A, B, C list - Prioritizing companies in your job search

When someone asks me to help them figure out where to start in a job search, I always start with this suggestion first. In the economy we are in, this becomes even more important because focusing on how to align your skills and goals to a company and job's goals, values and needs is essential.

A list like this a great way to take away the brands of companies and focus on the values.

Use this list and revisit it from time to time even while employed. It's important to build the habit of continually understanding the market you work in to take charge of your career path, so for immediate purposes this can help you prioritize. For the longer term strategy, this can help you focus in.

As you grow over time this list can help you see where you might want to make a career change, or even help your company move in a different direction based on your research and understanding of market trends.

I break this into two days because it's a lot of thinking work, and the focus you make you want to be certain is the right one.

- Read all instructions before beginning -

Materials Needed

You might want to start with a spreadsheet solution so as the list grows you are on top of organizing and prioritizing it. Excel, Airtable, Google Slides, anything will do to start. You can use Teal as well but they don't have custom fields.

If you want to use this list moving forward and pull it into a calendar or planning function, I'd recommend Airtable or another tool with relational database and planning functions at the beginning to make life easier.

Day One

This day requires a lot of research that might overlap with Day Two. Don't let that bother you. Dig in as much as you feel you need to make a solid decision on the three segments.

A companies are ones you'd absolutely work for regardless of positions that are open, if you could make it work financially, etc. You'd take whatever jobs to just get in the door. You are true fan of the company, what it stands for, and where it's going. You probably already nerd about it. I believe this is what is called the 'dream company' in movies and books.

B companies are ones that you'd be happy working in, they are likely to hire, and have things that fit. If this list gets past 10-15 you will want to start putting in some mechanisms to prioritize later, like benefits, location, pay, any reviews (Glassdoor, etc.) you can just add them as columns in your sheet/tool to sort later on.

C list is filled with companies (or people) that you won't work for under any circumstances. Call this the cut list if you will. These are the companies that you hear about and roll your eyes, or are in an industry you don't want to work in.

Day Two

Great! You've made it through a lot of research and consideration to get to this point, if you made a face at that statement, then go back and check your list. It's important in the next steps to have A, B, and C right so you'll know where to spend your valuable time.

1. Cleaning lists: Depending on how big your A or B lists are, you might need to prioritize your approach. If you've got them in a spreadsheet or database, you can easily sort these items as you like. Some suggestions to help sort out your interests would be benefits, location, pay, any reviews (Glassdoor, etc.).

2. Once identified, follow the A and B companies on LinkedIn or put their news in whatever your feed is. Keep notified of what's happening with these companies, stay on top of what's going on with them.

3. Who do you know at those places? Go through contacts (LinkedIn included) and see if you know anyone in those companies. Reach out to them for coffee or whatever feels comfortable. This is a great time to also clean out your contact list.

4. Who are the major workers or luminaries in these companies? Follow them on LinkedIn. You'll want to start interacting with their content.

Now take a deep breath.

Take a few days to consider the great work you've done, wait for people to get back to you. This type of work might be a more long-haul, strategic move as this work may not come to fruition immediately.