Job Searching? 11 Effective Ways to Create Your Target Company List
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Most job seekers struggle with how to build their target company list and end up resorting to job boards and depending on recruiters. That rarely works. It’s time to take back control of your job search by using these target list building methods to find your own opportunities and expand your target company list.


(1) Create a Wish List of companies where you have always wanted to work.


If you are going to conduct a job search, you might as well think BIG, right, and aim to work where you really would like to work? What is it about those companies that would inspire you to work for them? Write down those traits and use that to springboard your thinking to come up with other companies that seem to embody those same traits and philosophies.


(2) Apply The CAVAC™ Model to build your Target Company List.


What is the CAVAC™ Model? The CAVAC™ Model is a methodical, hub-and-spoke thought process that helps the job seeker create a stream of new ideas pertaining to potential companies where they may find their next position. The C’s are the company’s clients and competitors. The V is vendors. And the A’s are associations and affiliate companies that complement the target company’s business.


For each company on your initial Wish List, place the employer or target company name in the middle of the diagram below. Then write out the clients, associations, affiliates, competitors and clients that come to mind and from your research to expand your list. Each company listed can be a possible entry on your developed target list.



(3) Expand your list.


Now for each company in the CAVAC™ sections, take a blank CAVAC template and one of the companies from the outer circles into the center.


(4) Cultivate leads from Industry Conference, Convention, and Trade Show literature.


Ideally if you can attend the conference live, that is always best, as you will network and start/nurture relationships with people that can help your job search, and ultimately, your career. However, practically speaking, if you are unable to attend, review the website/conference literature: Look at the speaker list: Who do they work for? Review the sponsor list: who is committing advertising dollars to this conference? These are companies (by the nature of funding speaker travel and sponsorships and typically will have the philosophy and long strategic view to growth and leadership) that you may be looking for and could be create candidates for your target list.


(5) Join job lead groups or form your own.


The key here is to be sure you are surrounding yourself with positive, action-driven, generosity-minded people who will exchange job leads equally based on the needs of each person in the group. These groups can be listed regionally online with State Unemployment offices or private websites, such as The Landing Expert.


(6) Search for blogs in your industry to build your target company list.


When identifying for blogs in the industry, there are a few ways you can use this information. If it is a corporate blog, then that company can become a target list candidate. You can make note of the employer of the blogger, if they are writing from an independent opinion. Lastly, you can look for upcoming or expanding companies discussed in the content of the articles to add to your list. And based on what you do, even companies downsizing can be job leads possibly, as well. (Yes, companies downsizing actually hire people as they are releasing some—one of the great perplexities of the employment space).


(7) Use target list building services, in addition to the LinkedIn Company Search function.


Hone in on companies that meet your company size and industry, revenue, employee size targets. Sites such as Zoominfo, Jigsaw, Spoke, and Hoovers are all database lead companies that provide contact lists from the companies where you want to work.


(8) Go beyond the alumni database to capture the influence and leverage the potential offered by your college alumni network.


Subscribe to the alumni magazine. Highlight notes in the articles and class notes of where people moved to professionally to come up with ideas for job leads for clients. The publication is meant to be a ‘who’s who’ and ‘who’s where’ meant to be leveraged in a proper manner (no spamming, of course). Also, consider volunteering for the membership committee for your local college alumni chapter.


(9) Look at the advertisers in the magazine and in any other online or physical industry publication.


For any industry, alumni, mainstream or professional publication (online or print), make note of the advertisers in that publication. If you are a CFO at a pharmaceutical industry, the advertisers in a pharma industry publication could be packaging companies, labeling manufacturers, professional development firms, drug security/counterfeit drug prevention firms, and drug distribution firms all who need a CFO and would be interested in your CFO pharma experience from the perspective at a company within their CAVACTM network.


(10) Where there is smoke, there is fire. Use job boards as information portals, and not just job portals.


Online job postings are an indicator of who is hiring. So if you discover a great company through an online job posting, but it is not the right job for you, use it as evidence that the company is hiring. If they are hiring sales managers, consider approaching the company outlining how you are an exceptional client service director and correlate how your accomplishments can become an asset to the prospective firm. Don’t wait for the job opening to become available—use what is there to craft your own proposal.


(11) Search for companies hiring and expanding.


Do Google Searches and set up Google Alerts on terms like “downsized” (this is an important term to search on if you are looking for consulting work), “hiring staff,” “expanding operations” and other like terms, combined with your zip code and/or industry, to unearth companies in the news that are doing these activities. The movement activities these companies are performing are ripe for new perspectives and additional talent to execute the plan at hand.


These tips should prove invaluable in your job search. But remember having the support of an executive resume writer and job search service can provide that added edge and help you land the job of your dreams.