are the best companies to work for. But also
what I'm trying to point out here is that it gives you a really good start as
to what many in say the industry, the job market, the corporate America believe are
you know some of the best companies to work for out there. On the flip side of
this, there did seem to be a lot of consistency when it came to the least
favorable companies to work for. So another good reason to maybe do some
research. But this is key. Research is key. You know, I talked about in the very
first part of the video you know that well two parts. One, how do you identify
companies, and then second, how do you break in and actually ultimately land a
job at one of these top companies? Well the first part is just doing some
research out there. As simple as going out and Googling. But you also
probably have an idea yourself as to what are some of the best companies to
work for out there. So you add this to your list as well. So you have this list,
now you have to do some research and one of the best tools for this research is
with LinkedIn. So what I want you to do is I want you to
you go to LinkedIn, and I want you to type in the search bar the company's
name. And you're gonna see this come up. You go ahead and click on the company
and then over on the right there will be a link there that says, "See all employees
that are on LinkedIn" and you're gonna click on this, and this is going to take
you to the list where you have the people. Where you can list all of the
individuals that are part of this company, and there could be thousands but
what you need to do is you need to narrow this down to your first and
second connections. So right off the bat, see if there's any first connections
there. Those could be golden, but you know what's just as important, in fact even
more important than your first connections. It's your second connections.
In fact, there's a number of articles out there that talk about the second
connections that will be the most important for you in your career
transition, in your career search. So let's see what your second connections
are. And this is where you can be able to reach out to your first connection that
is mutually in common with this second connection, and ask them either for an
introduction, or even if you can drop their name. And then once you
have that permission, and seriously I would highly recommend that you
get this permission because it could help you in a lot of different ways. I
mean what if this first connection you have is actually the next door neighbor
to this individual. You just don't know this and to get this permission is
paramount. So now that you have the permission, you go ahead and reach out to
an individual. Let me give you an example: Dear Jim, I'm researching companies
currently listed on Glassdoor as top companies to work for in the area
and in reviewing second connections on LinkedIn I noticed we have a mutual
connection with Stan Baker. I spoke with Stan about my research and
he said I could drop his name when I reached out to you.
I see from LinkedIn you are a project manager with XYZ and I wanted to ask you
if you would be willing to have a 15 to 20-minute informational interview with me
in regard to working for XYZ company. I assure you my intention is not to ask
for your help in obtaining a job with XYZ rather I would really like to learn
more about the company culture and what they may be looking for in terms of
talent. Would you have the time within the next several weeks for a call? All my
best, Bill. Informational interviews happen every day of every week using the
LinkedIn platform. This is what a professional networking platform is made
for. You're not out there asking the individual for help landing a job at
their company. Rather, you want to know what it's like to work for this company.
You know one of the best questions to ask, "What is it that you
love about this company?" And use the word "love" because this will give you some
really good insight into what the company culture is all about. But once
you're on this individuals radar, and you've had a good connection there, then
if this person knows of any openings he or she is likely going to remember you.
They're gonna keep you in mind, so ping them periodically.
This is what networking is all about. In fact, I want to leave you with one final
thought before we close this video down. Networking is not about collecting
people, it's about connecting with people. So I hope you found this video
informative and useful, and if so make sure that you subscribe to this channel
as I do upload a new career strategy every Tuesday. And by the way, if you are
in the process of interviewing, make sure that you check out my free download in
the notes section below the top five interview questions that any hiring
manager really wants to know about you and best answers to those questions. So
thank you for stopping by, and I will see you in the next video