National Job Network

A common mistake many job hunters make is not doing their homework before an interview. If you want to appear professional and engaged you must come into the interview prepared.

There are many reasons why you should do your homework beforehand. Digging up information about an employer allows you to be able to carry on intelligent conversation, ask quality questions and decrease the chance of finding out the employer isn’t a great fit for you beforehand.

So what kind of information should you find out before the interview? Here are a few places to start:

Basic company information and history. Head to the “About Us” section of the company website. Here is where you’ll find some basic information about the company. Try to learn about their history, their mission statement and company profile.

Company structure. It’s always good to find out where your potential position would fall within the company’s structure. Would your position be a part of the finance department? How does this department work within the company? You can start by looking for this information the company’s website and then continue your research on sites such as Forbes.

Industry trends. You don’t have to overdo it on this, but you should have an understanding of what is going on in the industry. That way you can accurately answer questions and also have talking points of your own.

Recent press. You want to know what has recently happened at the company, and the best way to do that is to look for recent press. You should look at both the company’s personal press releases, as well as objective sites that you can find by searching the company in Google news. By doing so you’ll be able to see the company’s recent successes as well as where they struggle.

Your interviewer. Find out a little about your interviewer before you go in so you know what to expect. You can search sites like LinkedIn or Google them to find out a little more. You shouldn’t necessarily bring up the fact that you’ve been researching them, but it could give you some talking points if you find out you have things in common.