• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

• Profile of an occupation in this industry

• Employment trends by industry and occupation

• Location of employers in this industry

If you select “Profile an occupation,” the link will detail all the occupations that use your skills in the construction industry. Selecting “Locate employers” takes you to another menu-driven series of screens that allows you to find qualifying jobs in any area of the United States.

To demonstrate the power of this tool, I performed a search on construction jobs in Anniston, Alabama. Figure 4.5 shows a screen shot of my search results.

Figure 4.5 Select employer.

As you can see, I found 36 job openings that day. Clicking on a job link took me to detailed information on the company and the job.

Guerrilla, does it get much easier? I think not.

Here are 5 questions you should be asking yourself as you start to explore industries. Some of these questions are raised and answered in the available reports, but not all:

1. What are the general trends in the industry—by sector?

2. Where are the hot spots—those areas where growth will remain steady for several years? This can be represented by:

a. A group of products or services

b. A specific geographic area

Construction may be slowing down in one section of the country and getting ready to boom in another, or residential construction may have peaked and commercial construction is rising. It is important to drill down to find details if you want to make an informed decision.

3. Which skills are in demand?

a. Now and in the future

b. By discipline: sales, marketing, finance, engineering, trades

4. What is the demographic profile of the workforce? These studies or reports are most often referred to as Labor Market Information (LMI) studies.

You want to be able to assess whether there might be a continuing demand for your skills, and a good indicator of this may be the median age of the workforce. If the median age is, say 55, then there will be people retiring soon and this might increase demand for the profession.

5. Is the industry prone to outsourcing or offshoring?

Look into which businesses are starting up and getting funding from banks and venture capital firms and look at which companies the mutual fund companies are investing in. The easiest way to do this is to find the web sites of some of the mutual fund companies that are reported weekly in your local daily newspaper.

To see which industries are receiving start-up or additional funding, I recommend 3 sites:

1. The Money Tree Survey (www.pwcmoneytree.com/moneytree/index.jsp)

2. PE Week Wire (www.privateequityweek.com)

3. Just Sell (www.justsell.com)

If you can’t find what you are looking for, you need to contact the industry associations. When you find the national association, visit its web site and see what free resources are available to help in your job search. This could include:

• Labor market information studies

• Membership lists

• Industry reports

• A job board

Also see if there is a local chapter that may have networking events. Some associations even have official discussion forums. Review all the industry information with a keen eye to what the industry leaders feel the challenges are for the future. For an up-to-the-moment view, read industry trade magazines. They are listed at www.specialissues.com/lol/.

➤ Locating Companies of Interest

Once you have identified an industry, you need to research companies. Your research may be broad and include all the companies in the industry because, frankly, you will move anywhere for the right opportunity—or it could be very local. Your first mission is to locate national directories that include lists of the companies. A guerrilla would start at CEO Express online at www.ceoexpress.com. CEO Express has links to nearly every source of information you need to get yourself started: news, stock quotes, and IPO filings, all in one place.

Privately Held Companies

These are the hardest to research