WHAT IT MEANS TO DO RESEARCH FOR AN INTERVIEW

It is interview season for graduating seniors and those college juniors seeking a summer internship. Many employers want to put out offers to their first tier candidates and secure acceptances before the end of the year. That’s a lot of pressure for students facing midterms and then heading home for the Thanksgiving break. Regardless, don’t skip the critical step of finding out as much as you can about the companies. It will help you prepare to both answer interview questions and to ask the interviewer questions. You will also be able to find out whether the company and the company culture are a good fit for you.

As a college student, you have free access to information I can only dream about from Wall Street Journal articles to Hoovers to industry publications. Dig around for information that will help you in interviews and in your decision-making.

The company. Don’t be stumped when asked, how the company makes money. Make sure you’re clear on what the company does— its products and services and revenue sources. Be able to speak to how working in that type of company fits into your own career goals.

Why the company does it—its mission. Look for the company's mission statement—something that outlines its core values paying attention to keywords and how each is used. Words such as integrity, innovation, independence can mean different things depending upon the company. Consider how the position you are interviewing for relates to the company mission and develop your interview stories to support the company’s goals. Develop a story that demonstrates your creative problem-solving skills (innovation) or how you completed a project without a lot of information (independence) or a story when you were challenged with an ethical dilemma.

The company culture—how you fit. Culture is important. It should be something you care about when selecting a company to work for and the company is interviewing you to see if you are a good fit with their culture. Although culture can see intangible, you can find good information from people who have interviewed or worked there. Glassdoor is an excellent resource.(Read more on assessing an organization’s culture.)

Make note of recent company achievements. Most company websites include a press release/recent news section, and newspapers and industry publications report on news often in feature articles. Use this information to prepare some questions about the news if it makes sense. For example, I read that you recently purchased xyz company. Will this department work on the transition? Your well-informed conversation may be a critical factor in your interview's success.

The industry trends. Learn what the publications and blogs are saying about the company and the industry as a whole. Be prepared to discuss the industry trends.

Insight on your interviewers. Make certain you receive a list of the people you will be meeting including each person’s title. (It’s appropriate to ask for the day’s agenda.) If the company site has a leadership team section or search tool, use it to search for the names of the people you'll be meeting. Look to LinkedIn to get some more background information about them. You might find some common ground (for instance, a shared alma mater) you can bring up in conversation, or a recent professional achievement for which you can pay a genuine compliment. There's nothing confidential or stalking-like about gathering this information.

Find people you know to get inside information. You have many more professional relationships than you think. This is the time to call on them. Your network can give insight into business initiatives, corporate culture and even personality dynamics. Start on LinkedIn to see if you have any first or second connections. Talk with alumni relations. Ask friends and relations if they know anyone who might have information to share about your prospective employer.

Typical interview questions asked by the company. Most companies use a behavioral style of interviewing in which the interviewer provides a work scenario and expects your response to include what was the problem to be solved (the scenario), what action your took and what were the results. When you’ve researched the company, it’s easy to figure out what the company wants to learn from you. People who have interviewed at the company often post the interview process and questions on Glassdoor. It's good to have idea of what you will be asked so you can prepare your responses.

I know it sounds like a lot of work and it can be. However, if you’ve done a good job of targeting your job search you’ll only need to do all of the above for a handful of companies.

To review…

• Read the company website
• Searched for new and other articles: press releases, WSJ, NY Times, Financial Times, Hoovers, trade/industry publications
• Checked out Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media
• Checked out the company LinkedIn page, corporate blog
• Following the company on LinkedIn
• I have the names and titles of everyone I'm interviewing.
• Checked LinkedIn to view interviewer(s) profile page
• Checked out Glassdoor for interview process and questions.