Largest Employers In Waterloo Region (Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge) 2012
Based on some research I have done, here is a list of the top 20 employers in Waterloo Region, which includes the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge as of December 2012. These numbers exclude employees that work for the listed companies below but are located in different cities. The total only include the number of employees that have work spaces in Waterloo Region.
In addition I also give some tips in this article on how to create a similar list for your own city or geographic region so that you can also target doing business with the largest companies in your your area for your small business.
Largest Employers In Waterloo Region
1. Waterloo Region District School Board = 7,500
2. Research In Motion = 6,000
3. Toyota Manufacturing = 4,300
4. Region Of Waterloo = 3,800
5. University Of Waterloo = 3,500
6. Sunlife Financial = 3,500
7. Waterloo Catholic School Board = 3,000
8. Grand River Hospital = 3,000
9. ATS Automation Tooling Systems = 2,300
10. City Of Kitchener = 1,700
11. Loblaws Companies Limited = 1,500
12. Open Text = 1,300
13. Tim Hortons = 1,200
14. Home Hardware = 1,100
15. St. Mary's General Hospital = 1,100
16. Wilfrid Laurier University = 1,050
17. Challenger Motor Frieght = 1,000
18. Babcock & Wilcox Canada Ltd = 1,000
19. Maple Leaf Consumer Foods = 1,000
20. Com Dev = 1,000
If you are a small business and want to capture some big companies as customers try any of the companies above. But be warned, with large companies as customers comes large rewards but also large risks.
If you are reading this article because you are looking for employment you could consider signing up for Elance and perform some outsourcing to make some extra cash until you land your next position.
How To Create A List
Business Profile Websites
A great source to find out the number of locations at a single location is business profiles like Manta and Profile Canada. If you can find the business you are looking for they usually have an estimate on the number of employees. Sometimes the estimates are wrong but when they are wrong they it is usually very easy to notice as the number of employees at the location will be ridiculously high or low. Keep in mind this method only works if the business only has one location. If there are multiple office buildings or locations you will need to add the location employees of each location or find another source for your employee count.
Internet Search
Often by doing an internet search you can find how many people a company employs in a given city, especially if that city is where there head office is. This sources will often be news paper articles. It can sometimes help to search for news articles related to topics that would discuss employee counts like large layoffs or the opening of a new facility or department.
Community Information Sources
Sometimes there are community associations, economic promotion or other websites that store statistics on your city. Check to see if you city has any of these sites and then search them for the information you want. In Waterloo Region for example we have the www.techtriangle.com, which is a great resource for economic and other statistics on the region.
State, Province Or Country Top Employer Lists
By finding other lists of top employers for your State, Province our Country, it may help you generate ideas of who potentially some of the largest employers in your city might be. From this list you can then confirm or exclude certain companies from other research you have found.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia often shows the number of employees a company employees. This will usually be the total number of employees and not the number for just one city but this may help you determine an estimate for the city you want the number for. If you are lucky it might also say for you city, if the city is the head quarters. In addition in the sources section you might find some useful links that will give you the answer you are looking for or at least help you make an educated estimate.
Business Directories
Another great source is business directories for your area. Often the chamber of commerce or the economic promotion organization for your city will publish these. If you can get yours hands on one it may have employee count totals in the directory.
The Best Ways To Start Doing Business With Large Companies
Referral
Really the single best way to start doing business with a large company is by referral. Referral is the number one source of new customers for most businesses and this situation is no exception. Large companies usually have complex buying processes that involve many people. Many of our clients deal with large companies on the list above and probably 90% of those sales have come from referral. Just yesterday I was talking to one of my clients who got his first order from Loblaws as a result of a referral.
To get a referral try and think of anyone you know who might know someone in the target organization. Think about friends, customers, suppliers etc that might have contact to someone in the company because of either work or personal relationships. Then approach them and ask if they would make an introduction for you. Even better yet if you know of someone in the organization, approach them and ask if they know anything about who purchases the item or service you sell and if there would be an opportunity for you to quote on the next job.
Other Articles You Might Be Interested In
1. Largest Employers In Waterloo and Kitchener 2010
2. Largest Companies In Waterloo and Kitchener
3. Small Business Marketing - 5 Key Components
4. The Best Referral Program Ever - How To Get $50 Free
My name is Chris R. Keller. I work at Profitworks Small Business Services helping various business-to-business small businesses in Waterloo and Kitchener Ontario generate new customers. If you are interested in generating new customers for your B2B small businesses or staying up to date on information related to the local business environment enter your email in the box provided below and click the "Send Me Free Marketing Insights" button.
I hope you have found this list of the largest employers in Waterloo Region helpful.
