How to research potential employers in your international job search?

You can use LinkedIn to identify and research companies where you would like to work.  Once you have your list, there are a few steps you can follow to ensure is a work place you really want to join. As I always say to my clients identifying that the company you are joining has the right culture for you is important for your long term well-being. To see more on that aspect you can read  the following post. 

How can you learn about the companies you are interested in?

1.Investigate their LinkedIn profile: how many followers do they have, what type of content do they share, see if you have any connections that are already working there. Note recent departures, employees´ background and years of experience and job openings.

2.Visit the company website: this a quite obvious step, you go to the about us and check their company history, product and services. Also see any news and press related to them on their website. How does the company website look like? Is it accessible, are they transparent and welcoming?

3.Check out their company blog: are they active on the blog? Can you seen any discussion or topics related to their field? Do employees participate? Do they engage with people and share their expertise?

4.Find out if they are on Twitter or Google +: follow them on Twitter to see what type of activity they have. Do they engage with customers? Do they talk about their services? Are they posting job openings? Are they more inclined to use Google+? You can also follow them and comment on topics to share your expertise

5.Find the Company in Glassdoor: you can see how employees rank their company in different aspects-career opportunities, salary, interview process, employee benefits, and management culture-. A great place to find out specific comments and feedback.

6.Find if the company is ranked as a Great Place to work or other meaningful activities or rankings: are they on these lists? Can you find out about their corporate social responsibility projects?

Last but not least is to try to get direct feedback of employees that are already working there, if you are called for an interview trust your instincts as well, how you feel and how you are treated is important. Don´t forget to ask good questions that can give you a lot of information about “what is said and what is not said”.

Read more on this and how to contact potential employers.