• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

• What do each of the regions and products/divisions contribute to the whole?

Technology Issues

• Can cost efficiencies be driven through modernization?

• How does the Internet affect the company? If it is a threat, does the company have a strategy to address it?

Legal and Regulatory Issues

• Are there any pending bills or regulations that might have a significant impact?

• Are there any patent infringements?

People

• What do people say about the company publicly?

• Is the company being sued or has it been sued by former employees?

Assessing Fit

You don’t want to waste your time and effort on companies that are not going to be a good fit. Guerrilla, use this information to get a picture of the organization. Do you think the company/organization has a future? Why or why not? What factors impede the company? It is critical that you understand this information thoroughly before you approach the company. Armed with this background information, you will be able to answer with confidence these typical interview questions:

• What do you know about our company?

• What are your thoughts on the challenges facing our industry and how can you help us?

• What would you do in your first 90 days if we hired you as a ?

Imagine how surprised the interviewer will be when you can articulate what the company’s issues are—how your experience fits with their needs and what you would do first. You’ll blow them away. On the other hand, if you haven’t done your homework before you go in for an interview, you’re dead on arrival.

Librarians Are Your Allies

If you’re having trouble finding lists of companies or information on specific companies, call your local library and talk to the research librarian. Treat these people like gold. Put them on your Christmas list. Bring them boxes of candy. Buy them flowers on their birthdays. They have forgotten more about how to retrieve information than you will ever know. They are the Sherlock Holmes of reference information. So make friends, ask lots of questions, and take notes, but only after you have at least tried to find some of the information on your own.

If your local library does not have anything on hand in the periodicals, business, or reference sections, then inquire about the interlibrary loan service. Chances are the information you need is available somewhere, just not there. Many people don’t realize that libraries all over the world formally share books, CDs, and other reference materials with each other. The definitive source for any book published in the United States is the Library of Congress. If it is in print, the Library of Congress has it and your local librarian can get it.

The libraries may be able to help you access some of these market resource firms as well:

• Aberdeen Group (www.aberdeen.com)

• Forrester Research (www.forrester.com)

• Gartner Group (www.gartnergroup.com)

• IDG (www.idg.com)

• Business.com http (www.business.com)

Alternative Sites

The Internet allows you to search all types of alternate sources of information that may be of value to you as you narrow your list of companies:

• The Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org)

• The Digital Librarian: a librarian’s choice of the best of the Web (www.digital-librarian.com)

• Vault (www.Vault.com)

• The Standard (www.thestandard.com)

Of particular interest if you’re trying to get information on private companies is the Search Systems Free Public Records Directory at www.searchsystems.net. This is the largest directory of links to free public record databases on the Internet. What is of interest to guerrillas are the business information and corporate filings sections. Sometimes the best information is that which the company has no control over.

Then there is a very low-tech way—the Yellow Pages or sites that support business phone number listings on the web:

• Big Book (www.bigbook.com)

• GTE Superpages (www.superpages.com)

➤ How to Find the Hiring Managers

Now that you have a list of 10 to 20 companies, you need