5 Ways to Prepare for a Job Interview Using Google & LinkedIn
Simply Hired Staff
Congratulations on making it this far in your job search. You have managed to clear the initial round of resume-scanning and are now ready to go in for an interview. In order to prepare for the next step, research is important. It is always good to know about the company and the people in that company. This guide will help you answer the questions: “Why do you want to work for this company?” “What do you know about our company’s products?” And so on.
Here are some pointers to help you with this.
1. History
Research these questions to understand more about the company in general. This will help you be more knowledgable.
- Find out when the company was founded.
- Is it a public or a private company?
- How is the company’s stock doing? Use Google.
- If it is a private company use Crunchbase or Google search to find out more about the company. Or look at the company website for more information.
2. Culture, products and industry
This will help you answer questions about why you would like to work at this company.
- Use news.google.com to find updates about the company. Then look at the Press section on the company website to understand more about the company and its dealings.
- Social media also provides a wealth of information. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are good sources to find company pages and the marketing information that companies provide.
- If the company makes consumer goods, read Amazon reviews about its products. A quick Google search for a specific product review should also turn up results.
- Read company reviews on the web to understand more about the culture of the company.
3. Competition
Look at competitors to understand the trends in that industry.
- Find information on competitors and their products. Use Google search for this.
4. Contacts
It’s always good to understand the background and function of the employees in the organization (marketing, sales, engineering, etc.).
- Look at your LinkedIn contacts for first or second level connections at this company. Connect with these contacts to get some inside scoop about the company.
- Perform a Google search on the individual employees that you are going to interview with.
5. Your Role
- Read the job requirements and think about what your role at this company would be.
- Read about the skills required for this role and whether you would be a good fit for most of the skills listed.
All this information should kickstart you into asking the right questions about the company and preparing for the big day. Good luck with your interview.
