Getting Started
What are middle market firms?
They are larger than small businesses but smaller than an Amazon and a Google. They employ anywhere from 100 to 2,000 employees and are estimated to earn between 10 and 500 million each year. These firms can be great places to work and often work alongside larger companies.
How do you find them?
Middle market firms often lack the name recognition of larger companies making them challenging to research. This guide will give you strategies to find middle market firms in your industry or geographic area.
Step one: Identifying companies in this space using revenue or number of employees.
Step two: Research those companies.
Step three: Network & Interview. Contact your career advisors for guidance.
Step 1: Creating a List
Start by identifying a list of middle market firms operating in your chosen industry or location. There are a few library databases available to do this search, however Capital IQ provides the most comprehensive search options. One of the challenges of creating a list is whether the company is public or private. Public companies can be searched based on their annual revenue, while private companies' revenue is an estimate. Searching my the number of employees is the better option for privately held firms.
- Capital IQCapital IQ provides access to detailed company profiles for public and private companies including overviews, stock prices, financials, mergers and acquisitions, and more.
Use the 'Screening' tab to search for companies in your industry. Additional screening features include company revenue, number of employees, and location. If you do not have a Capital IQ account, register using your Cornell email address first. - Gale Directory LibraryThe Gale Directory Library provides online access to Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory.
Steps Two & Three: Research Companies & Industries
Once you've identified a list of companies that interest you, prepare for networking or interviews by finding out more about the company and it's industry.
Industry Research
- IBISWorldIBISWorld provides industry research reports and profiles for over 700 United States industries as well as a wide range of industries in China. Business reports for five categories: industry market research, industry risk ratings, company research, global industry research, and economic and demographic data.
- Mergent IntellectMergent Intellect's 'First Research' reports provide access to analyst reports on industries including a useful call prep sheet for job seekers.
News
Fill the gap between the analyst reports and the most recent events in your company and industry. The databases below are aggregators that pull together publications from numerous reputable sources for you to search in one place.
- Business Source CompleteBusiness Source Complete provides full text for scholarly business journals, trade journals, and newspapers sources.
- FactivaFull-text online service for international news and business information. Covers over 28,000 sources in 23 languages in more than 150 countries. Some company and market research is included. Factiva includes full-text coverage of the Wall Street Journal.
Proud to be your research partner!
Johnson Graduate School of Management
Cornell University
Salary Data
The Management Library provides access to ERI Salary Assessor. ERI is a database of salary information searchable by job title, number of years experience, industry, and location. It is accessable from the Management Library computers when on campus or fill out this form and our team will pull salary reports for you!