Do you know that an invitation to interview is accompanied
by a strange feeling between excitement and fear? It’s particularly strong if
you don’t know about your potential workplace. But even if you first heard
about the company you’re interviewing was the day you sent your application,
you can still walk in as you’ve known about the place for years. Here are
several ways to address the pre-interview research of the company.
Know the Strong Suits of the company:
The best way to convince your interviewer that you know the
company well is to explain what makes it special in comparison to competitors.
Are you good news? On their websites, companies will often tell you the answer
to this question. Companies share how they stand out through their mission or
values, which are typically displayed in the section “About Us.” Read
closely to learn what this organization could be different from others.
Sniff Off Financial Health:
Click on the “Investor Relations” tab while you’re
on the website. You should be able to access and listen to a conference call
for quarterly earnings available to the public for most large companies and
read an annual report. These calls and reports cover a variety of topics (often
difficult to find otherwise), including new products, company risks and whether
revenue is growing or stable. If you’re talking to a startup, check out CrunchBase’s
profile. You can get caught up in financing rounds, acquisitions, recent hires
and press coverage.
Watch community contact:
Somewhere during the
application process, someone you’re interviewing has probably scanned your
social media accounts with Google. By finding out what the company has been up
to lately, you should return the favor. In addition to the news that comes up
when you read the company Google (which you should also read), corporate blogs
are gold mines, especially for growing younger companies. Whether it’s a post
that welcomes new employees to the sales team or details new features of a
recent software update, this is what you should know about.
Go Undercover to Learn Company Culture:
You can glimpse a bit of corporate culture through the blog
and social media accounts of a company, but try looking for information from
external sources to really build on that information. Check out the company
profiles at The Muse, for example, where you can watch interviews with current
employees and hear what makes each workplace so different. Or see what positive
and negative things people have to say about your Glassdoor interview. (You can
also sniff out questions from the sample interview-here’s how.)
Read Up on the field and competitors:
Look for competitors by going to the company page of
LinkedIn and scrolling down to the section “Other Companies People
Viewed.” There should be a couple of competitors. Do the same with the
competitors you find until you know who the big players are in the field. (Or
you should be able to find a list of competitors on your profile if the company
has a Crunchbase page.)
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
