Career counselors are of the opinion that an essential part of preparing for a job interview, involves doing your homework about the company itself.
When you have the right kind of knowledge about the organization before shaking your hands with the interviewers, you can feel more prepared and confident. This will help you equip yourself with quality talking points when the interview progresses.
Generally, most of the employers take note of the job seekers, who are educated not only about the job position to which they are applying, but also on their education about the company itself.
When you gather some details about the organization, it will create an impression in the mind of your interviewer/s that you are competent and you have made the decision of applying to the job after considering the facts, as against just desperation to find a job.
When you start researching about the organization, here are the 5 important details you will have to gather and when you are informed in these 5 areas, you can rightly grab the attention of the interviewer/s.
1. Mission statement and basic facts
When you have lesser time to prepare, it is better to at least jot down the fundamental details about the company. Just visit the ‘about us’ page in the website of the organization and look for the mission statement.
Also, do not forget to familiarize yourself about the products and services on offer. Here are the basic facts to know:
- The location of the headquarters
- Find whether the company has international locations and
- Collect details about the number of employees working for the company.
In addition, gather details about the values of the company and how they wish to represent themselves in public. When you know these details, you can explain the interviewer how does your values and objectives line up with that of the values of the company.
2. What sets them unique?
Nowadays, most of the organizations, regardless of the field in which they operate, will have to compete with many others in their industry. They strive to set themselves apart by offering unique products and services and by providing the best customer service.
When the interviewer asks what attracts you towards the company, you can explain the uniqueness of the organization from among the many competitors functioning in the same field. This is a strategy that can help you in getting onboard in the interview process.
3. Positive comments about the organization in social media
Generally, the operations of large organizations are reported in local and national news media, particularly if they have employed a significant number of employees.
If the company you are applying is not large enough, it might still have a marketing team that frequently issues press releases or you can find the company blog and online newsletter or social networking site.
You can read what the company wishes to share with their followers and fans in the social networking pages. Here, carefully look for the positive comments the company has received and these details can help you during job interview.
4. How is the company structured?
It is better to read the chain of commands used by the organization. For example, some of them have a set up chain like, manager, assistant manager, regional manager, district in charge, etc.
When this is the case of some organizations, other companies have other type of structure. Here, collect details about the number of board of directors and also about the location of the corporate headquarters of the company.
5. Who is in charge?
From the top down, collect details about who calls the shots at the company. Try to find the name of the CEO and the important top management professionals.
If the company is a medium or small scale company, it is better to know the name of the supervisor or manager, to whom you will be answering.
To conclude, remember that the more you know about the company, better you will be in a position to answer the questions. Also, it will boost your confidence level and you will also feel competent to the job.
Doing due diligence will be of great help to answer the potential questions for your interviewer. Remember that there is no such thing as being too much informed about the organization before attending interview.
So, gather the above-mentioned details and even if you can collect other details like role of the organization in the industry, recent projects and other details, there is no harm. So, be prepared the grab the position to your favor.
