How to Research Your Next Job
In my last post, I talked about matching your cover letter to the organizational culture of the organization you are applying to. This led to the obvious question of how to learn about organizational cultures. Here's your answer: 1) ask people 2) google 3) look at their funding.
Ask People Global Health is a small world, and people change jobs a lot. We also work on a lot of collation projects. Once you're about five years into your career, you know a little bit about almost every organization out there. So, if you don't know much about an organization, ask everyone you know about them. Chances are, somebody you know has worked there or can refer you to someone who has. If you're still in school, you can ask your professors. They love questions like that. You should also look at your LinkedIn network, and see if you've got any connections that way. If you're not on LinkedIn, go join right away. (If you've commented on this blog and said something intelligent, I am happy to be your first connection.)
Google Just googling the organization's name will just get you a lot of press releases. You need to be creative. Try Organization Name + Disgruntled. Or Organization + corruption. Or Organization + wonderful. You want to see what people are saying about what it's like to work there, or what host governments think. If it's all missionaries talking about your potential employer, that's a clue too.
Follow the Money I've mentioned this before, but funding sources have a major impact on an organization's character. Organizations that get almost all their money from the European Union have a decided European approach and culture. Groups that get a lot of private donations are able to be more outspoken on policy issues, and may see themselves as brave and scrappy. And places with mostly US government money tend to behave like little branches of the US government.
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