339 Points

How To Research The Company You’re Interviewing For

There are 4 steps involved in thoroughly researching a company. This research will help you gain the information you need for the other steps in your interview prep, so don’t skip it!

Step 1

Make sure you know what the company does, and who they do it for. You can do this by finding videos or articles about the company, looking up the company’s competitors and seeing how they differentiate, reading their website, and demoing their product if possible.

Once you find this information, test yourself to make sure you are clear on exactly what the company does. Write it down and summarize out loud what they do, to drill it into your brain. It can be tricky for some companies like some complex supply chain businesses in a niche industry where you find yourself asking, “Wait, what exactly do they do?” In these cases try to find explanation videos or articles that make it clear.

Having this information is key because the company will most likely ask you if you have heard about the company before, in which case you can demonstrate that you’ve done all your research and ask questions if you need to

Step 2

​Research your answer to why you want to work for the company. Do not stop researching until you have your answer. Make sure you focus on things that are unique to this specific company, such as they have a mission-driven product or leaders with strong values, not extrinsic things like they match 401k or it is remote work. This is a commonly asked question so be prepared to answer this question while hitting on the 15 Competence Triggers.​

Some resources I recommend to help you find your answer is to locate a company blog either on their website or on a site like Medium. You can learn from employees about the company by reading Glassdoor reviews or connecting with them on LinkedIn and conducting informational interviews. Also check out the company’s social media pages to get some good morsels of insights.

Step 3

​Find out the company stats including how big the company is, how much revenue they make, how many cities they are in, etc. None of your interview time should be taken up with you asking these researchable questions because finding these answers will provide context for deeper questions that you can ask. Such as:

I see the company is at 1000 employees now, how different is that from when you started 2 years ago?

Interviewer: I started when we were just 400 people. It’s been exciting and this place has changed a lot.

You: Oh wow how has that growth impacted your role and the culture?

Use the research that you found to customize the way you discuss the opportunity, showing off that you did research makes you stand out because in actuality candidates doing research is a lot less common than one would hope. If you want more tips on how to answer interview questions check out my Job Interview Secrets Ebook. ​
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Step 4

Find a current piece of information to use to help spur a great conversation. This can include a company tweet, a piece of recent news, a newly launched product, an office relocation, their recent hot dog eating contest among employees, or anything like that.

Make sure to write your findings down and reference them during the interview. I advise having notes out no matter in phone, video or in-person interviews to show you are prepared and to help you jog your memory. To get a job it isn’t a competition of who has the best memory, it’s showing who is a great fit by generating a thought-provoking conversation that demonstrates the effort put into really getting to know the company. There are many techniques that I teach to help you control the interview and turn it into a conversation.

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