A VERY GOOD NETWORKING QUESTION...

Dear Gordon,

I find some aspects of the letter writing/network approach difficult to accomplish – in particular, writing to a specific functional manager. 

I have searched company web sites and looked for articles, but I rarely ever find the names of personnel. For some very large public companies, there may be an investor site where they post annual reports, but that often does not help to find the right person at the right location. For some, I may find a name of a top executive at the corporate office, but not one name for the remote site where I am interested in working. 

So, how can one find out exactly who the managers are at the desired location in the organization? 

Appreciate any suggestions.

There are a number of resources other than the web for getting names of key management people at companies in the US.

I would start with a trip to your local library. Almost every library, and certainly those associated with colleges or universities, has a research section. There will be a number of directories there, as well as investors information about companies, the business they are in, their size, and the key management people.

There is no one source that will give you everything you might be looking for, but there are some resources that can give you most of what you might need.

I have found success using the State Industrial Directories These are indexes of companies with locations in each state, be they headquarters or plants or sales offices. Each is indexed by company name, location, and SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) Code. Also each company listing includes the phone number, street address, and the names of the key managers located at that office or plant.

Also, there is a website, ReferenceUSA (www.referenceusa.com), that lists all the companies in the US by SIC Code, number of employees, location, etc. This reference also lists key personnel at each location.

Ask the Research Librarian at your local library for assistance with these, and for ideas on other directories that can give you similar information.

Another approach, which is a bit more time consuming, but effective, is to call each company you are interested in sending a letter to and ask the receptionist who the VP of Marketing is, or who the Director of Operations is, or the name of the Plant Manager…or even the President.

Once you have one name, all it takes is a few more questions, asked of the person you get through to, to get additional names in the organization.

Networking can be a bit like detective work. But the results multiply themselves with time, and it is surprising sometimes how quickly you can generate a list of contacts useful in your job search.