How to research employers
The Careers Service has data on thousands of employers from multinationals to small local companies, from voluntary/charity work through to international organisations and conglomerates, to help you to research employers and prepare for assessments and interviews. Please ask information specialist staff at the Resources help desk for help and/or consult resources which include:
- Employers' graduate recruitment brochures
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We seek to stock one reference copy of brochures for those employers who have visited the University of Bristol to attend a recruitment fair or deliver a presentation. Consult our blue-coloured employer files for the reference copy. The files may also contain annual reports, in-house company newsletters, and Careers Advisers' employer visit reports. |
- Free publications - please pop-in to the Careers Service to pick up free copies of a number of annual publications including:
- Real Prospects Directory (includes details of graduate recruiters with job opportunities for final-year students)
- Times Top 100 Graduate Employers (online version includes news headlines about employers from the business pages of The Times newspaper; full text available from Lexis Library database)
- TARGETjobs GET directory (includes advice and information about graduate job vacancies). TARGETjobs.co.uk also has sections on career sectors and employer insights (reviews on graduate employers).
- Guardian UK 300
- Bristol Guide to Career Planning
- TARGETjobs.co.uk Employer Insights - a collection of company-specific, in-depth, independent reports, each providing details about what employers' jobs are like, company culture, core competences, selection procedures, and current news.
- Employer links - details of employers who have recruited, or who have sought to recruit, Bristol students and graduates.
- Careers Network - careers support from Bristol graduates
- Careers Downloads - content from selected past careers events, including audio recordings of guest speakers (MP3 files) and slides
- How to research SMEs (PDF, 211 KB) - small and medium-sized enterprises - i.e. organisations with fewer than 250 employees
- Working in the South West - Graduate Labour Market Information
The Careers Service also subscribes to a number of databases including:
- Employer Directory - information about c.1300 companies that feature in various national league tables such as Britain's Most Admired Companies, Tech Track 100, and the Times Top 100 SMEs amongst other listings, as well as company data from the FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) 100 and FTSE 250.
- Going Global - international job vacancies, internship opportunities, and country-specific career information including employer directories
- South West Top 500 Companies - a CD-ROM available at the Careers Service which provides details of the South West region's Top 500 Companies. The rankings, published by Insider, were obtained by measuring the performance of companies by a combination of their turnover and profitability. Company details, presented in Microsoft Excel format, include contact names and email addresses for the following key contacts: Managing Director, Finance Director, Human Resource Director / Manager, IT Director / Manager, Marketing Director / Manager. Also included on the database: Company name, Full address, Postcode, Telephone, Email addresses, Location (Town or City), Where in region (County), Line of business, Turnover £m, Exports £m, Total assets less current liabilities £m, Holding company, Parent region, Number of employees, Staff costs £m.
- Vault Career Insider - company research reports and employee surveys, occupational sector overviews, and industry career and employer guides.
- Videos about job hunting including LinkedIn for job seekers and How to research before your interview amongst other titles.
- WetFeet - downloadable insider guides about selection processes, job hunting, industries and employers
The University Library subscribes to Lexis Library - search UK newspapers for reports on employers and occupations, with full text coverage from the mid-1980s. Lexis Library is available from MetaLib: your resource gateway.
Internet resources worth exploring include:
- Inside Buzz - browse thousands of quotes from actual employees working in accounting, banking, consulting and law. An inside look at companies, interviews, salaries and more.
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LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Many companies have a formal/professional presence within LinkedIn and many employees have a personal profile too. You can view the University of Bristol LinkedIn company page and Bristol students and graduates can join the University of Bristol Alumni LinkedIn Group to connect with other members [6,280 members as of 23 May 2011]. You can use the Member tab and the Advanced Search option to search for members using keywords and refine your search by company name and location amongst other filters.
- YouTube - the video sharing site. Many companies have produced professional video content specifically for YouTube. One company example includes PricewaterhouseCoopers whose YouTube presence includes a video on group exercises during assessment days.
- Further charity and company information resources are available, such as Intute, the free online service providing access to quality-checked web resources for education and research.
- Useful links from the University of Bristol's Research and Enterprise Development department.
- News aggregators such as Google News and individual news providers such as BBC News and Reuters.
- What will they ask? - job interview questions, interview tips and job searching advice; whatwilltheyask.co.uk web site was established in 2005 by a group of economics graduates from the University of Bristol.
- Glassdoor.com gives you an inside look at company salaries, reviews and interview questions for more than 100,000 companies.
- WikiJob - candidate focused graduate recruitment website designed to help students and graduates find out what careers, employers and interviews are really like.
- The Student Room - jobs and careers resources.
- theJobCrowd - anonymous job reviews written by employees.
Other information resources
Bristol Business Guide from Bristol City Council.
Business Information in Bristol Central Library on College Green.
General employment issues
Equal opportunities resources - information targeted at specific groups such as mature students, minority ethnic students and disability issues.