Do Your Home Work! 

The Company and Its Industry

This information is helpful regardless of the job being sought. It makes no difference if you are interviewing for the most junior or the most senior position or for any functional area of expertise, such as administration, financial, marketing, human resources, or sales. You will acquire an aura that differentiates you from common candidates.

• Corporate Background. Mission, strategies, history, office locations, annual report (call company shareholder services department for a copy).
• Overview of Company Organization. Number of employees. In which industries do company divisions compete? In what division is the position for which you are interviewing?
• Press Releases and Industry Analyst Opinions. Excellent information source to impress interviewers. Check several times, particularly on the day of or day before the interview.
• Major Products and Their Competitive Advantages. Have you used any products, do you have a hobby that involves the company’s products, have you visited company stores or branch offices? Learn why the company’s products are better than competing products. Call the company marketing department for public information provided to customers.
• Revenue. Worldwide revenue by country. Where does the money come from? You might have extensive experience with a particular source.
• Company Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

This SWOT analysis is performed in most M.B.A. programs

• Competitors and Competing Products. You might be very familiar with a competitive product and can convert that knowledge to a positive impression during an interview.
• Research and Development Programs. Are these projects at theleading edge of their industry? Are adequate resources devoted to research and development?
• Current and Target Customers. You might have personal contacts that could provide you with this difficult-to-obtain information.
• Overview of the Industry and Where the Company Appears Relative to Size and Growth. Is this a growing or stagnant industry?Is the company a leader or industry follower?
• Financial Data and SEC Filings. Extensive information is available for public companies, including backgrounds of board members and the executive team often with compensation, recent earnings, income statement, balance sheet, ROI, and financial facts.
• Company Accounting, Law, or Consulting Firm. You might know someone to call for networking purposes.
• Partnerships, Mergers, Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, and Other Activities that Could Eliminate Current Job Openings or Create New Ones. Is the company in an acquisition mode oris it looking to be acquired? You might have contacts at othercompanies where these activities are being planned.
• Social Responsibility. Identify organizations supported by the company; you might be involved with the same organizations and identify networking contacts.
• Career Opportunities. Awareness of other job openings and position descriptions might provide insight into what personal and professional qualities are being sought.

People Profiles

The first people you should find out about are the interviewers. This background information is less important for recruiters because most have a common purpose to find, evaluate, and submit qualified candidates to client management. You will only meet a recruiter once.

However, it will be helpful if you can talk to someone who was interviewed previously by the same recruiter or recruiting firm.

Gathering intelligence on company executives is a critical component of advance preparation. Determine the background of the interviewers, the management team, and the board of directors. Become as familiar with these backgrounds as employees might be. For company managers, look for commonality with your background, like having previously worked for the same company, holding similar titles, attending the same schools, belonging to the same professional or not-for-profit organizations, or performing a particular function (e.g., writing visual basic programs, negotiating alliances with other companies or selling the same products). Prepare for each interview by summarizing and presenting your experience in a way that mirrors the profile of each interviewer.

Details About the Position

Some fortunate job seekers will be given a detailed position description that can serve as a roadmap for interview preparation. Alternatively, others might get an oral summary or a one-line description. Determine the requirements as best you can, including the functional responsibilities, technical experience and political interaction with other departments, parent organization or other companies. Try to obtain some of this information in the telephone call that resulted in scheduling the interview. Always ask for a written position description if there is one.

The position description might identify elements of which you have limited knowledge, and the preparation period should be used to learn more about these areas so that you can carry on a basic conversation. If you are seeking a programmer or information technology position and have limited knowledge of a required language or software package, then learn it before the interview. Find a tutorial on the web and learn the software package’s functionality and features to enable you to discuss during your interview. Some financial positions require experience with the Sarbanes-Oxley Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act. Even if you have no hands-on experience with the requirements of the SOX, as it is often referred, learn the basics of how public companies must be compliant and you can still impress an interviewer.

Where to Begin

There are two obvious starting points. The first is the recruiter or person who introduced you to the company. Most recruiters have met or spoken with human resources executives and hiring managers to obtain the position specifications. The recruiter should share background information on key staff (i.e., tenure with the company, previous experience, personality) and annual reports and other company literature that they have. The person who led you to the job opportunity may have personal relationships with one or more company employees. When you call to thank this person for the introduction, mention your upcoming interview.

In that conversation, ask for the same information you would expect from a recruiter, and you may benefit from some excellent insights into company interviewers and products. The next place to go is the company’s web site. Follow every path and link. Some companies will make your job simple by having a robust web site with just about everything there is to know about the company. Go through the purchase process for a product and stop just short of entering your credit card number. See first hand how easy, or difficult, it is for customers to buy something. Print selected information that you want to read and reread until the moment of the interview.

There are numerous web sites that offer information on companies, industries and just about anything required for a research project.

Go to the advanced search feature of popular search engines (e.g., www.ask.com and www.google.com) and enter key words such as company name, industry, product name, or other words or phrases that would identify some aspect of the target company. Search engines will produce web sites that supposedly have the answers. Be creative. The Internet has a wealth of information, and it is clearly the place to conduct much of your research. However, job seekers should not limit their research to computer-driven searches. Time should also be spent in a public library, where the research librarian could identify material to review. There are numerous directories in print and electronic form that list names and contact information for human resources executives, hospital industry decision makers, industry associations, and many more types of listings.

Graduating college seniors should use the career placement office and college graduates should use the alumni career centers at their undergraduate and graduate schools. An outplacement firm is an excellent source for a senior executive whose previous company included that service as part of a severance package. Career counselors at outplacement firms offer advice on where to find information to prepare for an interview.

Perfecting Your Job Hunt - Part 1