How to Quickly Research a CompanyMarch 8th, 2007
When evaluating a job lead, your due diligence in researching your potential new employer is important. Set aside a little bit of time before your interview to research the company you are considering.
Look for information on company structure, work place culture, corporate finances and maybe even a few of your potential new coworkers. Developing a deeper understanding of the environment will prepare you to discuss details and enjoy a more thorough interview. Proper research will give you a better sense of whether or not you will enjoy the new job. You will also be in a better position to negotiate salary if the interview proves successful.
An interview is just as much for your sake as it is for theirs. You can be sure that the employer will be researching you, take the time to properly gather information on their organization. Use this simple guide to help you in researching companies.
General Company Research
The best place to start is almost always the company’s website. Here they will list basic information about their services, department and staff listings. They might even include staff bios, usually on the executive level. Most companies will also post their press releases and link to articles referencing them. Check out their mission statement if they have one posted. Often, it will give you a peak at the company’s culture. Is it ambitious? Exciting? Traditional? Or generic and bland?
Next, try some Google searches on the company. Google will give you an easy way to search news articles (news.google.com), blog posts (blogsearch.google.com) and general web postings (www.google.com). Who is linking to or writing about the company? Is there anything interesting or odd? Take a look around and see if you can find any employees writing on a personal blog. Blogs can offer real life insight into the day to day operations of the company. They will also give you more names to research on your quest.
The larger the company, the more likely you will be able to get a sense of their financial position. If they are publicly traded, look up their stock information and check out a few charts. Most financial sites will also offer easy summaries and a general financial analysis. Is the company booming or do they need new blood and an innovative boost? Are they expanding or declining in market share? If they are a smaller company, are they funded? This information may prove to be important when it comes time to negotiate your salary. If not, it is still information that you should know in evaluating the longevity of your potential new job.
Forbes, Business Week, Fortune and others often rank business by various criteria in their issues. If you are researching a larger organization, keep an eye out for these lists. Top grossing, fastest growing, best (and worst) places to work — these are a few of the potential lists you might find. If the company is a smaller, more regional business, check with their local Chamber of Commerce or in regional magazines. Most of these rankings are available in limited form on their websites. If you are super ambitious, check with your local library for copies or if your timing is right, the local bookstore.
For students, we highly recommend you take advantage of your school’s resources. Visit the career center, general library or business school library and see if they have business indexes you can search. Lexis Nexis, for instance, is an amazing tool to research into older news archives. Their Company Dossier provides instant access into a companies business and financial profile.
Advanced Research
LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) and other social networking sites allow you to search for the names of the company’s management and employees. If you know the name of the person you will be interviewing with you should absolutely do some research on them. This is a critical step for networking and can help you select references that might be connected to the company, or at least references that might be more influential or impressive to the company.
Another great resource for corporate research is ZoomInfo (www.zoominfo.com). ZoomInfo scans the web for information and mentions of individuals and companies. The information found is compiled into an easily digestible report.
Hoovers (www.hoovers.com) is also a great bet for scoring some excellent information. They offer a few wonderful free services that allow you to search companies, media and executives. If you are a student, chances are your school library will have access to their full blown site. Hoovers provides some of the best business intelligence around.
Final Thoughts
When researching a company online, it’s important to remember that much of the information may be posted with some sort of bias. A perfectly content employee very rarely posts public praise for their organization, while a former employee might be inclined to be a bit more bitter towards the organization. Ultimately, you are looking for trends and trying to grasp the general reputation of the company.
Search for names, find key business objectives and get a sense of the companies top services and products. This information will help you understand the company’s priorities. Find information on the people you will be interacting with on your interview. Gaining insight into their lives and careers will help you put your best foot forward.
Have any tips or suggestions? An experience you would like to share?
Join the discussion in our comments below!
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Great post! Researching also helps you come up with great questions to ask at the end of the interview!
March 9th, 2007 at 2:45 am
[…] Of course, when you do this company research make sure you keep good records. This is where JibberJobber comes in. You can either record your notes as log entries, or you can put them in a Word document, put that in the Document Manager, and then link it to the company. And of course, make sure you put all the company contacts in (regular users get one free company contact, premium get unlimited contacts per company). […]
March 9th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Alex, great post (better than the one I did on the same subject today ;)) Here are some thoughts:
1. Don’t do so much research that you neglect your job search. It can be fun/easy to do this… but don’t hide behind it. Just do enough to come out shining in the interview (or at the very least, to have 2 intelligent questions to ask).
2. Find an insider and take them to lunch. It might be someone in the department you want to get into, or someone that used to work there. If you are lucky it might be the hiring manager.
3. The type of research depends on the job you are looking for. Execs need to research different things than programmers do… make sure you are “on your game” in the interview, not trying to bog down your mind with numbers, facts, trends, etc. … unless you are interviewing for a position where that might be an issue.
Jason Alba
CEO - JibberJobber.com
March 9th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
[…] How to Quickly Research a Company » Job Hunting Help from Emurse.com (tags: corporate business interview intelligence interviews research toread career jobs **) […]
March 9th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Alex - Great points. One thing I’d like to add is that candidates should then demonstrate through questions that they’ve done their homework and understand a bit about the company.
Think of an interview as a first date - one of the oldest tricks to winning someone’s affection is to ask them questions. If you sit there in dead silence making your date do all the work, or (often worse) dominate the conversation talking about yourself, you’re not likely to get to a second date with that person.
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a manager say to me: “They didn’t have any questions for me - let’s not move on them.” Use the tools mentioned above, do your homework, and then ask questions like: “I understand you compete with Acme Co - how do you diferentiate yourselves? What’s your unique value proposition that makes you win business over them?” If you’ve dug in with (shameless plug) ZoomInfo, you’ll often know where the interviewer worked prior to their current assignment - ask them about that transistion.
Bottom line is - research is key, but then you have to put it into play. Doesn’t do you any good if the interviewer has no idea how diligently you’ve prepared.
Oh, last bit of advice (off-topic, but important): _ask for the job_. It may sound presumptous, but I always hope candidates will close me, and so do most of my hiring managers. Tel them you’re interested, it helps.
March 12th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Alex: That’s very thorough information on how one can research on a company.
On that note, finding articles referencing the companies is definitely a great way. The best people to offer information on the corporate culture are definitely the present employees and if you don’t know any present employees, it’s easy to do a search online for articles or on forum threads on what others are saying.
For example, for Genzyme (one of the clients I’m working with), I came across two recent articles in which their present employees provided pretty good insights on their present corporate working environment.
Here are the two articles if you are interested to check them out:
http://masshightech.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/03/12/story17.html
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/home/43692/
March 14th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Great info! I noticed a few comments said it is pointless unless you show you know this information. Yes it is great to mention it where you can. To “fit it in” where you can as part of an answer to a question. And make them see how much you know about it. But I think it is also highly worthwhile to do this research for your own personal benefit. It is best to spend a lot of time selecting the best corporation for yourself. The info and research methods listed here are just great for that. Especially reading blogs from employees. In the past I’ve made this mistake and am glad I did - as it taught me to check them out properly!
March 15th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Another interesting place to look is www.opensecrets.org This site gathers financial reports of Congress and the PACs and groups that donate to them. If you want to get an idea of who your potential employer supports (if anyone) check it out!
Search by industry,for the names of top employees or search by your local Congressional and Senate candidates. Check your local Secretary of State website for similar database of local candidates and elected officials.
March 19th, 2007 at 9:09 am
[…] Preparation is the key to a great interview. Researching the company, practicing common interview questions and knowing what you should bring to an interview will help give you the confidence that you need. You will be able to walk in with a great attitude, a fresh smile and a firm handshake. […]
April 2nd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
can you tell me how i can research a companys history and tell if any law suits have ever been filed against them in the past????
June 11th, 2007 at 11:15 am
[…] success or failure of your job often depends on the company culture. When evaluating an employment opportunity you should always consider the key factors that are important to you. MaryHelen Votral from CM […]
July 30th, 2007 at 4:28 pm