Blog Post: Where to Look When Researching a Company for an Interview

We've all heard it--if you are going to an interview, you have to research the company before hand.  The expectation is that, at some point during the interview, you are prepared to ask some reasonably educated questions about the company.  so what are the best types of questions and where do you find that info?

To get information on a company that you're interviewing with, visit the company's listing on Yahoo! Finance or Google Finance.  These listing will provide you with the known financial performance of the company (for those that are publicly traded) as well as recent web entries on the company.  You'll want to read some of the articles to find out about new product lines, financial diversification, future plans to expand (or contract), etc.

Additionally, it is always a good idea to check on the company's ranking for diversity.  Even if you are not a person of color, diverse companies understand the importance of differences including education, socio-economic circumstances, cultural upbringing, and life experience.  This becomes critical in predicting how the company will react to personality conflicts between employees, or between employees and supervisors.  Companies that are more diverse tend to have higher employee satisfaction.

Finally, another source is the company's web site.  Look at the company information, press releases, and even their most recent annaul report.  Annaul reports are great sources of information regarding what the company is proud of and where they're headed.  Many annual reports have pages of information in the beginning of the document that talk about the company (no need to read through pages of financial reports...unless you like to).

When figuring out what questions to ask during the interview, focus on ones that will compliment the company (never ask challenging or uncomfortable questions).  Also, you'll want to ensure your questions are from the information you found while researching.  Your questions should reflect the fact that you performed some research on the company.

Never go to an interview without researching the company before hand.

For more strategies on how to stand out from the crowd, register for our FREE seminar on July 8th from 3pm - 6pm where we will review the current trends in what employers expect in resume writing and what employers are asking during interviews. To sign up, visit http://www.careerdevelopmentaz.com/seminar.html. There’s no cost and you’ll get hand-outs for everything discussed.

Let us know if we can help!

Good luck in your search!