Target Smarter: How to Find Companies That Need You

Your value proposition is the foundation of your job search. Once it’s clear, the next step is finding the companies that need what you're offering.

This doesn't mean spraying your resume across LinkedIn or sifting through job boards.

The way to generate the best opportunities is to run your job search as a consultative sales process, and integral to that is establishing your target market: identifying the companies and decision-makers who are likely to have the pain points you solve.

Doing deep, meaningful research on potential employers is not easy. It’s time-consuming, requires digging beyond the obvious and demands strategic thinking.

Most job seekers skim company websites, glance at LinkedIn and call it a day. But the reality is that the executives who take the time to do the hard work of researching companies reap the rewards.

Step 1: Use Your Value Proposition as a Guide

Start by aligning your value proposition with potential companies. Your value proposition provides a filter, narrowing your focus to companies where you can make the biggest impact.

Ask yourself:

• What types of companies face the challenges I solve?
• What industries or markets fit my expertise?
• What stage of growth aligns with what I do?

If you’re a turnaround CFO, you might target businesses showing signs of financial instability or operational inefficiency. If you’re a scaling VP of Sales, you might look for companies hitting $5M–$10M ARR that are preparing for aggressive growth.

Be specific. The closer the companies are to your value proposition — be that in terms of revenue, size, growth stage, etc. — the better your pitch will be.

Step 2: Identify and Research Target Companies

The next step is finding those companies and digging deep into their needs. Start broadly, then refine.

Where to Look:

• Industry Reports: Use reports from firms like Deloitte, McKinsey or industry-specific publications to identify industries facing disruption, growth opportunities or other key challenges.
• Lists: Companies like CB Insights regularly compile lists of top companies across different segments and they are often available without needing a subscription. You can also look at awards winners, 'most influential' lists or conference attendees.
• News and Press Releases: Track announcements of funding rounds, leadership changes or strategic pivots that signal potential needs.
• LinkedIn and Social Media: Monitor company posts, employee updates and hiring trends for clues about their priorities.
• Competitor Analysis: Look at peer companies — if a competitor is investing in scaling, a lagging player may need your help to stay competitive.

Go Beyond the Surface:

Don’t stop at a company’s website. Everyone looks there, and it rarely reveals the full picture. Dig deeper:

• Earnings Calls and Investor Briefings: For public companies, these often highlight pain points like missed targets or operational inefficiencies.
• Leadership Changes: Look on LinkedIn for new strategic hires or leadership changes that could provide useful signals—instability, growth, new product lines, forays into new markets, etc.
• Glassdoor and Employee Reviews: These can uncover cultural challenges, leadership gaps or operational bottlenecks. Take these reviews with a pinch of salt, but patterns can show a trend.
• Customer Feedback: Analyze reviews or forums to identify product or service pain points you could help address.

The key is to uncover challenges the company might not explicitly advertise but that your expertise can solve.

Step 3: Research Key Decision-Makers

Landing an executive role depends on getting in front of the right people, so identifying decision-makers is key.

Note: This is not HR. They are gatekeepers to the person who you actually want to be talking to, and chasing HR will get you nowhere.

Who to Target:

• Direct Hiring Leaders: For C-suite roles, this might be the CEO, board members or investors. For functional roles like VP of Sales or Marketing, target the CEO or COO. In your market map, include as many of the key decision-makers as you can. Having a full picture of the leadership team is useful.
• Influencers: People like department heads or close advisors to the decision-makers can provide introductions or insights.
• Stakeholders: Consider who else might influence the decision, such as key clients, investors, or partners.

Tools to Use:

• LinkedIn Premium: Use advanced search filters to find specific roles and mutual connections.
• Company Directories: Many companies list leadership on their websites.
• Investor and Advisory Networks: Research who backs the company (e.g., VCs or private equity firms) as they often influence hiring decisions.

Step 4: Find Contact Details

Nowadays, the vast majority of people are on LinkedIn and it's easier than ever to reach out to people you don't know. However, the sheer volume of spam messages means outreach can often go totally unnoticed. It's always worth getting an email address and ideally a phone number for each of the contacts on your market map.

There are various free or low-cost tools to find business contact details, including hunter.io, Lusha and RocketReach.

You can also 'guess' and verify business email addresses for your contacts by checking different firstname/lastname/initial combinations with tools such as Email Checker or NeverBounce.

Failing that, email addresses are often listed online. You can use Google to search the contact's name and type AND "@companywebsite.com".

The Bottom Line

The reality is simple: the more effort you put into researching companies, the more rewarding your job search will be. Superficial research leads to generic pitches and wasted opportunities. Deep, targeted research, on the other hand, puts you in a position to not just compete but to stand out.

In the end, employers want problem solvers. If you can show that you understand their challenges and have the expertise to address them, you’ve already won half the battle.