You know in a job interview when they get to the ‘do you have any questions for us’ bit and you’re suddenly left there floundering for any old thing just to make yourself look smarter because, um, didn’t we already cover everything in those other questions I just answered like a total champ?
“The best way to convince your interviewer that you know the company well is to be able to articulate what makes it special compared to competitors,” explains Professional Career Coach Tina Monk, “You often find this on their website in the mission and values. Review this along with any other ‘basics’ you should be familiar with prior to the interview—like company size, location, and history.”
While asking for your questions is a way for interviewers to see if this role was important enough to you to warrant a quick Google, they’re also a chance you should take to find out if you actually want to work for ~them~. It took me the longest time to work this out, but job interviews are as much for you as they are for your potential new company.
“See what positive and negative things people have to say about the company you’re interviewing with on Jobadvisor or glassdoor. Try to find a past or current employee you can speak with, and try to build on what you already know.”
You can also get a sense of the company and what they believe in by having a squiz over their social media accounts.
“See what kind of updates are featured. Is the tone professional or casual? Is it nonstop promotion with zero interaction? Is the team responsive to complaints?”
“Tuck away positive news and examples you encounter during your research to use in the interview.”
And one last little hint from Tina, really get an upper hand by doing a little (non-stalkerish) digging into the people who will be interviewing you.
“While you’re on LinkedIn, check out the profiles of the people you’ll be interviewing with.”
I know, I know at certain points in life we’ve all just jumped on the first place to offer us a gleaming hope of no longer being broke as a joke, but if you want to adult right and land a gig you actually enjoy, do a little digging before you go in for the job interview.
