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The Very Best Jobs Research Guides

In my last column I covered information research and how to build a personal storage and retrieval system for accumulating the information. In this column I will direct you to some of the very best jobs research guides available. Please note that if these guides are not available through your library or campus Career Placement office, you can usually request them to be transferred to your campus through inter-library loans.

Job Opportunities in _____ (Petersen's Guides, P.O. Box 2123, Princeton, NJ 08543, 800-338-3282). Petersen's has three different versions of this popular guide, one for Business, one for Engineering and Technology, and one for Health Care. There are a limited number of total companies listed, but those that are listed are definitely hiring at the entry level and the listings are typically full and complete. If your vocational objective falls into one of the three broad categories listed above, this is an excellent place to start your research.

The Professional's Private Sector Job Finder, Government Job Finder, Non-Profits' Job Finder (Planning/Communications, 7215 Oak Avenue, River Forest, IL 60305, 708-366-5200). Not sure where to start in your networking? These books are pure networking nirvana, with listings of job hotlines, job matching services, specialty and trade publications, online job services, computerized job and resume databases, salary surveys, and directories of all types. If you can't find it here, your are not really looking.

The National Job Bank (Bob Adams, Inc., 260 Center, Holbrook, MA 02343, 800-872-5627). Direct employer listings throughout the United States, including basic contact information, product information, and typical positions available at each location. The publisher also prints several "city" editions which are even more comprehensive for targeted metropolitan areas.

Job Seeker's Guide to Private and Public Companies (Gale Research, Inc., Book Tower, Detroit, MI 48266). Comes in four different volumes: West, Midwest, Northeast, and South/Mid-Atlantic/Great Plains. Contains basic contact information.

The Corporate Yellow Book (Leadership Directories, 104 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011, 212-627-4140). Provides an excellent listing of the management of the largest 1100 companies in the U.S., often listing specific department managers. A good source of the major players--just make sure you have a current edition, since the key players are often in nearly constant rotation.

Directory of American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries (Uniworld Business Publications, 50 E. 42nd St., New York, NY 10017). If you are interested in working overseas, make sure you gain access to this directory. Your odds are much greater finding employment with an American firm with overseas operations than with foreign companies. This guide is your starting point. Most listings are rather brief, but provide you with the basic information you need to get started, including both foreign and domestic addresses. Do not even consider an international search without this guide.

Encyclopedia of Associations (Gale Research). If you are trying to find an association or organization in your chosen occupation or industry, this is the book for locating it. More than 14,000 national and international organizations of all sizes and types. Useful in establishing contact with associations that may benefit you in your job search.

How To Find Information About Companies (Washington Researchers Publishing, 2612 P Street NW, Washington, DC 20007, 202-333-3533). If you get stumped with any of the above reference guides, this one will direct you down new paths hitherto unexplored. This is the company research guide, giving you information on ways to find new information when all else fails. It takes extra time to work with, but if you really need to know, you really need to know this book.

If you are seeking only general company information, two additional directories--Standard and Poor's Register of Corporations and Dun & Bradstreet's Million Dollar Directory--have basic address information, financial information, top corporate officers, but little else. However, they are both very comprehensive and may offer information on companies that you can find nowhere else.

Most of the above are large (and expensive) research guides that are typically not available for checkout. Expect to plunk down several dozen coins at the copy machine to gather information for later use. If your library or campus Placement Center have access to CD-ROM, you might also attempt to track down these CD-ROM guides:

Career Search on CD-ROM (Career Search, 21 Highland, Needham, MA 02194, 617-449-0312). Although a relatively new product, Career Search is the most comprehensive and targeted database search product on the market today. It contains over 2,000,000 companies--large, medium, and small. Drawback? Price. Over $8,000 per year. Use it if you can find it.

D&B MarketPlace Business on CD-ROM (MarketPlace Information, Waltham, MA, 617-672-9200). Over 8,000,000 companies can be searched by a variety of criteria, including type of business, geographical area, and number of employees.

The above information will give you a starting point and more. And it's not just a single research journey. Keep this column to refer to as your job search progresses. You'll find yourself referring to this research information again and again.