Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia put together by volunteers who submit information. It is a massive resource of knowledge from all around the world. It is not professionally vetted, but it is very useful.
You can conduct searches for job opportunities through the use of keywords. Let me show you three specific ways you can do this. I always start with a Google search, and then Wikipedia comes up as one of the first entries.
GEOGRAPHY:
If you are looking for a job, geography is important, of course.
- When I searched for “Companies in the San Francisco Bay Area,” I got a list. It is limited and obviously does not include every company. But it still has useful information for some companies with headquarters in the San Francisco area. These companies all have someone who makes sure they will be listed.
- The list includes large companies, small companies, and jobs in specific cities such as Oakland, plus a lot of other results. It is sorted alphabetically by industry, even though I didn’t do the search that way. The list is long and includes industries such as Aerospace, Apparel, Healthcare, and Sports.
- When I looked under the industry of “Apparel,” I found Ross stores with “Dress for Less.” Their corporate headquarters is in the San Francisco Bay Area. The information includes a link to the company’s website. Did you know there are 88,000 employees? It is a much larger company than I realized!
INDUSTRY:
You can search by industry. For example:
- I searched for “Coffee.” This gives me an international list of “Coffeehouse Chains.” But when I searched “Coffee Grower,” I got a different list under “Coffee Production.”
CATEGORY:
There are many types of categories for individual companies that might not fit into something as specific as geography or industry. Here is a fun one with unexpected results: “Companies founded by alumni from Stanford University.” Did you know that…
- Between 2006 and 2017, Stanford produced 1,127 company founders as alumni or current students, more than any other university in the world.
- Based on a 2011 alumni survey, 39,900 companies founded by alumni were active, generating $2.7 trillion in annual revenue? They created 5.4 million jobs, roughly equivalent to the 10th largest economy in the world. That’s pretty crazy!
ADDITIONAL GOOGLE LINKS:
Whenever you do a Wikipedia search, be sure to look at other links on Google or other search engines that come up at the same time, just in a lower position of related links.
I am one of only 12 job search coaches in the United States, Canada, and Australia with a specific certification as a “Certified Professional – Online Job Search and Reputation Management.” It is through Career Directors, a professional association for career professionals.
This is the type of information I can provide about researching companies to find job opportunities. If you have learned something new and think I can help you, go to the Tools for Transition website and set up a NO CHARGE consultation.
I hope to hear from you!