Getting a Job At a Company Like Ours: It Is All About the Basics

I've conducted hundreds of interviews over my lifetime as I've built two different companies over the last decade. During this year, we've had a huge growth bump and throughout the process I started to write down some very, very basic tips for standing out as a candidate to work at a company like Skift (or any company, really):

1.  Always write a cover letter and send it in through the regular channels, but also directly to the hiring manager if you can figure out. For key roles, even share with the top executives. VERY IMPORTANT: Don't make it all about you. Focus on why you would like to work for the company and why you are a fit. Don't be over-eager/over-effusive.
2.  Always, always, always follow up with anyone and everyone you meet during interview process. Always. Even better? Handwritten follow up notes in advanced stages of interview always have a big impact.
3. This is a hard one: Don't come across as borderline-desperate in your job interviews. Even if you've been out of a job for a while and really need this, calibrate your enthusiasm to stay in the "eager" lane. Companies want someone who wants to work for them, not someone eager to work just anywhere.
4. Always have a list of questions ready — preferably in a notebook you brought along — to ask various people you're interviewing.
5. Always do your homework on the company before interviewing. In the case of a media company like ours, show that you have subscribed to our newsletter, have read some issues of it, and followed the daily news. Show that you have used the product, not just done research.
6.  If you've done your research and seen enough pics and videos about a company like ours, you would know our dress sense. Arrive in business casual rather than buying a new suit or dress.
7. If you've been a freelancer for a long time or you've changed jobs multiple times in a short time frame, your job is to show you're not a "flight risk" for anyone hiring you. Come prepared to show your "settling down" side, especially why now, why with us.
8. This is an advanced-level move: Come with ideas! For ways you would improve the company/product/service, stories you would write, or projects you would like to tackle, concrete ways to elevate what we do.
9. Don't be afraid to express your personality/outside-work interests, though don't get into TMI territory!

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Rafat Ali is the CEO and founder of Skift, the global travel intelligence company: News, Analysis, Research and conferences on online travel, airlines, hotels, tourism, cruises, startups, tech and more. Subscribe to the daily newsletter and you will be a lot smarter about the future of travel, we guarantee it!

Previously, he was the founder of paidContent, which he sold to Guardian Media Group in 2008.