How To Research A Company For An Interview

While the interviewers are trying to figure out if you’re going to be a good fit for the company, you should be doing your research on them as well. Your goal is to find the information that can serve as conversation starters when you meet them for an interview.

1. The Best Research Sources: 

• Go to your favorite search engine — our current favorite by far is Google– and find  the company’s website. Most public companies have a section of their websites  dedicated to investor relations and often have their annual reports online and in  downloadable form.  

2. Web-Based Secondary Sources: 

•  Glassdoor — a great site for helping job-seekers get inside information on  prospective employers where you can find anonymous employee job reviews (by  searching company names or location) for thousands of companies. 
• Job Search Intelligence — a great salary research tool for job-seekers with a  comprehensive set of questions to provide accurate compensation data. (Currently offering information on 480 occupations, within 560 geographic regions.)
• Payscale — another salary research/calculator tool 
• Hoover’s Online — once self-proclaimed as “the ultimate source for company information,” this Website offers a lot of information — very little for free and most  for a fee, though. 
• Canadian Business Resource: offers in-depth information and profiles as well as links to more than 2,600 of Canada’s top performing businesses — some for free and  some for a fee. 
• Corporate Information — a great resource for researching companies and industries  in the United States and around the world. Search for company and industry  information — or search by U.S. state or by country to find companies that operate  within a specific geographic region. More than 350,000 company profiles. Free to job-seekers.  
•  Vault.com — well-known for its insider reports on thousands of companies. 
• The Public Register’s Annual Report Service (PRARS) — includes the ability to order  printed versions of annual reports (for free) and a service titled “Corporate  Window,” which provides various corporate and financial information for a select  group of companies.  
• The Fortune 500 — a comprehensive database of the 500 largest American public  corporations as measured by sales, profits, assets, and market value.  
• The Inc. 5000 — a listing and short description of the 5000 fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S. 
• Better Business Bureau: includes links to companies that are members of the  organization. 

3. Web-Based Company Research Links: 

• Allstocks.com’s World’s Largest Investors Links — you can find links to all kinds of  information about companies and industry analyses.  
• Thomas J. Long Business & Economics Library — Research assistance into  researching companies and industries from the Walter A. Hass School of Business,  University of California, Berkeley.

Research will help you become more knowledgeable about the company and industry. This will help to separate you from other applicants that have not conducted the research for the company. 

If you need help with perfecting your interview skills, check out our Interview Preparation session for overcoming your obstacles. Contact us for a customized approach to your needs.