A word of caution before we explore in greater depth how to use library research in your job search: Do the research yourself. Don't hire someone else to do it or fall for the line some outplacement firms push, which is that you will be too busy doing more important things during your job search to waste time in a library. Outplacement firms often provide research services as part of their package, and they are eager to have you use these services, for which, of course, you or your former employer will have to pay. Many outplacement counselors, therefore, advise clients to get trained, professional researchers gather information, insisting that clients do not have the necessary skills and should not be bothered with developing them. If you buy this line, you will lose out on most of the benefits library research has to offer.
I cannot stress too strongly the wisdom of viewing a job search as a creative activity. Creative activities require immersion. Before you can solve a problem creatively, you must immerse yourself in it and in information about it. Library research immerses you in information about potential employers and employment opportunities. When you use a professional researcher, he or she gets the benefits of immersion, not you.
Also, a researcher's job is to exclude irrelevant information as well as to find relevant information. A good researcher can determine what information is and is not relevant to answering a specific question but cannot determine what information is or is not relevant to you. Some of the most helpful information you will find in the course of your research will be "irrelevant" information you come upon by accident as you search for "relevant" information.
By doing the research yourself, you will be developing skills and gaining knowledge that will be useful in your next job and in almost every aspect of your life for the rest of your days. How many times have you heard or read the phrase, "this is the information age"?, If you don't know where and how to find information, you are a severely handicapped drifter in the information age. On the other hand, if you learn how to find information about organizations and the people in them, you will have learned something useful in making investments, marketing products or services, selecting schools for your children or yourself, deciding what insurance to buy or what bank to use, figuring out which car to purchase, finding a good nursing home for an ageing parent, or determining whether the company that wants to build a plant near your neighborhood has a decent record concerning environmental pollution.
Sleuthing is perhaps the best way of thinking about the research you will be conducting in your job search. Like the many sleuths on TV, in movies, and in books, you will be successful to the extent that you are both persistent and imaginative in seeking information. The sources of printed information represent only the tip of a very vast iceberg, but if you start with them and use them well, you will soon find yourself discovering the huge body of information below the surface.
Anyone conducting a systematic job search will at some point need to get information on positions and job titles, salaries, industries, and companies; most will also want to get information about individual people. All these kinds of information should be sought both from libraries and informational interviewing.
