LinkedIn Secrets: Identifying Companies Using Company Search

LinkedIn is known for being a connector of people. When doing searches, most of my clients search for professionals who work at specific organizations or perform particular roles. Finding people is the primary way most job seekers use LinkedIn.

In most cases, when it comes to companies, the company name is one of the search parameters rather than the focus of the search. This article will discuss using LinkedIn search to find organizations to target, rather than people.

Typical Challenge

First, I want to describe the problem clients are asking me to solve for them. The client sets a meeting to discuss their job search. They are frustrated because they have a specific location in mind and have an industry or job type that interests them. Still, they're having trouble identifying companies that operate in that space. They may be aware of larger organizations, but so is everyone, and the competition is fierce for roles in these organizations. Using tools like Google to search for organizations can work, but it takes a lot of effort to sift through irrelevant information. LinkedIn can make this process much more manageable.

Accessing Company Search

To access company search, place your cursor in the blank search bar at the top of the screen and hit enter. LinkedIn will then direct you to the main search menu to select from seven different categories of search. In this case, we will be selecting "Companies."

Applying Filters

Once selecting "Companies," the menu will change again to provide you with a set of primary filters you can access to sort the results. Those filters are:

• Locations
• Industry
• Company Size

There are two additional filters that you can access by clicking on "All Filters". They are:

• Job listings in LinkedIn - only see companies with active job postings
• 1st Degree Connections - only see companies where you have existing connections

At this point, without applying filters, you should have noticed that the search results will show a relatively large number. At the time of publishing this article, that list was 55.6 million results. 55.6 million is the total number of company pages that exist on LinkedIn. The size of your network does not impact this number. Supposing you have zero connections, this number will only change as the number of companies on LinkedIn changes.

Your goal will then be to use the various filters available to narrow down these results to identify companies that are of particular interest to you. Let's talk about the three primary filters you will use to narrow this search.

Location Filter

There is nothing complicated about this filter. Most people will have specific locations they are willing to work. Input the location or locations you are interested in working from, and LinkedIn will filter the company results to show you companies with at least one employee working in those locations.

It is important to note that this does not necessarily mean there is a physical office location. For example, we have an employer development team member working in Toronto, Ontario. Dalhousie will show in the results when searching for companies in Toronto, even though Dalhousie is in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Industry Filter

Industry filters allow you to get even more targeted. Using a combination of industry and location, you can quickly bring your target list into focus. LinkedIn defines 147 different industries. Clicking on the filter will provide you with the top five based on the most prominent industries represented in your network. Still, you can manually enter any of the 147 industries listed below.

Now we are starting to see how company search can be much more valuable when trying to identify potential employers based on our interests and skillset. For example, we can bring those 55.6 million results down to 306 results by merely applying the filters of location: Halifax and industry: Marketing & Advertising.

For those interested in working in marketing and advertising in Halifax, LinkedIn has just provided them with a list of 306 companies to start researching to learn more. They can quickly begin this process by viewing the Company Page information - more on Company Pages to follow.

Company Size Filter

The final filter that can be useful for my clients is the company size filter. Some people prefer to work for large organizations, and others prefer to work for small organizations. Large organizations tend to be very well known already and will have more competition, but smaller organizations can offer valuable experiences and often will have less competition.

In my personal experience, smaller organizations aren't necessarily overwhelmed with requests for informational interviews or employment inquiries. Competition for roles in these lesser-known organizations may be less intense, and the contacts at these organizations may have more time to provide you with their insight and knowledge.

As an example, let's assume you want to work in investment banking in Toronto. Applying those filters will produce 453 results. However, targeting smaller firms can significantly reduce those results. In this example, the results are reduced to 104 by using a filter of companies with ten or fewer employees.

Following Companies

Once you find target organizations, you'll want to "Follow" them. With a single click of a button, you'll receive updates about the organizations you follow through your newsfeed. Job postings, news articles and other relevant information will be at your fingertips so that you can engage with your target companies on varying levels. Knowledge is power, and being informed about what is happening in target organizations is key to your ability to developing relationships.

Company Pages

Once you have narrowed your list down, it's time to start looking through the company pages. There is so much information available that can help you begin your networking process. I want to cover a few key things to look for here.

Connections That Work Here

For someone like myself, I have an extensive network of people that are constantly changing jobs. As you progress in your career, your network will change over time as well. People you went to school with will change jobs and work for companies that interest you. Your peers in your co-op program might secure a co-op at a place you want to work. Here you can quickly see if you've already got a network in a target organization.

Total Employees

In the image above, LinkedIn is showing me that there are 560,450 employees at Amazon. I can click on this hotlink, and it will bring me to the "People" search, where I can then apply filters such as location, school, job title and others to find particular contacts of interest. This information is extremely valuable when looking for networking opportunities with organizations where you may not already have an established network. Important information to look for would be:

• Are there Alumni from your school working at this company you can leverage?
• Do you have any relevant 2nd-degree connections that someone in your primary network could help you with an introduction?
• Can you find examples of potential co-op or intern job titles to signal that they offer work-integrated learning opportunities? Don't forget about using Past Company Search to help identify previous work-integrated learning experiences.
• Are there people working in roles that fit your career interests?

About, Posts, Jobs, Life, People, Insights, Events, Videos

There is too much information to go through each of these sections individually. Still, in this example, Amazon invests in their Company Page to provide job seekers with additional information to learn more.

Start by reading all of this information so that when you do reach out to target contacts at a particular company, you already appear knowledgeable about the company. It would be best if you were not wasting valuable networking time asking questions that can quickly be answered through publicly available information. Instead, use the networking time to ask more pointed questions based on the information you've gathered from these easily accessible sources. It will make you look smart and invested and give you a deeper understanding to make an informed decision on if you want to continue to pursue employment at an organization.

In closing, LinkedIn is a database of information. Understanding how to manipulate the various filters to find the information you want is critical for getting the most out of your LinkedIn experience. Finding target organizations can be easy if you know how LinkedIn works and leverage it to its fullest potential.