You landed an interview with the company of your dreams. SO EXCITING!Now what? It’s time to do your homework so you can show up prepared and “wow” the interviewer. Doing research on an organization prior to an interview is a best practice for multiple reasons. For the interviewer, it shows that you have real interest in the role. For you, it can uncover aspects of the company that will help determine if it’s a company you want to work for.
Researching a company is more than just looking at their website for a few minutes or checking out reviews on Glassdoor. Here are some tips to help you really dig into your research so you can kick butt and take names at your next interview!
- Seeking Alpha: https://seekingalpha.com/ (Publicly traded companies only) The website is primarily geared towards investors, so there’s plenty of data on company financials and performance. To find a company, just enter the stock ticker symbol into the search bar. Along with objective news updates, Seeking Alpha has an ‘Analysis’ section of crowd-sourced articles from independent contributors. These analysts weigh in daily on the present/future state of the business. These daily contribution are opinion based, so it’s a great way for you to be exposed to different narratives in order to form your own opinion. Conveniently, if you hit “Get Alerts” or “Add to Portfolio” Seeking Alpha will send you a daily email with all of the best articles written about your company of interest. Research delivered straight to your inbox!
- Listen to the company’s earnings calls (Publicly traded companies only) Just head to Google and search for “[Company Name] earnings call” or “[Company Name] Investor Relations” The earnings call or the company’s investor relations page (where these calls live) should be the first result. Then you just need to poke around for a link to the call or the webcast.
- Search YouTube and Apple Podcasts for Interviews with Relevant Senior Employees First, you want to figure out who are the major players in the company. Go to google and type “[Company Name] Leadership Team”. This will either bring up the Company’s own page or a general information page from a site like Crunchbase. You want to dig into the people who would be most likely to be informed about the side of the business you’re looking to join. Sometimes the CEO is a great option but other times, you may want to look for a CMO or the VP of Engineering depending on your target role. Once you have the name of your person, you can either head to YouTube to search for “[Name] [Company] Interview” or you can go to Google and search “[Name] [Company] Podcast.” When you get someone talking about their company, their vision and their plans for an extended period of time, you’re going to get some amazing perspective.
- Scan the Company’s Social Media A company’s social media presence is a window into their public persona. Check out their corporate Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts to see what they’re pushing.
- [BONUS] Make sure you also do your homework on the specific folks that are interviewing you Often you will get a list of people that are going to be involved in your interview process (if you don’t have names, ask your recruiter/HR connection to provide them). Google their names and look them up on LinkedIn to learn anything about them. Maybe you have mutual connections? Maybe you went to the same school? Maybe you worked at the same company prior? Maybe you have kids the same age? Finding a commonality can create an instant bond and make the interview more comfortable/casual giving you the opportunity to relax and be your (best) self!
By the end of your research, you should know a lot about your potential future employer. What do they do? Who are their customers/who do they serve? Who are their biggest competitors? How large are they? What is their company mission? What are the initiatives the company is focusing on right now? When were they last in the news and why? As Benjamin Franklin once said, “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”.
If you want more information on how to research a company, please feel free to reach out at info@omadasearch.com and one of our advisers will get back to you.
