Start with the mission of the company. Research the people who work there–everyone from the CEO to the janitor–using Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook to get a feel for the culture and to look for any projects, public events, projects, or charitable events you could attend to network. Find their pain and demonstrate how you help solve it. Study their job postings to understand their lingo.

Look for jobs that match your skill set. Apply to companies that match your values. At your interviews, ask the leaders about their vision, how they get everyone to align with it, and how they ensure proper execution. Does their vision align with yours? If these things all line up, odds are you can do the job, will want to keep doing it, and you’ll be a good fit.

Each individual will have different priorities when targeting their next career move. The primary factors that most candidates evaluate are: 1) Compensation, 2) Benefits, 3) Perks (company car, etc.), 4) Company Culture, 5) Geographic Location, 6) Promotion Potential, 7) Skills Fit, 8) Societal Prestige, and 9) Overall Quality of Work Life. Only you can decide the weight to assign to each factor.

First, know yourself. Do you want to work in a small company or a large corporation? Are there companies you particularly admire for one reason or another? Make a list based on those questions, then do some research. Find out if the companies are financially healthy, read employee reviews about working there, find industry blogs, and see what you can learn from your LinkedIn connections.