Who is this guide for?
This guide is for students interested in exploring and preparing for careers at all stages, from figuring out what jobs might best fit you to doing in-depth company research once you are in the job searching process to determine if an employer is worth your time and stand out in interviews.
Because this includes a comprehensive list of information sources to aid students in their journey, it is also valuable for anyone who works with students including student success staff, career services and coaches, and faculty advisors or mentors.
Ask Us
Librarians are available to answer your questions. Click on the Ask Us bubble for FAQs and contact options (chat, email, text, phone).
Frequently Asked Questions
Top 5 Library FAQ's:
Career Services
Career Services is your hub at MTU for all things career related. Sign up for career coaching, one-on-one appointments, and workshops to help you perfect your job hunting, resumes, and interviews. Career Services puts on the annual Career Fair, Career Fest activities, and maintains the Handshake platform where you can find jobs on and off of campus.
Use valuable library tools alongside Career Services to research jobs, industries, and potential employers.
What's out there: Researching Occupations
Don't know what you want to do when you graduate? Have some ideas, but not sure where to begin? You are not alone! Blow are some library-vetted credible resources for learning about different occupations and industries. This might mean salary forecasts, job market expectations, job descriptions and requirements, and more.
Web Resources
- The Princeton Review: Career ProfilesFind hundreds of profiles on a variety of careers, what sort of training is required to get them, "a day in the life" style write up, how safe the work is and how easy it is to find jobs. They also include quality of life estimates now, five, and ten years out. Check out civil engineering for example.
- O*NET OnLineDatabase featuring occupational information developed for the U.S. Department of Labor. O*NET is a preferred database at MTU and can be used to find jobs that fit your interests, skills, and experience, explore growing careers, find occupational requirements, and understand skills needed to be successful in an industry and related occupations.
- Occupational Outlook HandbookThis source, provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics takes a comprehensive look at hundreds occupations and can easily direct you to training requirements, job growth and salary outlook, and working conditions.
- Explore Health CareersA more narrow resource focused on careers in the health industry, from pharmacy to orthotics and prosthetics. This web resource is a joint initiative involving national foundations, professional associations, health career advisors, and educational institutions.
Company and Industry Research
Thorough and specific research can help you assess if a company is one you might want to work for. It will also give you an edge when crafting application documents and participating in interviews. Being able to speak to the core values, objectives, obstacles, and future of the company and its related industries will help you stand out from a field of candidates with similar qualifications.
Preliminary Company Research
- Check out the company's website, looking specifically at values, policies, and mission statements
- Browse a company's social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter for example) to gauge company culture
- Google companies, looking for news stories and Wikipedia articles—no one will tell you about their scandals on their own site
- Check out job search and review sites to find out more about employee satisfaction, benefits, and company culture
- For government jobs (like MTU) you can often find current salary postings and more detailed information than private companies
This won't get you very in-depth, but it will be a good start!
Once you've done preliminary company research, determined that you are a good fit for each other, and decided to apply to a position it is time to begin indepth research using library resources to find company profiles, reports, and analyses. This knowledge can be used to tailor your application materials and come up with potential interview question answers.
What are they and how to access:
Company Profiles- broad description and overview, with key information, history, financial information, SWOT analyses, and related industry codes (like NAICS). D&B Hoovers, MarketLine, and Medtrack make high quality company profiles that can only be accessed through library databases like One Business (ProQuest) Entrepreneurial Studies Source (EBSCO).
Annual Reports & SEC Filings (10K)- internal documents created by companies. These two documents are essentially the same, although annual reports make the information presentable for shareholders and other stakeholders. Both documents contain detailed information about a company's financials. They can often be found on a company’s website or if not, one of our library databases.
Please note, extensive reports are most likely to be available for large and publicly traded companies.
Library Databases for Company Research
- One Business (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowCombines multiple business databases providing access to scholarly journals, eBooks, trade publications, tax law resources, dissertations and conference proceedings, and videos. Company, industry, and country overviews and reports. Information sources in multiple business-related subjects including: business trends, marketing, economic conditions, accounting and finance.
- Entrepreneurial Studies Source (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Current insights on entrepreneurship and small business topics for business students and researchers. Content comes from business journals, magazines, reference books, case studies and company profiles.
Library resources can also help you find in depth information beyond companies by looking at an industry-wide level. You will primarily be looking at industry profiles and independent reports when doing deep industry research. This can help you better understand the big picture of an industry you are interested in working in. These profiles include trends and outlooks, major companies in that industry, financial data, and challenges the industry faces. You can use industry codes found in company profiles to search for matching industries in library databases, or just browse.
Be aware that industry reports tend to be broad in their scope, so you may end up looking at a larger section of industry than you imagined (there are many narrow scam industry reports you can find on Google though).
Library Databases for Industry Research
- One Business (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowCombines multiple business databases providing access to scholarly journals, eBooks, trade publications, tax law resources, dissertations and conference proceedings, and videos. Company, industry, and country overviews and reports. Information sources in multiple business-related subjects including: business trends, marketing, economic conditions, accounting and finance.
- Statista This link opens in a new windowStatista provides direct access to quantitative data on a wide variety of areas of interest or markets. Statistics, industry reports, company dossiers, and forecasts are some of the content available for download in multiple formats. It also offers graphical tools that allow users to manipulate data and create infographics for use in presentations and publications.
Trade Journals: Be in the Know
What are trade publications?
Like scholarly journals that you may have used in other courses, trade publications or journals are
published regularly (weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly) and have to do with a specific topic or
field. However, instead of in-depth technical research, trade publications often contain important
news that is relevant to the field, summaries of new research (rather than the research itself),
trends and predictions for the field, and advertisements for products or services that people in
that field might be interested in. Some are broad (e.g. Engineering News Record) and some are
incredibly targeted (e.g. Bicycle retailer and industry news).
Who reads trade publications and why?
Generally, trade publications are geared very specifically towards professionals currently and
actively working in a field. They’re a quick and easy way to keep your finger on what’s important,
begin to understand the broad context of research in a field, and just get an idea of what’s
important right now. Often, professionals will pick out individual ideas or articles that they
gained a basic understanding of in a trade publication and explore those in-depth using a more
scholarly resource. They are a great resource to stay informed on an industry you are interested in working.
Trade Journals By Discipline
IEEE engineering in medicine and biology magazine: this quarterly publication focuses on current technology in the biomedical engineering field.
- Online available 1983-2010
IEEE pulse: focuses on current technology, news, and societal implications within the field.
- Online available 2011-present
Biotech business week: a summary of research, financial, and other news pertaining to the field from the past week.
- Online available 2003–present
Biotech week: a weekly summary of biomedical research and findings
- Online available 1998-present
Engineering News Record: news from the engineering field with a heavy focus on infrastructure & building.
- In-print availability 1987-present (some gaps)
New civil engineer: civil engineering news published in England (so not all of the articles about government are relevant), but good info about the industry overall.
- In print availability is sporadic from 1985-2014
- Online available 2010-present
Civil engineering news: News, trends, and analysis pertaining to structural and civil engineering. To view the publication, visit the “Magazine” tab on the website.
- Online available 2004-present
Chemical and engineering news: “news edition” of the American Chemical Society: news, research, and analysis of the field produced by the American Chemical Society.
- In-print available 1942-2004
- Online available 1998-present
Chemical week: information and news dealing with chemical markets and industries
- In-print available 1951-2012 (with some gaps)
- Online available 1987-2012
The chemical engineer: news and resources published by the Institution of Chemical Engineers.
- In-print available 1970-2013
- Online available 2001-present (note: select IP Login for access. Be sure you are either on-campus, or have logged in for remote access to library resources so that the site recognizes you!)
ACM queue: tomorrow’s computing today: covers a wide range of computing topics and is produced by the Association for Computing Machinery.
- Online available 2003-present
Computer: this publication bills itself as being a resource that falls in-between a research journal and a trade publication. There are a number of articles characteristic of trade publications, as well as a few original research articles in each volume.
- In-print available 1971-2003
- Online available 1970-present
IEEE spectrum: covers trends in engineering, science & technology, with a focus on electrical engineering. Has lots of cross-disciplinary information that would be of interest to other types of engineers!
- In-print available 1966-2003
- Online available 1964-present
IEEE power engineering review: covers power and energy industry news.
- Online available 1981-2002
IEEE power & energy magazine: news and research relevant to power and energy.
- Online available 2003-present
Machine Design: research, industry, business, news and manufacturing information relevant to the mechanical engineer.
- In-print available 1929-2012
- Online available 1984-2014
Professional engineering: covers a wide range of engineering topics with a heavy focus on mechanical.
- In print available 1994-2014
Air conditioning, heating, & refrigeration news: a trade journal dealing with a fairly specific subset of mechanical engineering.
- Online available 1989-present
Machine Design: research, industry, business, news and manufacturing information relevant to the mechanical engineer.
- In-print available 1929-2012
- Online available 1984-2014
Professional engineering: covers a wide range of engineering topics with a heavy focus on mechanical.
- In print available 1994-2014
Air conditioning, heating, & refrigeration news: a trade journal dealing with a fairly specific subset of mechanical engineering.
- Online available 1989-present
Machine Design: research, industry, business, news and manufacturing information relevant to the mechanical engineer.
- In-print available 1929-2012
- Online available 1984-2014
Professional engineering: covers a wide range of engineering topics with a heavy focus on mechanical.
- In print available 1994-2014
Air conditioning, heating, & refrigeration news: a trade journal dealing with a fairly specific subset of mechanical engineering.
- Online available 1989-present
Below are a few trade publications that deal with a range of fields that fall under the heading “General Sciences & Arts” that may be of interest. However, if none of fit what you’re looking for, contact the library for assistance at reflib@mtu.edu.
Franchising world: covers all aspects and news that would be relevant to a small business or franchise owner.
- Online available 1992-present
Book business: articles, ideas, and news relevant to writers and publishers.
- Online available
BioScience: publishes news and research reviews as well as occasional peer-reviewed research articles on key life science and ecology topics.
- In print available 1964-2003
- Online available 1964-2013
Veterinary Economics: information on how to run a veterinary practice as well as relevant business news.
- Online available 2002-present
Campus Resources
- Provides extensive resources to help students find employment
- They should be your number one stop for help all things related to careers
- Career-tutors on site for appointments
- MTU Student Placement Reports
- Available to Undergraduate and Graduate Students
- Proofreading and Reviewing resumes and cover-letters
Van Pelt and Opie Library Research Help "Ask Us!"
- Research occupational and industry outlooks
- Learn the tools and talk of the trade by checking out trade journals
- In depth company research
General Resources
These databases contain information on a wide range of subjects and topics and so may contain information relevant to your topic.
Visit the Journals search, Databases A-Z list, and Library Catalog for more resources.
- ProQuest This link opens in a new windowA collection of databases that cover a very wide range of subjects. Find articles, data, reports, magazines, and more.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowSearchable full-text and scanned images of back issues of many of the core research and academic society published journals in almost all subject areas. Its emphasis is in the humanities and social sciences. The majority of JSTOR's content is academic and peer-reviewed. Includes primary source material.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowSearches ISI citation indexes for Arts & Humanities, Science, and Social Sciences for articles that cite a known author or work, or search by subject, author, journal, and author address. Based on the Web of Knowledge platform. Covers over 12,000 journals.