7 Ways to Interview The Company Before They Interview You

By Francine Fluetsch on January 16, 2015

This article is brought to you by Dream Careers, the largest global internship program for college students offering all-inclusive programs in 11 cities worldwide. To learn more about Dream Careers, please visit us at SummerInternships.com.

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Are you thinking about interviewing with a company? As you may know, it’s important to know the company for interviewing purposes, in case they ask you about it or how you can contribute, but also so you know if the company will be right for you and if there happens to be any “dirt” or conflict of interests that would make you question working there. So how should you go about this?

1) Do a Google search:

Searching the company on Google will give you tons of great information about what they stand for and the type of work they wish to accomplish. Make sure to check out multiple sources to cross check your findings, because the internet can definitely be deceiving. It would be rather unfortunate if you are going off of an outdated document and are then caught off guard during the interview.

2) Look up reviews:

Another way to use the internet! You should be able to locate reviews from people who had already gone in for interviews (and it usually says whether they got the position or not) and that could definitely be a helpful way to get some insight on the company.

As with all reviews, it’s good to look at the negative ones, but remember that more people are going to vent about the bad experiences than they are the good ones, so take the reviews as a reference point, but not really as a deciding factor of whether to apply or not.

Then again, if the reviews are looking extremely poor, it might be wise to dig further.

image via https://c2.staticflickr.com

3) Ask people you know:

Networking will get you far in life, so if you know someone who is working at the company, or know someone who knows someone working at the company, you should see if you could squeeze some information about the company out of them. This will give you a better chance of getting a direct insight.

People will be more willing to tell people they know their true feeling about their job, whereas if a random stranger asked them, they’d probably make it sound better than it is.

4) Social media stalk:

You know you have stalking abilities on social media: whether you use it to stalk your ex, your crush, or possibly your roommate before you moved in together. Well, now those creeper skills will come in handy.

Many companies have social media accounts, and more often than not, actually “follow” their employees. Why not click on a few and see what they are talking about? They probably won’t be bashing the job on there, but you can get a feel for the people you would be working with, and the environment that the company puts forth on social media.

The employees at BuzzFeed, for instance, all look like really cool people judging by the type of articles that they write and the videos that they put up, which incorporate many of the employees acting out relatable scenarios. I look at that and think “wow, that looks like a super fun work environment.”

image via http://www.telegraph.co.uk

5) Ask your professors:

If the company is in your field of study, your professor might know people working there. Professors keep in touch with students as they progress, and other members in their field, so they can definitely be a good tool to utilize when surveying a place of work.

6) Visit your school’s career center:

The career center is there to help you with all sorts of things. They are constantly trying to hook students up with jobs and internships that are available, so they obviously know a thing or two about a vast number of companies. Go on in and talk to them to see what they know.

More likely than not, they’ve talked to reps of the company before, and will hopefully be able to provide you with an honest impression of what they think and have heard about it. They also might be able to suggest similar places that you could have as a backup plan.

image via CUS Visual Media on flickr.com

7) Ask parents and grandparents:

Your parents and grandparents most likely know a lot of people, and somehow or other might possibly know someone working at the company. I know it may sound redundant to be asking all these people, but the more you ask, the more answers you’ll get. Hopefully these answers will be coinciding, and will be able to frame you with a good impression of what the company is like and if you indeed want to apply or not.

So however you do it, make sure you do your research. It will help you in the interview, because you’ll actually know some background about them and what they do, and it will help you be confident in the fact that you will most likely enjoy the job should they accept you.

Good luck with the interviews, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

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