One-Minute Interview Tip: Do Your Research

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When prepping for an interview, you’ll probably spend a lot of time making sure you know the job description inside and out so that you can sell yourself to the interviewer. However, for your interview to be truly successful, you’ll want to be sure to spend just as much time researching the company and the interviewer. Companies aren’t simply looking to hire candidates who can do the job – they want candidates who can do the job and who gel with the company culture, values, and mission.

As you do your pre-interview research, you’ll either become more convinced you want to work for the company or learn that this employer is not the right place for you. Either way, it’s better to know this sooner than later!

You’ll also want to look up your interviewer on LinkedIn. Read their recommendations. Look at the companies where they’ve worked and the schools they’ve attended. Having more information about the interviewer’s history will make you feel like you’re not going into the interview totally blind – and hopefully, your research will surface common points of interest that you can bring up to build some rapport.

Not convinced doing your research is necessary? Imagine you went to an interview and the interviewer asked you barely any questions. You’d probably assume the interviewer wasn’t interested in you, right? Now imagine you’re the interviewer and the candidate in front of you has no questions about the position or the company – or the candidate asks one question, but it’s easily answered by a trip to the company’s website. You’d question whether the candidate cared about your company at all!

A version of this article originally appeared on the Atrium Staffing blog.

Michele Mavi is Atrium Staffing ‘s resident career expert.

By Michele Mavi