Applied research skills and methodologies

¶ … gather useful information about the New Century Financial Company as a place that I might work.

Take a Mental Inventory chose to research New Century Financial Company because I have worked for a financial corporation in the past. Because of my experience as an administrative assistance, I think this company may offer a position that I am qualified for. All I know about this company is that it offers mortgages, and that its main offices are in California. Is this a national organization, or is it limited to one state?

Formulate Research Questions

What standards of education and training are standard to obtain a position in this company?

Is this company a national organization?

What is the demography that this company targets?

How is this company doing right now financially?

How big is the company?

Step 4. Find Sources went to www.hoovers.comand researched "New Century Financial Company" to find information about the company. This site contain basic information such as sales figures and the size of the company. It also contained a direct link to the New Century Financial web page, which I used as an additional source. The citation for the two sites is as follows:

New Century Financial Company. 2 Nov. 2006 http://www.ncen.com/.

New Century Financial Corporation." Hoovers. 2 Nov. 2006 http://www.hoovers.com/new-century-financial/ -- ID__53504 -- /free-co-factsheet.xhtml.

Step 5. Answer Research Questions

1. What standards of education and training are standard to obtain a position in this company?

The New Century Financial Company web site has a search page to find open positions, and the page included fields to fill in education and experience. This indicates that positions are open with different qualifications, and that I will need to consider my particular position when determining my eligibility.

2. Is this company a national organization?

According to the company web site, New Century Financial does about forty percent of its business in-state; however, it has 216 offices in thirty-five states according to Hoover.com. So, despite a concentration of in-state business, New Century Financial has obviously been tapping into the national market.

3. What is the demography that this company targets?

New Century Financial provides mortgages primarily for single-family homes, and targets those with less-than-perfect credit. Most of its business goes through independent brokers, but it does have a significant (twelve percent) retail division.

How big is the company?

Most of this information has been reviewed in previous questions. New Century Financial offers loans from thirty-five thousand different mortgage brokers, and has over two hundred of its own offices in thirty-five states. It does about 2.5 billion in sales per years, and employs 7200 people. It is a very large company, and seemingly very stable.

Step 6. Present Your Research

New Century Financial Corp

New Century Financial Corporation is a national mortgage company that offers loans to sub-optimal households through a network of 35,000 mortgage brokers. In 2005, it grossed approximately 2.5 billion in sales, and has 7200 employees (Hoovers).