Have you ever dreamed about working for a particular company? You know, the one that you see when you visualize the perfect and most ideal career situation?
You might've thought that it's only a dream; however, there are some things you can do in order to move you forward along this path to make this dream a reality!

1. Go down the unbeaten path
While most will take a first step in their research and go to the obvious like glassdoor.com, indeed.ca, or even LinkedIn (more on that later), you want to take an approach that's less traveled.Start by looking through your own network and I challenge you to do it outside of social media.
Let's get old school here for a minute and look through your cell phone contacts. Perhaps someone in your network actually works for that company or maybe knows someone that works there. Give them a call and let them know you want to learn more about the company. It's a good idea to come prepared with the basic questions you might want to ask.
Pro-Tip: Don't be afraid to ask any type of questions, at this point it's you interviewing them, not the other way around!

2. Recruit the recruiter
By no means am I suggesting that you take the company's recruiter with you a la Jerry Maguire style, but you can make the first move by connecting with the recruiter, talent acquisition team, or at least follow the career Twitter account of the company.
I'd tweet the company about something relevant or re-Tweet something I agree with. I'd also be upfront and let them know you're interested in learning more about the company or industry. I wouldn't go for the close at this point and ask for a job or an interview. At least get them a coffee first!
I was attending a career fair and sent out a Tweet that I was there. Later on, a potential candidate who I already interviewed on the phone came by to personally introduce himself. This solidified his interest in the company and he was able to make a face-to-face connection early on in the recruiting process. He got the job and is one of our successful managers to this day.
Pro-tip: Follow their Twitter account and pay attention to the details!

3. Sometimes it's not what you know, but who you know
Here's where LinkedIn comes in. It really is a small world out there and you can bet that you're somehow connected to an individual that works for your dream company. The difference here with the first and second tip is that through LinkedIn, you can see the connections on a deeper level. I would take the risk here and contact the boss of your ideal position.
Do you want to work in marketing? Contact the marketing director and find out what it's like to work on their team. Perhaps you can ask them to be your mentor, of course, after you've built a relationship. I don't mentor on the first coffee!
Don't forget about researching the competition of your dream company too. When looking at the entire industry, this sometimes reveals more about the dream company, both good and bad, rather than researching one angle.
Pro-tip: Send a thank-you message or note after the first coffee or phone conversation. It's a nice touch and you'll be remembered.

Do your research or you could lose the job before it's even really yours
My two most dreaded words are experimental marketing I wish every time I hear this when I'm interviewing a potential candidate, it rains chocolate bars and puppies.
I work for an experiential marketing agency, and there's nothing experimental about it, let me assure you. The only thing that this shows me is that the person I'm talking to was too lazy to ensure they knew the difference.
Also, this shows me that they didn't even do a lick of research. Same thing when a candidate mentions they always drink (insert competitor's product here) ÔÇô that's a huge fail.
Lastly, if you do the work, the work will follow. I believe that by doing thorough research about a specific company, this broadens your knowledge about the industry as a whole, and not just that particular company.

Grace Lanuza is a contributing blogger for Talent Formula. Follow talentformula.ca for the latest news and opinions on growing your career!
About the author: Grace's 10+ years in the ever-changing world of experiential marketing taught her the importance of having the right team in the right roles. Expanding her passion for people, Grace recently grew her career in the talent acquisition and employment branding space managing campus recruiting across North American for Mosaic, a top marketing agency. You can expect Grace's unique voice to be doung blogging about Gen-Y hiring, motivating your team, interviewing tips and tricks, and best practices to keep remote employees engaged.