8 Tips For Researching A Company Before Your Job Interview

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Boost your chances of getting hired for the role you want with 8 tips for researching a company before your job interview.

Having a successful job interview is the first step toward your successful career, and you should take it seriously beforehand. An interview isn’t just about displaying your knowledge, skills, and proficiency – although these are important –  it is also about your presence of mind, your confidence, and how research-focused you are!

Walking into a job interview with a strong knowledge of a company can be the thing that will help you stand out from other applicants. You can gain the knowledge you need with 8 tips for researching a company before your job interview.

During my job search, while submitting a digital portfolio and interviewing with hiring managers, everything would go well – that’s what I thought. After facing rejection, even after job interviews, I knew something was missing.

That’s when I realized the problem could be my response when an interviewer asked, “Tell us what you know about our company?” I used to say, “You are an XYZ company and are hiring employees now!”

Do you hear how unimpressive that is?

A candidate has just 7 seconds to create a good initial impression. And that is one of many reasons you must research the company before going in for an interview. In the next few minutes, you will learn 8 tips for researching a company before your job interview

Why is it Necessary to Research the Company?

As mentioned above, I made huge interview mistakes in my job search by not realizing I needed to research companies. Not researching the company made me look unprepared in front of the interviewer.

I changed my strategy after giving about 4-5 job interviews with the same results. At this stage, I decided to research the company before my next job interview.

After learning more about the company, it became clear that there are multiple benefits to performing this research before an interview.

a) Helps You Understand the Company

The more you know about the company’s business goals and target audience, you will be prepared to showcase the skills and abilities that make you the right person to help the company reach these goals.

b) Shows Interest and Enthusiasm

When you show genuine interest in learning about the company and present the facts to the interviewer, it showcases your willingness and enthusiasm to join the company. When you are already interested in a company during the job interview, it is far more likely that you will be an engaged employee after being hired.

c) Feel Confident and Prepared

The best career advice I would like to give anyone going for a job interview is to research a company beforehand. This will give you confidence during the hiring process and make you feel at ease when the interviewer asks questions about the company. You will be confident and secure in your professional standing

d) Tailoring Your Responses as per the Company’s Needs

Ensure to tailor your resume, cover letter, and job interview responses to fit the company’s needs. If you are unprepared and have not researched the company for an interview, you cannot present your case with total authority.

For example, if you are interviewing for the post of UX graphic designer, and you see a window of opportunity by looking at the company website that you can improve, inform that to the interviewer.

e) Making an informed decision

As a novice, I thought every company was good for prolonging my professional career. How wrong was I? Financial health and company culture can go a long way in dictating whether I can be there for the long haul. Researching a company before your job interview can help you determine if this is the right place to grow and develop professionally for years or decades of your career.

8 Tips for Researching a Company Before Your Job Interview

Now, researching companies before your job interview can bring many benefits and help you avoid some interview mistakes. To help you target companies, succeed during the interview, and get hired for the job you want, here are some useful tips you can follow for researching the company.

1. Review the Company’s Website 

The first thing I learned when researching a company was visiting their website. This will give you basic information about a business, its services, and its goals.  This will help you to answer a few common questions, including:

• What exactly is their business model?
• What products or services do they offer?
• What reason makes their clients choose the company?

You can also learn a lot about the company’s culture by searching online.

The next thing you need to do is visit the Careers section, where the recent vacancies are posted. Go through the job description you are applying for and familiarize yourself with the company’s other job openings to gain insight into their hiring trends.

You should go further and check out the vision and mission statement of the company. By better understanding the company’s mission, you can learn what the company professes to care about the most.

You can then showcase these traits and values in your job interview. Although it might take some time to get comprehensive information about the company, it will help you present your case far better in front of the interviewer.

2. Check Their Recent Developments 

You can review recent news about the company online and anything you consider important that can work in your favor during the interview.

Research the latest press releases and developments in the company to get a real sense of what you are getting into. Try to find out a positive piece of news like a recent merger or a client acquisition, but also be on the lookout for issues like layoffs or financial instability.

Although there will be a lot of coverage about the big companies, you have to spend a bit more time for the smaller companies to find news and updates.

A good end goal is to find concrete news about a recent initiative step that they recently took that you can ask the interviewer. Remember, the more interested you sound to the interviewer, the better your stakes will be in getting the job.

3. Browse Through Their Social Media Handles 

Search for information on the company’s social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages to find any more interesting news. 

Research employees on LinkedIn to know more about the company’s current work team and see if they have shared any positive or negative views regarding the business. Also, you can look at the company’s social media accounts to get an idea of the culture and people you’ll be working with should you be hired.

You can then ask about the recent events during the interview. For example, if you found that the company recently participated in an industry conference. you can ask the interviewer about their experience in the event.

4. Research About the Company’s Culture

88% of job seekers agree that healthy company culture is important. By understanding the company culture, you understand the workplace you associate with. It will also give you an overview of the people you deal with daily.

Getting the company’s values and culture beforehand helps you present yourself as a good fit during your job interview. For example, if the company has a vibrant culture based in creative thinking, you can mention that you love working in a company that encourages creativity.

5. Read Employee Reviews on Google and Listing Websites

You can visit Glassdoor, Crunchbase, and Google to read what previous employees have written about the company. You can also find examples of some of the questions asked during the job interview for previous roles in the company.

With the help of these employee reviews, you can get a fair idea about the company culture and your fair expectations from the core leadership group. This will help you decide whether or not you want to join the company.

6. Explore More About the Skills the Company is Looking For 

You need to understand the skillsets the company is searching for from potential employees. Get more information about it by studying their career page and job descriptions.

You can even reach out to the current employees working in the company and ask them what their employers value the most in terms of skills and abilities. Even if you don’t have the exact credentials, you can make a fair assessment of the skills that you can offer. 

7. Research About the Industry and the Company’s Competitors 

Apart from getting an accurate picture of the company you will work with, it is equally important to know their top competitors.

Sometimes, the interviewer will ask about the company’s competitors to understand whether you understand the state of their industry. You will understand what initiatives other companies have put forth to boost their position in the marketplace and how you can help a company respond in a way that leads to continued growth.

8. Find Out What Your Network Thinks

The best way to get an unbiased opinion about the company you will work with is by asking the people already working in the company or the wider industry.

If you have friends, alumni, and other college connections as part of your professional network who can provide insight into the company, it can help you form a more complete picture.

A Complete Guide to Company Research

I hope this guide helps you understand the art of researching a company before an interview. To help you better prepare for the job interview, I recommend you get the following information about the company:

1. When was the company founded?
2. How many locations does the company operate? Where is the headquarters located?
3. What is the primary source of income for the company?
4. What makes the company different from its competitors?
5. Do you know the background of the hiring manager?
6. How long has the hiring manager been with the company?

By utilizing these 8 tips for researching a company before your job interview, you can answer all these questions and more. You’ll feel prepared and confident when you sit down with the hiring manager and put yourself in the best position to get hired.