One thing to rock a job interview

I interviewed a job candidate for a software engineer position yesterday who impressed me. When I thought about the reason, it was straightforward: the candidate did their research. Researching a company prior to an interview is so obvious that it's mind-boggling why (in my experience as an interviewer) nine out of ten candidates don’t do it. It is the ultimate opportunity to show you care about the hiring company, plus a way to show you have intellectual firepower. Research makes such a huge difference and can separate you from other candidates.

Because the candidate came prepared, it made him beat 90% of the other candidates. And this was a candidate I contacted; he didn't apply himself, so he deserves double-credit.

We are now in a period where there are more job openings than candidates for many positions -- especially software engineers. But I believe research is such an essential part of job searching, it's applicable for any type of job. Plus, there are many more benefits than just rocking the interview itself.

Research rocks!

Doing the research is not only easy, it gives you an edge an added “plus” over the other candidates. As I said, in my personal statistics, only 10% of candidates research beyond opening our company’s homepage and scrolling below the fold. Many don't do even that. But, the “plus” that research gives you, is intelligence about the company. 

Intelligence helps you make better-informed decisions when choosing a company

Think about this -- you will likely spend more time at work each week than with a life partner. So, taking time upfront to truly understand the company and its culture is critical. 

In the end, research helps you to find the best fitting job for your skills and your personality. So, do it to find out what is important to you, and what to expect. You will also learn how the market evolved since your last job search.   

In addition, research will make the interview more productive. You will not waste time asking the interviewer for a basic education about the company. During an hour-long interview, there's only a limited amount of time for the company and even less time for you to ask questions.

Coming prepared gives you the time to figure out if you click with this company. Here are some of the things to ask yourself before the interview:

• How do they describe themselves?
• Do you care about their product/service?
• What set of technologies/processes etc. do they use?
• Do they have a blog? What do they write about?
• How do they and their current employees present themselves on social media? Do you want to work with the people you see there?
• What do current or ex-employees write on sites like Glassdoor?
• Understand the company’s financial situation. If they are early stage, how much money have they raised? If it is an established public company, read the last one or two annual reports.
• If they are early stage, are they profitable?
• Do you know who the CEO is? What is his/her vision of the future?

There are many places to get this information. Company website, careers pages, "About Us" pages and of course anything you can Google. I find it particularly valuable to read personal articles from employees. They're typically the most honest, as people write them based on their initiatives and experience. Of course, you would likely not find any complaints there; for that go to Glassdoor.

If you get answers to these questions upfront, you'll gain the time during the interview to ask much better and targeted questions. It will increase your chances to find out things you would have typically found out only after your start date.

Some final practical tips

So what did this particular candidate do to make me so excited? Not that much, but it added up to a lot. And, as I said, it's easy:

• Website. He went through the company website to gain a basic understanding of the company and its products. And, in the case of our company pipedrive.com he educated himself beyond simple industry category: "It's a CRM." He went beyond to see why should he care about our CRM product to understand what's the Pipedrive edge. He made his own opinion about why he might like being part of the team that takes our company to the next level
• Open positions. He visited our career pages to see which technologies we use and how. You wouldn't believe how many candidates don't even read the job posting
• The hiring manager. He researched me and found a podcast interview with me and listened to it. It's an hour-long, so it was quite an investment for him. That gave him an edge He was able to ask concrete questions about what we do and how. He was able to integrate that into what his skill sets are -- and how 1+1 can equal 3
• Anything extra. There was perhaps something else he did, but it was not obvious from his answers

And this was enough to make him stand out -- to rock! So, research -- and perhaps, reap the rewards of a job for a lifetime.

Note: try a fun 5-minute long fast interview with us, you’ll have a chance on the next HackerX event in Prague on Sep 17, 2019 from 7pm in HUBHUB Ara.