There are countless databases you can look through to see which companies are currently hiring for your desired position. While access to these resources is good, this can result in endless scrolling, job description skimming, and blind application submissions. Another downside is that dozens, if not hundreds, of other potential candidates, are looking at and applying to the exact same job listings. This gives employers all the advantages and you’re left waiting around hoping a recruiter will reach out to you to set up a phone screen.

So how do you know which companies are worth your time and effort as a job seeker? This article will go over why making a list of companies you’re interested in is beneficial and how to go about it.

Why Is Making a Companies List Worth It?

Your companies list is going to help define your job search process to land your dream job. You’re going to use this list to eliminate companies that don’t align with your values. With a little bit of self-inventory work on your part, you can come up with your wishlist for an ideal company, team, role, and professional growth scenario so that you know which companies will be worth pursuing.

Blindly filling out job applications once you have your list isn’t going to cut it either. Doing that will not yield the best return for your efforts. Instead, before starting the application process, it’s best to research the company a little and some of their current employees that hold positions similar to what you’re looking for. Reaching out to these potential contacts does require more effort on your part, so having a prioritized companies list pays off huge.

So, how do you go about building your list? Keep reading.

Getting Started

First things first - what not to do

As you start brainstorming your ideal companies, the big names are going to be the first that come to mind. That’s fine, you can add those, but don’t get hung up on them. The competition there is way higher. Second thing, as you start building your list and you find some that really excite you, don’t rush to apply.

Let’s say for instance that you find a company that looks great on the surface after some brief research through their careers page. You apply, get really excited about your chances, and put your search on hold for a couple of weeks. Then a recruiter reaches out to you for a phone screen. Yay! You spend time practicing your phone screen skills and it goes great because you met their basic requirements enough to move on to the next step. Then, you prep for your interview with the hiring manager where they’re mostly asking you technical and behavioral questions. You did great and now onto the next phase, the coding exercise.

In my experience, companies will usually tell you to work on the exercise for 4-6 hours. These exercises are rarely ever completable within that time frame - and of course, you want to do your best to make a great impression with your future coworkers. So you spend double the amount of time. You submit the exercise and wait to hear back. Maybe a week or two go by and you still haven’t heard from them so you reach out. Turns out they decided to go with a candidate that had more experience or was simply further along in the interview process already.

You’ve just spent close to a couple of months if not longer, focusing on this one company and now you’re left to start from scratch again. Maybe now you’ll stick with the process of building a companies list 😉.

How to build your list

Hopefully, by now you’ve taken the time to do a little self-inventory work as it can help you identify your interests, talents, and ideal work/life scenarios. Your interests and talents can point you towards a particular industry to focus on. You can search the industry and see which companies come up. You can also start following industry hashtags on LinkedIn and Twitter and jot down any companies that also follow them.

When you know where your interests lie, you’re more excited and knowledgeable about the industry or the work a particular company is doing. That knowledge and excitement will help 1 - give you something to connect over with an employee you’re reaching out to, and 2 - help set you apart from other candidates during the interview process.

Identifying your talents helps in those situations where you’re looking for your first developer job, but no one wants to give you a chance because you don’t have any experience yet. If, for example, you were a teacher and are switching careers, look at companies in EdTech.

If you haven’t already come up with 40-50 companies your next stop can be LinkedIn. There are a couple of strategies you can use here. 1 - search the position you’re looking for and see which companies come up. 2 - regularly check your feed in case any of your connections either post about an opportunity or have recently joined a company that could potentially interest you.

Final Tips

Finding a company and job you’re excited about means choosing a place that matches who you are. Keep yourself open to possibilities and try not to feel pressured to work at big named companies. Once you have your list, prioritize the companies by which are the strongest contenders. Which ones are you most excited about and which have employees you can reach out to and connect with? Curious how to balance your job search now that you’ll be reaching out to multiple companies at a time? Check out my article on Strategizing a Successful Job Search.