So Much to Learn

Your next assignment may be exhaustive

If you’ve been paying attention at all, you’ve heard legions of experts extoll the need to do copious research before a job interview. Learn everything you can about a company: sales, staff size, locations, competitors, product line(s), history, etc. You can’t know too much.

But don’t stop there. Learn what you can about the person with whom you’re interviewing: find them on LinkedIn, what has been their career path, where did they go to school, what did they study, etc. But don’t stop there. You may be able to learn their leisure time interests, or causes about which they’re passionate, etc.

Where else can you look?

How do you find information about the company that is not available on Google, or Glassdoor, or LinkedIn, or on Reference USA, or in the library, etc.? You can try using AI to round out your search, but be careful. AI isn’t necessarily reliable information.

There’s more? How would you find something as intangible as what the company’s culture is like? Good question. One good place to start is by reviewing the LinkedIn profiles of current (and former) employees. They may not be very forthcoming, but if they speak favorably in unguarded terms, you may get a sense of what it’s like to work there. For another perspective, Glassdoor is a platform where employees (and former employees) tend to sound off.

Better yet, why not try to link with former employee(s) to research company culture. Reach out to them using the premise that you’re looking at the company, and you see that they have worked there, and you were wondering if they might like to share some insights. You’ll have to be diplomatic to be sure, but their responses may be telling.

More tips.