- Culture: Look at pictures of people and work spaces on annual reports and marketing brochures. Read every quote from employees of all levels that you can. Gain clues and insight on culture, communication styles, dress style, and the types of people who succeed within the target company’s environment. If you can find quotes, pictures, or best yet a podcast or video on the person who you are interviewing with, that can give you such an unfair advantage, it’s scary.
Ask yourself - Are they formal or informal? Laid back or intense? Analytical or creative? What are they being quoted on (it’s probably important to them)? What are they wearing? What’s in the background? What does the office look like (neat or cluttered)? What’s their facial expression? Do they talk fast or slowly? Expressive or reserved? Do they use their hands when speaking?
Discovering clues about culture can help you with communications style in your resume and non-verbal communications so critical in the first 2-30 seconds of an interview - See Non Verbal Interviewing (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/06/see-how-easily-you-can-master-non.html), and Interview in a Snap (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/05/interview-in-snap.html). Even if a podcast or video features someone other than the specific hiring manager interviewing, you gain huge advantages in setting first impressions by picking up communication style clues within the organization, Why? Most people within an organization communicate using similar styles - Mirroring that style gives you an advantage at making a great first impression.
Here’s a list of 10 apparent & non-apparent places to find target company research:
The person with the most and best information often wins. Most candidates stop with the easy public research (at the end of the list below). Few candidates dig deeper to find information that their competitors don’t have. Your best source of information is people within your target company. Insiders have the juicy details, non-public information, and gossip that can be of huge value to understand the company’s goals/problems, develop questions, and understand the culture.
- Linkedin contacts & company page (See http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/linkedin-company-follow-helps-job.html)
- Technorati Searches
- Press Releases
- Organization’s Blog, industry and competitor blogs
- Yahoo Finance
- Hoover’s
- Annual Reports – Public companies, Regulated Industries and some Non-Profits, Hospitals, Educational Institutions publish Annual Reports
- Quarterly Reports – Mainly for Public Companies and Regulated Industries
- Organization’s Website
Readers - Any creative uses or sources of company research that have been effective for you? Please share in comments below.
Page: <1> <2> <3>
Like this article?
Subscribe here and have daily tips delivered to your email.
or delivered to your RSS reader.
For access to more information:
Become a fan of reCareered on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/reCareered/21126045429
Join Career Change Central on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1800872
Related Articles:
3 Ways To Leverage Job Boards And Discover The Hidden Job Market
8 Ways To Make A Great Interview First Impression: Best of reCareered
Email your request to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".
Source: http://reCareered.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment