7 Things To Research About A Company Before You Go For An Interview

You’ve finally got a call from the company inviting you for an interview. You’ve prepared your resume and brushed up on your skills, and anecdotes. But how would you convince the company that you are the right fit for them? The best way to do that is by getting to know the company, what they really want, and what their future plans are. Get your research muscles warmed up. Make sure to research all the aspects of the company that are meaningful to you.

Why Research?

The basic purpose of your research would be to understand if the company aligns with what you value, while it also gives you more context to answer and ask questions during an interview. Having more context will help you to gain more confidence while answering questions and you won’t feel like you are walking in the dark.

How To Research?

For the purpose of research, have a summary document prepared. This document should highlight what’s important for the interviewer and the company that will set you apart from other candidates.

On a word doc, copy-paste any information from the company’s website and social media pages, especially its LinkedIn; save it with the name of the company along with the date of the interview.

Here are some high-level facts which you should know about the company you’ll be interviewed by.

Mission Of The Company

The mission of the company, and its values, can be found on the “About Us”, “Team” or “Introduction” page on the company’s website.

Key Leadership

Find the members in the leadership. You want to know who the president/ CEO/ founder(s) of the company are.

Also, find out who is the head of the department you would eventually be a part of, along with that of the HR/ people/ recruitment/ culture team.

Write down the names and their titles along with some facts about them. You may find that they are alumni of your college/school, or that they grew up in your hometown. These could all be good conversation starters for breaking the ice.

Schematics

Capture the company size, where the company is headquartered, where the other branches are located, which cities/ countries.

Specific Programme Details

If you are applying for a summer internship program or a special internship programme that the company offers, research becomes predominant.

What To Note | Jot down details from the company website about the internship programme. This would typically include the size and structure of the programme, projects interns typically work on, and expected outcomes.

Approach Former Interns | Reach out to current or former interns of the company in the program to learn more. These can be easily found on LinkedIn – send them a personal message with a brief introduction about yourself, asking for 15 minutes of their time to understand their experiences and takeaways as interns at the company.

Interviewers’ Details

Gather information on the people who will be interviewing you. If you don’t have names, ask for the name/designation of the people who will be interacting with you when the company reaches out to schedule your interview.

It's okay to ask for this, generally, companies don’t have an issue providing you with this information. What you should know about the interviewer/s includes:-

• Current role
• How many years they have served in the current organisation or role
• Prior experience
• Information that might help you to connect/bond, for example, a mutual interest

Now think of thoughtful questions you can ask people during an interview.

For example, if you have applied for an internship programme in the HR department you can ask them a question like – “I went through the company website and saw a lot of emphasis on culture and people. How do you find candidates who are culture-fit?”

Latest Developments

It’s a must to know the company and sift through some of the articles that have come up. You may look at the blog or an article section on the company website as well. Does the company have a:-

• new investor
• collaboration
• product launch
• new division head or CEO
• Merger or a new acquisition?

This will not be asked of you in the interview but will help you to start conversations and you will already have an idea if and when such a thing is mentioned in the interview.

You should know about the company and find out as much as you can by asking the right questions to the right people.

It’s a good idea to go through the LinkedIn of the company for such news. Also, look at the LinkedIn accounts of the CEO and other senior leadership as they would be posting, commenting and announcing articles of their interest. These are all good conversation starters.

You can copy links to these on your doc for reference later.

During the interview, you could say something like – “And congratulations to you for acquiring XYZ, with this, the company is expanding its global footprint in the European market.”

This helps the interviewer know that the candidate has done their homework and is eager for the opportunity to be there.

Company Reviews

There is a lot of information about the company that you can find out via Glassdoor, Indeed, and Google, along with ratings. Reviews about the organisation, its culture, and its leadership are freely available.

Here, you can also find the kind of questions the company asks in interviews for the particular role you are aiming for. You can read these on Quora as well.

Use Own Judgement | But you have to be mindful and use your own judgement while reading these pieces of information as those who’ve written them could be disgruntled employees or generally unhappy people. So not everything you hear or read will be true.

By the end of your research, your doc would include details about the company, the internship programme (if you’re applying for one), background of the senior leadership and interviews, latest news and updates, and popular interview questions.

This preparation and beginning to do such thorough research will help you to sit for other interviews in the future. These would also eventually prepare you for client or vendor meetings.

Getting to know the candidate during an interview is as important for the hiring manager as it is for the candidate to know the company. You should know about the company and find out as much as you can by asking the right questions to the right people. Your research will help you prepare for that.

Parisraja Bajpai is an organisational psychologist with extensive experience in talent acquisition, talent management, employee counselling, employee engagement, training and development. She is currently heading the HR department at Futopia Global Pvt. Ltd.

DISCLAIMER: The views presented in this article are solely of the author and do not represent those of the organisation they are associated with.