Vault.com is a new tool available on the Center for Career Development online resources page. It provides in-depth intelligence on what it’s really like to work in an industry, company or profession—and how to position yourself to land that job. Research a company, school or industry, get the inside scoop on what it’s really like, and find the career advice you need to launch your career. Our Center for Career Development interns recently explored Vault.com. Check out what they had to say!
Researching Industries & Professions…
One defining feature of Vault is its Industries & Professions tab – here, students can select an industry (with selections from Accounting to Writing and Editing) and read an overview of the industry as a whole, along with other key features about the field. The general overview includes the goals of the industry, a brief history, the impact emerging technology has had on the industry, and the way that profession has recently impacted the economy and vice versa. I have never come across one website that offers so much information about such a wide array of industries! As a student, I would use this feature of Vault to explore industries that interest me, in hopes of better positioning myself as a candidate to future employers.
Other tabs will walk you through the current state of each industry, offer insight into what it would be like to work in the industry, and provide information to weigh potential pros and cons to better help you consider whether a job in this field is something worth pursuing. At the end, Vault provides an extensive list of resources and associations within each field, along with a short description and contact information for each resource. Once you have reviewed the information available for the industries that interest you, you can narrow your exploration into specific companies within those industries with Vault’s Company Analysis feature.
Researching Companies…
Vault features in-depth company profiling and market analysis to provide a holistic glimpse of a company’s presence in a certain industry. Along with the “Industry and Professions” section discussed above, the “Companies” page is directly accessible from Vault’s homepage. Once you select the “Companies” tab at the top of the home page, you’ll be asked to select from a list of industry and firm categories. This allows someone who may not be as knowledgeable on specific companies to search and find some that they might be interested in based on different credentials. Within each industry tab, Vault includes a variety of “Tops” and “Bests” of companies per certain variables related to that industry. For example, if one were to choose the “Consulting Firms” tab, they would be greeted by lists that rank consulting firms based on their prestige in certain focus areas (like technology advising, defense, strategic consulting, etc.). Additionally, you can also filter by region if you would like to target a specific location.
Hovering over the “Companies” tab also allows you to perform a more focused search for a specific company. If you know the name or some keywords related to the company, you can enter that into the search bar at the top of the page. Moreover, you are able to limit your search by selecting from a list of industries, company size ranges, regions, and publically traded versus privately held. Vault’s attention to detail in the actual company profiles truly sets them apart from other company ranking & review websites. They separate their analysis into the company’s operations, their geographical reach, sales & marketing initiatives, financial performance, strategies (mergers & acquisitions), competitor lists, along with recent company news and publications. Moreover, at the top of each company profile there lies a brief summary of what it’s like to work for them, and the “Uppers” (pros) and “Downers” (cons) employees experience while being there.
I believe that Vault provides substantial information to students; both those just entering the job or internship search, along with those a bit more versed in the subject. Vault’s features within the “Companies” tab makes meandering through different industries and related companies simple. I also really like how each industry has their own unique “Top” lists for different performance markings specific to that industry. This allows for one to learn both about the industry playground as a whole, while also finding the constituent companies that align with his or her interests.
Written by Catherine Cote ’18 & Kyle Hughes ’17
