Alan Stutts | BLOG | Education Author

At the beginning of your research, you may not know what information is important and what is not. Create a form you fill-out as you work that tracks which companies you have found, contact information for the company, the company Web site, where you found information about the company (directory, database, Web search), and some of the details you felt were important about them.

You can create this form on a piece of letter-size paper using a rule and pencil and then make copies of it. Make the copies on three-hole punch paper so you can keep them in a three-ring binder. Buy some alphabetical index dividers at the office supply store or the office supply area of a large drugstore or grocery store. Use these to file your individual company reports to make them easier to find as the numbers grow.

If you have a computer or access to a computer, you can use word processor or a spreadsheet to create the form. A spreadsheet is great for this kind of document because you will be able to sort the records by the various columns of information you collect.

A library with open book stacks allows you to browse the books on either side of the one whose catalog number you have and make your choices which ones to spend more time with. In libraries where book stacks are not accessible, make a list of all the books in the catalog that look helpful and request them. You need to take all of them to your table to look at and decide which to read.

Most college libraries and many large, metropolitan libraries provide access to their catalog via the Internet. During your initial research visit, find out what is required to log in from home and search the catalog. You probably need a library card and you may need to a user ID and password. Some libraries will mail materials you check-out via the Internet to your home. This is very helpful if you live a distance from the library or if you have limited transportation.

Subscription databases are resources the library purchases from commercial database services. Public libraries often give anybody with library card access these subscription databases, but they may not have as many databases as a college or university.

Colleges and universities usually restrict subscription database access to students, faculty, staff, and alumnae. On-campus, you can probably use your user identification to use a subscription database at the library. If you want to access subscription databases at home, you may need to setup a “proxy server” on your home computer. A proxy server identifies you as authorized to access subscription databases.

If a book is checked out by another a patron or is located at another branch of the library, request a hold on the book. You are notified when the book is returned to the library, or the book is moved from the branch where it is shelved to one where it is easier for you to pick-up. Your library may also mail requested books to your home. Libraries around the country share books. You may find a book title in a database that is not owned by the library you are using. Ask if the book can be borrowed through interlibrary loan.

Plan to spend most of your first visit becoming familiar with where to find things and how to use the card catalog and databases. You will need note cards to write down each book you are going to look for in the stacks, a notebook to take notes while reading, a pen or a pencil, and money for the copy machine. Take a tote bag to carry home the books you check out.

Today’s libraries keep their book catalogs on computers. Most also have computers you can use to surf the Web or use a word processor. Call before you go to find out if you need to reserve one of these computers. You may also need money for printing; take dollar bills and use the bill change rather than weighing yourself down with coins!
If you have a laptop computer, take it with you. (Invest about $20.00 in a security cable that let’s you tether your laptop to a library table.) You can take your notes directly on your computer and not have to transcribe them. Many libraries offer free wireless network access if you have a wireless network card for your computer. Call before you go to find out if wi-fi is available. When you arrive at the library, ask a librarian for instructions on accessing the network.

A personal digital assistant (PDA) can also be used for taking notes and some will accept add-on keyboards. Several companies make small, hand-held scanners that let you scan lines or paragraphs of text in a book and later transfer the text to a computer. These are most useful for scanning a few lines at a time. You will still want to use the copy machine for one or more pages in a book.

Get to the library! There is lots of information available today on the Internet, but only libraries have librarians. Whether you go to a public library or a college library, the first thing you need to do when you walk in the door is find the Reference Desk and introduce yourself. Explain to the librarian that you are conducting research on companies in the hospitality industry. Ask for a list of the resources at the library and write them down.

You want to know which books, magazines, newspapers and databases are available, and where they are located. Using databases can be intimidating. Any reference librarian will give you a personal tutorial on searching if you ask.

If you do not already have borrowing privileges at the library, find out how to get privileges. Public libraries usually grant privileges to residents of the city or county that funds the library. Libraries within a county or even a state may allow borrowing by anyone who holds a library card at another library in the county or state.

College and university libraries may allow anyone to use the library facilities, but they restrict borrowing of items to students, faculty, staff or alumnae who are members of the alumnae association. Even if you no longer live in the city where you went to college, join the alumnae association if it means you get access to the library via the Internet.

Email has become a mainstream form of business communication. In some situations, it is a great way to introduce yourself to a potential networking contact.

Ease and speed are benefits of email. But it has its downside, too.
Many trade and professional associations list the email addresses of their leadership or of department heads in public relations or membership services. These people are inviting email contact, take them up on it.
If you know someone within a company who has referred you to a department head and given you that person’s email address, go ahead and send an email introducing yourself, telling them who referred you, and asking if you can call them.

Avoid sending cold-call emails! Emails coming from people they do not know can look like so much spam, and end up in the deleted email folder just as fast. Some companies have anti-virus filters or spam filters that reject emails from any email address that is not already approved.
And speaking of spam, sending the same email to multiple email address is spamming. Don’t do it! Just as each postal letter or telephone call should be personalized, so should each email. In addition to annoying the recipient, the email may never make it past their spam filter when it contains multiple email addresses on the To: line.
Email letters should follow the same guidelines as letters, as outlined above. In addition, follow these guidelines for good email communication:

Make your first email short and cordial.

End the email with your full postal address, just as you would in a postal letter.

Do not attach your resume. You are not asking them for a job, and many corporate email systems today automatically delete attachments to protect from viruses and spam.

Give the person a link to connections of mutual interest to indicate your familiarity with the industry or their company.

Do not set your email options to send you a notification the email was opened. This may require the recipient to respond to a screen message and rather than do this, they may decide not to bother reading your email.

Sending letters to networking contacts is the most formal means of making contact. Letters also give you lots of time to work and rework what you want to say to someone. If talking on the telephone doesn’t come easy to you, start with a letter. Letters are best for making the first contact with someone you do not know, do not have a referral to from someone the person knows, or to someone who you think is critical to your career.

The purpose of the letter is to ask if you can telephone them or set up a meeting. Each letter should be personalized. Would you want to talk with someone who sends the same letter to everyone? How did you hear about this person or this company? Name the person who suggested you write them. If you can make some other personal connection (Did they go to your college? Grow up in your hometown?) do it.

After the introduction, insert your well-crafted message, the same one you use at parties or in telephone calls. Close with a statement thanking them in advance for their help and telling them when you will call to set up an appointment for meeting or telephone conversation.

The biggest mistakes you can make when contacting a person with a letter are:

Misspell words, use improper punctuation, or make grammatical errors.
Address the letter to “To Whom It May Concern.”

Ask for a job or enclose your resume.

Fail to make the follow-up phone call.

In the 19th Century, people never went anywhere without a personal calling card. About the size of today’s business card, the calling card was handy for giving people you address or leaving behind when you called on someone who wasn’t home. You can use a similar technique in the 21st Century. Create a job seekers calling card!

A job seekers calling card contains your name, telephone number and the career position you are seeking. It can also summarize your skills and qualities as a worker. You can easily create one on any computer and print out several using special business card or index card paper. For a more polished, and more expensive, card, you can take your text to a quick-print shop and ask them to typeset and print it.

Your calling card can be given to people who meet during the course of the day, even if they were unable to give you any names of suggestions during a conversation. They might think of something tomorrow and can use the calling card to get your phone number.

Attach the card to letters you send requesting informational interviews, job sharing, or telephone calls for career advice. If you fill out job applications, attach your calling card. Attach it to your resume, as well. Your resume will get filed, but your card can be sent along to someone else the HR office thinks might be interested in your skills.

Your B List contains the names of people you don’t already know, but people you believe have information or other contacts that will help you in your job search. You need to spend time adding to that list to make sure the names on it are the right ones.

There are many ways to get names for your list. The ideas below are just to get you started.

Contact your alumni association and ask if there is a directory of alumni. These often include information on where a graduate is working.

Contact the local or national chapter of any trade or professional association related to the hospitality industry. Ask about getting a copy of the membership roster. Most associations restrict access to current members.

Go to the web sites of companies where you want to work and look for names in the “About…” pages or the press pages. These same pages will have the company address and telephone numbers. They may include email address for individuals.

Go through your company research notebook and pull out the names you found in company profiles or in articles.

Call a company’s main number and ask the receptionist if she can give you the names of people who hold jobs at the company in your field of interest. These might be department heads or others.

The people on your A List are people you already know. Unless you are already in the hospitality industry, the people on your A List wont’ give you a job. You need your A List to create your B List. Your B List is people who know about the hospitality industry and know the names of hiring managers.

Names are added to your B List when someone on your A List gives you a name, some one on your B List who gives you a name, or a name you find by doing some research. You need to contact each of these people, but you are not going to ask them for a job. Your task now is to let them know what you are looking for and ask if they have suggestions that might help you.

If you are making five or more contacts every day, your personal contact inventory will grow and all of those conversations will begin to melt together. You need a place to write down the names you get from each conversation. You also want to record the nuggets of information you learn or make notes to yourself about each encounter.