The Paul Robeson Library has many resources to assist you in researching employers.  Special thanks to Theo Haynes, Business Reference Librarian for the following information.

All Purpose databases

Rutgers On-line Career Library ( Password = rutgersonlinelibrary)

A Database of Every U.S. Business
This can be accessed free from computers within the University

Dow-Jones Interactive (www.libraries.rutgers.edu under Indexes > Dow-Jones Interactive).  This product will change soon to Factiva
This provides Company and Industry information.  Use the Company & Industry Center to get a Financial Snapshot or Profile, and a Company/Industry Comparison Report, and well as for quick  convenient access to SEC filings for the company.  Use the Publications Library to find articles by keyword in the text, and full-text of many newspaper and journal articles, including full-text of the Wall Street Journal back many years.  You can Change Publications that are being searched.  Look at the Examples for tips on advanced searching, and see under Ask DJ, Help & FAQs,  Advanced Searching for Publications Library and Company & Industry Center.

LexisNexis Academic (www.libraries.rutgers.edu under Indexes > LexisNexis Academic)
 This large business and law oriented collection of databases also includes indexing for many newspapers, and full-text of the New York Times back to 1980.

Hoover's Handbooks
You can also find up-to-date Hoover’s Handbook company information online at www.libraries.rutgers.edu > > Indexes > LexisNexis Academic).
Hoover’s is included in LexisNexis Academic.  Within LexisNexis Academic choose Business, then Company Financial, search by company name, choosing Hoover’s Company Reports from the Source dropdown list.  Hoover’s Company Profile gives the full record that corresponds to, or amplifies, the record in the Hoover’s Handbooks or Hoover’s Online.

Financial databases

FIS Online  is the electronic version of the Mergent (formerly Moody’s) Manuals at www.libraries.rutgers.edu > Indexes > FIS Online.  This product will change name soon to Mergent).
This database provides much information on the companies listed on the U.S. stock exchanges. Each company's financial data back 10 years, scanned annual reports for the most recent 3+ years, and standard information plus brief corporate history, subsidiaries, plants and properties owned are given as well.

Compact Disclosure (Ask at the Reference Desk).
This CD-ROM provides data on over 12,000 public companies extracted from SEC filings and annual reports submitted by public companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Includes financial data back 10 years on each annual disc; data is available from to 1979-1999.  Financial data, ratios, and text from the most recent reports are all indexed in detail so that customized reports can be created.  The menu driven format makes it easy to pull together comparative data on companies or industries.

Free EDGAR at http://www.freeedgar.com
This is a Web site that is friendlier than the SEC's EDGAR site.  It allows html display of SEC filings, with breakdown into sections.
 

Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios (REF HF5681.R25I525 1982/83- Located on Reference area  Industry Table)
This will give you ratios for almost every 4-digit SIC code industry.

Historical resource

International Directory of Company Histories (REF HD2721.I63 1988).
This multi-volume set includes long histories of major companies, arranged by industry. Because it is a continually published series, most company histories include information more recent than 1988. Use the cumulative index in the highest numbered volume to find the bold faced main entry for a company.

Directory database

Dun & Bradstreet Million Dollar Database (www.libraries.rutgers.edu under Indexes).
The D&B Million Dollar Database is a directory of over 1,500,000 US and Canadian companies. The database includes all companies with more than 100 employees or sales greater than $5 million.  Dun & Bradstreet is a leading provider of financial information.  For each company, the Million Dollar Database includes information about sales, product lines, parent/affiliate/subsidiary companies, key personnel (including biographical information on corporate executives), and much more. It can be used to find basic information about one company, or to find all companies in an industry or at a particular location. The contents of the database are also fully searchable according to multiple criteria.  One can, for example, find all companies in Camden County with sales over $100 million and executives that have graduated from Rutgers. Search output can be easily customized and exported or printed.

Periodical databases

ABI/Inform (www.libraries.rutgers.edu under Indexes)
This major business index, with detailed business subject headings, includes full-text for many of the articles since 1995.    This includes indexing back to 1971. Company name is a searchable field.  Most industries have subject headings, and often classification codes will help with this too.

Business & Industry Database and TableBase  (www.libraries.rutgers.edu under Indexes)
These both index only trade magazines, but frequently help you find statistical data on an industry, company or product.  They only go back to 1994, but include full-text or extracts and tables for much of what is indexed.

Industry information

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys (HC106.6.S74 v.1- 1971-  current year located on Industry Table, older ones are in the Stacks but do not circulate)
These guides for investors include excellent summaries on the status and expected future of numerous industries.  They include charts and data tables on the industry as well as financial and ratio data on major companies in each industry.  We purchase the quarterly volumes, but pieces of each are updated by S&P as needed, about every 12-18 months, so watch the dates in the margins for your section to know when it was last updated.
 
 

MultexNET Academic Research-on-Demand at (www.libraries.rutgers.edu under Indexes)
Provides more than one million investment analysts' research reports covering stocks, industries, commodities, derivatives, and currencies. The database may be searched by company name or ticker symbol, or by keyword. Search results can be limited by language, brokerage house, industry, country or region, and time period.  These research reports come from more than 575 of the world's leading brokerage firms, investment banks, and market research providers.

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Manual (Both are on the Reference area Industry Table; NAICS is also available at http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html  with cross-indexing from the SIC codes
These help you identify the appropriate classification number for the industry in which your company does business.  You can also often get the SIC or NAIC number from a company directory or from Compact Disclosure.  The descriptions in the NAIC and SIC manuals will let you confirm that the number given in a directory is the industry you think it is.

Business information guides

RUL Business Pages at
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/busi/business.shtml
This collection of Research Guides includes one for Company and one for Industry research, as well as many others.