Career Guides
- First Research Industry Reports This link opens in a new window Industry reports with Career focus. Includes overview, sales & marketing, finance & regulation, regional & international issues, human resources, and statistics for over 100 industries. Additionally, contains quarterly industry updates, business challenges, trends & opportunities, call preparation questions, and ratios.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook Industry guide from the U.S. Department of Labor includes descriptions of myriad jobs. Includes the nature of the work, required training, job outlook, and earnings.
- FirstHand (formerly Vault)Access provided by Boston University Career Center. Registration is required for first time users. Follow these steps to create your account:
1. Go to Firsthand and click "Get Started".
2. Click on “Register now” at the bottom of the box. Enter your BU email address on the next page. Complete the registration process and then click “Create Account” to get started.
3. Click on the link Firsthand e-mails you to confirm your email address (this can take several minutes to process). Note: Firsthand will send you a follow up email to “complete your profile.” This is not required, and completely optional.
Excellent resource on what it can be like to work within an industry, company, or profession.
How to Find the Vault Guides and Rankings:
Vault Guides are under “The Library.” Select The Library tab on the left side of the page, and you’ll see a link for Guides in the top navigation bar.
Vault Rankings are under “Careers.” Select the Careers tab on the left side of the page to see rankings in various fields.
The Careers tab also includes FirstHand Industries and Professions which include Industry profiles and Profession profiles.
Company Directories
- Data Axle Reference Solutions This link opens in a new window Current and historical directories of U.S. businesses and consumers. Search businesses by company name, geographic area, business type, SIC code, revenue, location, number of employees and more. Also includes job and internship listings.
- Company Dossier through Nexis Uni In the Company Dossier box, click on “Create a Company List” to create a list of international or U.S. companies by industry, geographic area and revenue. Rank U.S. companies by sales.
- UniWorld Online This link opens in a new window An online directory of business contact information for headquarters, subsidiaries, and branches of multinational firms with offices in another country, covering over 200 countries and 20,000 industries. Previously released as two separate directories under the Uniworld label: "American firms operating in foreign countries" and "Foreign firms operating in the United States."
Pre-Interview Research
Use the following databases to help you find the latest company news, competition, corporate structure & subsidiaries, financials, history & mission, management team, products & services, and SWOT analysis. For more company information see Company Information Sources.
COMPANY OVERVIEWS
- Hoover's Company Records This link opens in a new window The Hoover's Company Records Database via Nexis Uni contains information for more than 40,000 major public and private companies worldwide. In-Depth Records include overviews and histories, up to 10 years of key financial and employment data, lists of products and key competitors, names of key officers, addresses, and phone and fax numbers.
- MarketLine Company Profiles This link opens in a new window MarketLine (formerly Datamonitor) Company Profiles provide profiles of companies worldwide. Each profile includes a business description, company history, key employees, major products/services and competitors. Many of the profiles contain a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. To locate company profile, browse alphabetical list of company profiles or type company name into Browse For search box and click on Browse button. Available through Business Source Complete.
- Mergent Online This link opens in a new window In-depth company information and financials for international public companies. Allows you to export financials into Excel and create company comparisons using ratios and other financial metrics. Good source for annual reports and company 10K’s. Provides access to research reports written by analysts at leading investment banks, brokerage houses and consulting firms. Click on the Investext tab to access the analyst reports.
COMPANY NEWS
- Factiva This link opens in a new window Provides worldwide full text access to local and regional newspapers, trade publications, business newswires, press release wires, media transcripts, news photos, business-rich websites, investment analyst reports, market research reports, country and regional profiles, company profiles, historical market data.
- ProQuest One Business This link opens in a new window ProQuest One Business combines multiple ProQuest business information databases including ABI-Inform, Accounting, Tax & Banking and Entrepreneurship and contains more than 130 million documents. Content in this database also covers over 2,400 journals and magazines, several hundred news sources, thousands of ebooks, videos and company, industry and country reports.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window Nexis Uni is a source for newspapers and magazines, trade journals, wire services and transcripts, as well as legal sources for federal and state cases and statutes, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 1790, and information on U.S. and international companies and executives.
COMPANY INSIGHTS
- Glassdoor.com Company overviews from employee perspective, includes salary information and what it is like to work for company.
- FirstHand (formerly Vault)Access provided by Boston University Career Center. Registration is required for first time users. Follow these steps to create your account:
1. Go to Firsthand and click "Get Started".
2. Click on “Register now” at the bottom of the box. Enter your BU email address on the next page. Complete the registration process and then click “Create Account” to get started.
3. Click on the link Firsthand e-mails you to confirm your email address (this can take several minutes to process). Note: Firsthand will send you a follow up email to “complete your profile.” This is not required, and completely optional.
Excellent resource on what it can be like to work within an industry, company, or profession.
How to Find the Vault Guides and Rankings:
Vault Guides are under “The Library.” Select The Library tab on the left side of the page, and you’ll see a link for Guides in the top navigation bar.
Vault Rankings are under “Careers.” Select the Careers tab on the left side of the page to see rankings in various fields.
The Careers tab also includes FirstHand Industries and Professions which include Industry profiles and Profession profiles.
* For more information, see Company and Industry Information Sources. See also, Career: How to Analyze Your Industry.
Assistant Head, Information Services
Related Guides
Company Information Sources
Industry Information Sources
Apparel, Fashion & Textiles
Biotech, Pharma, & MedTech
Consulting
Energy & GreenTech
Entertainment & Media
Finance & Investing
Fitness, Recreation & Sports
Health Management
Information Technology
International Business
Manufacturing
Marketing & Advertising
Nonprofit & Public Sector
Retail & eCommerce
Restaurant, Food & Beverage
Technology & Innovation
Toys & Games