What Color Is Your Parachute 2018 by Richard N. Bolles copy

You, by doing this research ahead of time, are choosing a better path by
far. Yes, even in tough times, you do want to be picky. Otherwise, you’ll
take the job in desperation, thinking, “Oh, I could put up with anything,”
and then finding out after you take the job that you were kidding yourself.
So you have to quit, and start your job-hunt all over again. By doing this
research now, you are saving yourself a lot of grief. So, you need to know,
ahead of time, if this place just doesn’t fit. Now, how do you find that out?
There are several ways, some face-to-face, some not:
Friends and Neighbors. Ask everyone you know, if they know
anyone who works at the places that interest you. And, if they do, ask
them if they could arrange for you and that person to get together, for
lunch, coffee, or tea. At that time, tell them why the place interests
you, and indicate you’d like to know more about it. (It helps a lot if
your mutual friend is sitting there with the two of you, so the purpose
of this little chat won’t be misconstrued.) This is the vastly preferred
way to find out about a place. However, obviously you need a couple
of additional alternatives up your sleeve, in case you run into a dead
end here.
People at the Organizations in Question, or Similar. LinkedIn has
an extensive menu where you can find a company’s name. They will
tell you who works there, or used to work there. An email will
sometimes produce an interesting contact; but in this increasingly
busy busy life, even the best-hearted people may sometimes say they
just cannot give you any time, due to overload. If so, respect that.
You can go in person to organizations and ask questions about the
place. This is not recommended with large organizations that have
security guards and so on. But with small organizations (in this case,
50 employees or fewer) you sometimes can find out a great deal by
just showing up. Here, however, I must caution you about several
dangers.
First, make sure you’re not asking them questions that are in print
somewhere, which you could easily have read for yourself instead of
bothering them. This irritates people.
Second, make sure that you approach the gateway people—front
desk, receptionists, customer service, etc.—before you ever approach
people higher up in that organization.
Third, make sure that you approach subordinates rather than the top