Before the Interview: Use the Google.

Posted by Admin on 11/14/2008 3:42 AM | Comments (3)

Before showing up at the interview, google the company and the person you are interviewing. It only makes sense.

If you want to really impress the interviewer come prepared to ask questions about the company and the interviewer. If the interviewer blogs, read the blogs. Find any company oriented blogs via technorati or bloglines, and read them. Often the blogs will give you official and not-so-official insights into the company.

Find the interviewer on Ryze, LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace, ZoomInfo or almost any other social networking site. If you have time, search by company name on those sites and discover what other employees are thinking or saying about the company. Your task is to be better prepared for your interview and you should use any open and legal source to do so.

Lastly, don’t weird the interviewer all out by your in depth knowledge. Don’t mention his or her family or the latest round of layoffs. Find three or four areas of the business that interest you….and that you can positively impact if hired…and talk or ask about those areas.

The interviewer wants to know a couple of things:

Do I think this person will fit in?

How will this person help us?

It’s your job to demonstrate both during the interview.

Comments (3) -

Kevin on 11/13/2008 10:50 PM google is awesome for research and if you get creative with “long tail keywords” you can dig up some fascinating nuggets of information about a person or company…experiment with different strings of words and allow yourself some mind freedom to explore the sites google finds…it will be worth it
Dirk on 11/14/2008 1:08 AM Thanks Damon. It does represent a bit more work for the jobseeker, but I cannot think of a more positive interview than one where the candidate understands the issues I am facing. The thing is, it does not make too much difference if the idea or solution is completely on target or not. You get big time points for going the extra anyway.
Damon on 11/14/2008 3:26 AM You have to do your research before you show up to an interview and the best way to do it nowadays it to Google someone. You immediately find out about the company and your potential employer. You might have to go digging a little bit for more information, but Google is definitely the place to start. I work for a staffing company in Boston, Hollister Staffing (www.hollisterstaff.com) and often use Google as a resource for myself when researching jobs for a candidate. I also strongly recommend that my clients do the same so they know exactly what they are getting themselves into, and are also prepared for an interview with their own questions about the company. I love your advice about finding 3 or 4 areas of the business that interest you and that you can contribute to if hired, I am going to start recommending this, Thank you!
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