I remember feeling completely perplexed when a candidate I was interviewing for an administrative position at my company asked, "So, what do you do here?"
As a public figure who has a website, numerous social media profiles and a robust YouTube channel, finding out what business I'm in is not hard. This candidate revealed that they were unprepared and not interested in doing the work to ensure a good interview.
The companies you interview with will have some online presence. They will also have employees, clients, competitors and business partners who know about the company and its culture, vision and business.
To enter a job interview without prior knowledge about the company's work signals to the interviewer that you just don't care.
What to Research
If you have time, if the company is publicly held and if you're savvy on how to read financial reports, by all means pull public documents of its earnings, stock history and projections.
If this kind of research overwhelms you, stick to information that's relevant for a first, or second, interview.
Learn about the company culture. Ask current employees what they like about working there, the positive aspects of the work environment and whether the company delivers on promises to employees. Inquire about the work/life balance situation, if that's important to you.
Ask about collaboration and teamwork; are they just words, or does the company put resources toward building strong teams? Ask about workload, travel away from the office, and flexible work schedules, if these matter to you.
Find former employees and ask them some of the same questions. Recognize that you may get negative input if they left the company under less-than-favorable terms. But their perspective may be helpful in getting a complete picture of the company culture.
Research the business. What type of work does it do? What are all the lines of business that it has? This information can reveal downstream opportunities if you join the company.
Understand as much as you can about the nature of its work, the products it makes or services it provides, and its financial strength. Is it growing into new markets? Did it restructure recently? Has it closed offices and downsized? None of these answers should scare you, but they could reveal challenges you'd get to help the company overcome.
A company that is going through a restructuring may be headed for closure, or they could be right-sizing the business to grow more strategically in the future.
Research the company's competitors. Market positioning is important to a business' growth. Learn (online and by asking trusted advisers) about competing companies:
- What are they doing right, and where is their weakness?
- Is the company you're interviewing with new to the market?
- Or are they more of a legacy brand, with an established track record for outpacing the competition?
This information helps you develop great questions for the job interview.
Research the company's leadership. What previous roles did the CEO hold? Are they known for building great companies or for closing companies down? Has most of the senior leadership been with the company a long time?
Answers to these questions could indicate a commitment to the business and its growth or raise red flags about who's running the business. Also, learn as much as you can about the people you'll be interviewing with by looking at their profiles on the company website (if available) and their LinkedIn profiles.
Researching informs you about the company, its business and its people. Research also enables you to prepare thoughtful and focused questions to bring up in the interview. Being prepared is respectful to the interviewer, and helpful to you.
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