H.R. Communications Consultant

March 14, 2005

How Do You Prepare For Interviewing The Company?

Gather your notes from your previous research and first interview(s) with the company.  Your first interview probably gave you the basics; in subsequent interviews you have an opportunity to probe deeper into areas of greatest importance to you, as well as clear up (or confirm) any inconsistencies you may have heard in your earlier conversations with employees. 

This article provides you with some SAMPLE “homework” questions… you need to think about your specific situation, target company, and career interests to develop the right, personalized prepping tool for you.   But once you’ve thought through the different pieces, you’ll have a prep guide that you can adapt fairly easily each time you interview with a new company.  The goal is to determine what you want to know, why you want to know it/what interests you, and how your own skills/experience match with the information you get.  You can then can use it to help evaluate whether the company/job may be a fit, and also to help you develop compelling examples of why it’s a fit (if it is). 

1.     Learn About the BUSINESS.

Before you evaluate the position you’re interviewing for, you need to understand the environment and the company’s business. 

§       What does this company do?  Who are their most concerning competitors and why?  How are they different from their competitors?

§       Has the company been growing, declining, or stable in the past 18-24 months?  Why?  What’s fueled the growth?  Do they see themselves growing in the next couple of years?  How?  What’s their greatest challenge?

§       Have they had any significant changes in their business in the past couple of years?  New products?  New services?  New senior management?  New strategy?  Acquisition or divestiture of companies/divisions?  Major client or customer losses or wins?  How have any of these things affected their finances, business strategies, reputation, employee morale, etc?  

2.     Learn All There Is Know About The POSITION. 

Given the business environment (see questions above), what’s the role of the position you’re interviewing for?

§       How does this position or the department in which it resides contribute to the company’s overall success?   

§       How successful has this position/department been in the recent past?  (i.e., is the department you’d be joining undergoing a major overhaul or just trying to make minor refinements to improve performance?)  If it is undergoing major changes, what is prompting the change?    (Note:  this can help you evaluate what kind of environment you’d be joining – one undergoing major change can represent significant growth opportunity and/or possibly greater freedom to innovate and make significant contributions…however, it can also mean things may not run smoothly day-to-day, as processes, people, and expectations sort themselves out. 

§       How does this position/department relate to the people with whom you’ll interview?  (For example:  if you’re interviewing for an entry-level marketing position, and you interview with someone in the new products or marketing research departments, how does your position affect what they do?   Does this role work primarily with others from your own department, or does it work a lot with other departments or outside customers?)

§       What does “success” look like for this position/department?  Another way to ask this question is, “If I got this job, and a year from now my supervisor was asking you to tell him/her all the great things I accomplished or all the ways in which I contributed, what would be on your list?”  (Note:  you can tailor this question depending upon the relationship that your position has to the person with whom you’re speaking).  

§       Is this a newly-created position?   If so, what prompted the need for it?   

§       What does the person you’re speaking with think will be the most challenging thing for the person hired for this position?  Why?  

§       What does the person you’re speaking with think will be the most important thing for the person hired for this position to do/accomplish in the first few months? 

3.     Learn About Your Potential COLLEAGUES.   

Ask your interviewer(s) about his/her background, current role, and opinions on company issues: 

§         How long has your interviewer been with the company and/or his current department?  What made him/her decide to go there?

§         If s/he’s been there awhile, what has kept him/her motivated to stay?

§         If there was one thing s/he could change about the company and/or department you are interviewing for, what would that be and why?

§         What does he/she think the most important qualification or skill is to be successful in this company?  In the position you’re interviewing for?

§         If s/he were trying to convince someone to join the company at your level, what’s the most compelling thing s/he would tell someone about working there?

§         What does s/he think is the most challenging issue facing the company right now?  Does s/he think the company is well-positioned to overcome the challenge?  Why/why not?

§         What does s/he think is or should be the company’s most immediate priority?   

Go over your notes from previous interviews and listen carefully to each person’s answers and opinions.   The degree to which people’s answers are consistent (or inconsistent) will tell you something about how difficult your job may be (due to conflicting expectations) and how aligned employees are about where the company is going, company values and priorities, how enjoyable a place it is to work, etc.   

Think About The “Ideal” Fit

After you’ve developed a list of questions, review each of them and think about the answer for each that would represent the “ideal” company to you.  For example:

§       Do you want to join a place that is fairly stable or one undergoing tremendous growth/change?  What are the advantages in either scenario?

§       Would you consider a company that’s been declining?  Under what circumstances? 

§       Will your position be working with a lot of different departments/outside customers or mostly with others from within your own department?  Does one appeal to you more than others? 

§       What kinds of role “success” criteria do you think are most compatible with your own skills and interests?   Is this job something you think you could easily succeed at?  Is it so similar to past roles that you’ll become bored quickly?  Or is it one where you would need to acquire a lot of new skills to make the minimum contributions expected? 

§       Some companies screen for deep subject-matter/industry expertise and others value more diverse backgrounds (employees who have done a little in a lot of different roles or fields).  Do you have a preference?  What are the advantages to working in each kind of environment?  What is your subject-matter experience…deep or broad?  Where would you best fit?

§       What are the most important things you want from your next role & company?  (Note:  Make a list of “ideal things” and then try ranking them in order of priority). 

“I’ve Done That Before…”

Finally, think about how your interests and experiences relate to each of the questions and try to find similarities to the company you’re interviewing with.  For example:

§       Have you worked in a company or organization that has been aggressively growing or declining?  Why did you think that environment was stimulating, and what did you learn from operating in that kind of environment? 

§        In your last role, what contributions did you make that are similar to the success criteria this company has defined?

§        In your previous experience, did you overcome a “challenge” similar to one that this company is facing or one that is facing the incoming candidate?  How did you overcome that challenge? 

§       Were your previous roles outside/client-facing or working primarily within your own department?  How were some of the working relationships and issues similar to the role you’re interviewing for now?   Can you provide examples of the similarities and how the experience would help you prioritize your activities and approach the new position?   

If possible, get an understanding of whom you’ll be interviewing with and their roles, so you can tailor questions to their discipline and the relationship s/he has to the position you’re interviewing for.  The preparation you do prior to the interviews will accomplish several things:  first, the thought process will help you gain a clear understanding of what matters most to you in your next job; second, it will arm you with questions that not only help you sound intelligent and interested, but provide you with ways to direct the conversation if your interviewer is novice or distracted; third, listening carefully and objectively to interviewer answers will help you evaluate the company’s environment and whether the job really is a good fit for your aspirations. 

Remember, a job offer is a two-way decision:  the COMPANY’S decision to make an offer and the CANDIDATE’S decision whether to accept it.   Use subsequent interviews to learn as much about the company as they do about you so you can feel confident about your decision when an offer comes!

This article is © 2005 by Alison Sparks and may not be reposted without written permission from the author and may not be reprinted for profit.