How to build a list of target employers and companies you want to work for

Here are my top 5 ways of building a list of target employers and companies you want to work for:

  1. Career fairs - If you’re still in college, go to the career fairs (they usually host them very frequently) and talk to people from companies to hear about their experiences. This is a great way to explore what types of companies are out there. Ask about the vision, product / service, culture and anything else that ranks highly for you. Don’t be shy, go say hello!

  2. Angel List - Interested in that startup life? Use the search tool at Angel list and you can quickly filter companies by location, industry / market, # of employees and funding raised.

3. Dream List - Write down a list of the 3 “dream companies” you’d absolutely LOVE to work for.

What do they have in common in:

  • Vision

  • Product / Services

  • Values

  • Culture

  • Team

  • Stage of company growth

Based on those list of commonly shared values, what other companies can you think of that are similar?

4. Ecosystem brainstorm - Let’s say you choose a company like “Google” as your dream employer. One way to find other potential companies you might want to work for is to research their ecosystem of companies they might work with. For example, this could include their technology partners, their vendors, their clients and the associations they are in. Another way to approach this is to also look outside their ecosystem by researching their competitors.

5. Leverage third party lists - A great example of lists are below:

Fast growth companies: This is the Deloitte Fast 500 list that you can check out here.

Best places to work: This is a summary from Glassdoor.

America’s best employers: This is a great list put together by Forbes.

Forbes 30 under 30: This is a great way to find out about startups and disruptive companies.

Nelson WangComment