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This article introduces you to a particular data research product, ReferenceUSA. ReferenceUSA is a subscription-only database that contains information on over 14 million US and over 3 million non-US businesses along with numerous residential databases, and all of this is updated constantly. It is not available for purchase by the public, but is marketed to public, academic, and business libraries. It is very likely that your local public library subscribes to this service and makes it available to you as one of the many databases you can access either in the library or through their website. Chris Walker wants you to know how to use this powerful product as a tool in your job search by targeting employers in your area who might be interested in hiring someone just like you.

Custom Search: Search this site (plus a few others)

One of the challenges facing job seekers is identifying potential employers to contact. The telephone book is not a particularly good resource because a great many types of companies do not advertise in the Yellow Pages and you might have to use four or five different books to cover your target area. ReferenceUSA, a database of over 14 million companies, is available through many public libraries and their web sites. You can quickly create a targeted call list using this powerful tool. Check with your local library to learn their access requirements for ReferenceUSA. In most cases, you will need to be sure your library card is current.

For example, we have a job seeker who wants a job at a garden center. From the main page for ReferenceUSA we select 'US Businesses'.

The 'Quick Search' on the next page allows us locate a company in a target industry. This could be a former employer or a company you are interested in working for. For our client, we look up a company we know in that business, Donzell's.

In this case, we were given more than one response to our inquiry, so we select a company description to view.

Once we have the listing we desire, we scroll down to 'Industry Profile' on the company page, locate the 'NAICS' (North American Industrial Classification System) code and write it down. All companies involved in that line of business will use the same NAICS code. Donzell's has been assigned the NAICS code 44422008.

Now that we have our NAICS code, we can use it to find all companies in the same business. To do this, we click on 'New Search' at the top of the page to be returned to the US Businesses page, and click on 'Custom Search'. The next page shows all the criteria that can be used in your search. Click on 'Business Type', and check the box labeled 'Keyword/SIC/NAICS'. As you make selections, your search is created on the fly. Click the radio button 'Search All NAICS', and enter the code you wrote down in one of the boxes provided.

We're going to limit this search to our particular area because we aren't interested in businesses in other states or even other parts of this state. To do this, we click on 'Geography' to open that search and allow us to define the geographic area to search. 'MSA' (Metropolitan Statistical Area), for example, would include all the counties for a given metropolitan area, but we find the 'Radius' search to be particularly useful. You enter a zip code or address and select a radius of up to 150 miles (but we suggest something closer to home to start).

After entering your geographic criteria, click the 'Update Count' button. This will give you the number of companies your search produced. You may adjust your criteria if the number is too big or too small. Then click 'View Results'. The numbers in the upper left indicate our search yielded 3 pages of results, 77 companies within 20 miles of 44320 that we can contact and research.

Unfortunately, you cannot search ReferenceUSA by job title, so if you are looking for a position such as HR Generalist, Administrative Assistant or any other that exists in many industries, you need to take a different approach. Through research you can identify industries or businesses that are growing in your area and then use the above method to find companies. For example, medical device manufacturers are doing relatively well even in a down economy. You could then create a list of those companies to target your search for an Administrative Assistant position.