Preparing ahead of time can make or break an interview. Many people spend all of their time preparing their answers about themselves and their experience and do little company research. Don’t make this mistake! You need to know the company and position, and be prepared to demonstrate that you have done research—beyond what’s on their website. Interviewers expect that you’ve done your research and that you’re making an informed choice. Things to do and resources to utilize when preparing for an interview:
- Scour the company website – know their mission, goals, values, customer base, and anything else you can find
- Take a look at the company’s LinkedIn page as well – many times this has additional information that’s not necessarily on their website
- Google the company! Have they been in the news for anything recently? Have they had any acquisitions, projects or products that are noteworthy?
- Depending on how much time you have leading up to the interview, see if you can set up informational interviews with alumni that may be working there, or recent grads who may be in a similar position to what you are interviewing for
Equally as important as knowing yourself and your experience, as well as the company and position, is knowing the company well enough to prepare some good questions for your interviewers, so don’t forget to do this ahead of time!