Pressed for Candidates?

Company press releases, those documents that share the latest and greatest corporate happenings, often include the names of people responsible for the news.

Press releases may include details about projects and the people who contributed to them. Some press releases even contain profiles of individuals and management teams. You may also find quotes from key employees.

As such, press releases are great sources for certain kinds of candidates. Employees named in press releases are usually corporate officers and up-and-coming managers.

When You?re Pressed for Time

Company websites often contain press releases. But rather than explore individual company sites, you may want to visit locations where you can find a collection of press releases.

Two sites to bookmark are Business Wire and PR Newswire.

Wired for Business

Business Wire is a news wire that delivers news using multiple technologies, including the Internet. The Business Wire website posts news, which can be accessed in a number of ways. Although you may want to scroll through “Today’s News on the Net” to see if there are any items of interest, there are faster ways to access the kind of information you’re seeking.

When looking for company press releases, one area to explore is “Company News Archives.” Selecting this category from the site’s homepage leads to page one of an alphabetical listing by company. Choosing a letter from the drop-down menu returns a listing of those companies beginning with that letter that have documents at the site. When the letter C appears next to a company name, it means “Corporate News on the Net” is available for an organization. Selecting the company returns a single press release or, in most cases, a list of news releases.

Lists of releases are in date order, with the most recent one appearing first. Summaries appear for each item. Because these are fairly detailed, you’ll have a good idea of what documents to select. For example, on a recent visit to the site, the five most recent news releases for a firm included two summaries that mentioned new hires, one about a promotion and another that included both a resignation and an interim appointment. These would all be worth accessing. The fifth, however, was about quarterly results and contained mostly data and a quote from a senior official.

The “Company News Archives” section also lets you select an industry from a drop-down menu. With 34 categories from which to choose, along with an “All” default, this feature is helpful in targeting a candidate with specific experience. When an industry category is selected, a list of applicable companies is returned. Once again there is access to “Company News Archives” if a C appears after a company name.

This feature allows for specificity but, if you still can’t seem to hone in on your candidates, there is a keyword search box that may prove useful.

Selecting “Industry Specific News” from the site’s main menu is another way to look for company information. This section returns the most information about companies. There is a drop-down menu that allows you to select a date from within the last week, another menu of industry categories and a location menu.

This industry menu only contains seven categories and an “All” default but, because the timeframe is limited, it is fairly easy to scroll through the document summaries. Here, however, all news items are grouped together. This means you’ll find press releases mixed in with other documents. Still, because this is the “breaking news” section of the site, you may want to browse for key company names.

A Matter of PR

PR Newswire is another news wire with company press releases available at its website. Loaded with categories, PR Newswire offers several different ways to locate information.

Selecting “Company News” returns a page on which you can search by company name, choose a letter of the alphabet or elect to view the complete listing. Since almost all documents in this section are press releases, selecting a company name leads to a chronological list of news summaries for that organization, provided there is news available.

Occasionally you may select a company and receive a message that reads “Sorry, there are no stories at this time.”

As at Business Wire, summaries are detailed enough so that you can ascertain an item’s content and decide whether or not to select it.

You may prefer to search for press releases using a method other than company name. This is not a problem at PR Newswire. When you choose “Search” under the “News” heading at the site menu, you once again have access to company news archives, but there are also several other search alternatives.

First, there is an option that lets you view all releases within the last 72 hours. Although this may seem cumbersome, summaries make it easy to review information. If you prefer a more streamlined approach however, the “Topical Search” section is probably for you.

“Topical Search” lets you choose from over 50 industry categories, including an “Other” category. There is also a list of 29 subject categories, plus a default “All Subjects” selection. In addition, you can search by location. At “Topical Search” there is also a box in which you can enter a company name.

As if this weren’t enough, the “Search” section has a keywords search box in which you can enter your own terms and either search within “the last 3 business days” or the “last 30 days.”

Multi-National Opportunities

If you’re recruiting on a global scale, you’ll want to explore PR Newswire’s “International” categories. Featuring “Global News,” “Canada News,” “European News,” “Asian News” and “Latin America,” this section of the site leads to press releases that can lead to candidates in other countries.

Whether you’re recruiting domestically or abroad, press releases can provide important company news and point the way to the movers and shakers who might just make it happen for your organization. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*>