Job Interview? Research The Company!
Courtesy freepik.com
When researching a company, there are many ways in which you can garner all sorts of information. You can:
Read all local or national press releases about the company by checking out your local chamber of commerce or your local public library.
If you really see the need to, you can visit relevant government offices or contact trade and business associations.
Ask any of your contacts in the industry for relevant information. This would be a good time to tap into any network in your professional field.
If you're a student who is graduating, talk with knowledgeable lecturers or professors who are active in the organization's area of professional activity.
Ask the company's customers, competitors, or neighbors for all sorts of relevant information. If you can talk to someone, you may learn a lot about the company while you may expand your professional network at the same time.
Just be diplomatic and careful when doing this because you may be seeing these people again but under very different circumstances. You don't want to create enemies or burn any potential bridges. Any industry can be surprisingly small.
Call the prospective employer and ask for materials that you can collect or have posted on to you before the interview for you to review. Don't do this with companies that are on the small side - they may have nothing to give you, which would be embarrassing for everyone involved.
Review the written job description if available. Try to talk to someone who is employed in this type of work or in a related field.
If possible, see if you can talk to the person who you may be replacing, but do this only if you're sure this action won't have an effect on your chances.
It's always a good idea to talk to other people who work for a potential employer, also if you're looking to secure a job that pays $50k annually. Once again, just ensure that doing so won't have negative consequences. You wouldn't want to be thought of as a currying favor.
The number one source for finding information about a company is the Internet. However, this source can usually only provide generic and superficial information. To find out what's really going on - and now - will always require talking to people. The Internet should be your first port of call when researching, but never your only source.
Do your research
In most cases, you will probably not know who your interviewer might be. However, if you really want to improve your chance of getting the job, you may do some research and try to find out as much as possible about your interviewer.
Thus, you will be able to predict the type of interview that may be used, as well as foresee some of the questions that you will be asked. This can give you the advantage of feeling more prepared, and so you will be able to relax more on the interview day, which will undoubtedly influence your performance during the conversation.
Know The Names
Firstly you will want to know how many interviewers there will be. Then you may want to ask for their names. This will give you the opportunity to practice any difficult names and ensure that you have the right spelling. You can then also ask confidently for that person at reception on the day of the interview.
You should also ask what kind of interview it will be and whether you should bring anything special with you. They may want to see some documents or qualifications. If they do ask for these, this will give you some idea as to what their priorities are when evaluating a candidate.
Know titles and positions
It's a good idea to establish what are the titles and positions of the people who will be interviewing you. This will give you an idea as to who is the ultimate decision-maker among the interviewers. By knowing this, you can then begin to mentally practice answering that person's questions.
The agency or HR department may be able to provide you with the background and education level of the people who will be conducting the interview. If they have been with the company for a long time, this may be an indication that it is a good company to work for.
Staff turnover could be rather low, and they are therefore looking for a person who is going to be a member of their team for quite some time. If they are highly qualified people academically or within the trade, you should then expect some sophisticated technical questioning.
A recruitment agency, in particular, should be a particularly good source to tell you more about the interviewer's style of interviewing. A rule of thumb regarding the pace of the interview is: if the interviewer has a slow pace of speaking, then that is the same pace at which the interview will be conducted.
If the interviewer has a reputation for being a bit of a firebrand, then you can expect a relatively upbeat and lively interview. If the agent tells you that the other candidates have essentially been thrown off the property, that should not dissuade you.
Tailor your interview approach
Now you know more or less what to expect; you can tailor your interview approach to accommodate this type of person. You can provide the security and/or aggression that they seem to want to invoke or seek in a candidate. Their rudeness or aggression can simply be an interview ploy to filter out meeker candidates.
The agency or HR department may be able to provide you with a clue as to what any of the interviewer's "hot-button" issues may be. That may be seeking a person with a particular type of experience or skill. Perhaps you're overqualified for the job. They may be seeking a certain personality type for the role involved. You can then make minor adjustments to your behavior in that regard.
If you have been dealing directly with the person who will be interviewing you, you should have picked up a few clues already. You now have an idea as to how they speak and what it seems to be that they are looking for in their ideal candidate. Their tone and excitement level may give you an indication as to their degree of interest in you.
If nobody has told you this as yet, try to ascertain why this position has become available; if it is a new post - great. That is a very good sign.
If it is because the previous person has resigned, then this isn't necessarily a bad sign, but it is something you might want to try and find out more about. If this position is seemingly becoming available regularly, then that is a very bad sign.
** Rember, good jobs are hard to come by because people hold on to them.**