Assignment
Researching a company
Put the font for your answers in Bold type.
The goal of this assignment is to prepare you for interviews. One of the major complaints we hear from employers is that students don't know anything about the company that are interviewing with.
Part One - Explain why you selected this company.
Part Two - Research the Company
1. Name of the company
2. Company website
a. Consumer website
b. Investor/corporate website
3. Ticker symbol
4. List of competitors
5. What industry are they in?
6. How has the company been doing financially for the last several years?
7. How large is the company? (locations, revenue, employees- use measures relevant to your company)
8. What products/service do they make/sell?
9. Who are their customers?
10. What information do you see on message boards about the company?
11. What major news items have been posted about the company?
12. Where is the corporate headquarters?
13. Search on LinkedIn.com for links to the company
14. What are the company's reviews on glassdoor.com like?
15. What information do you find using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn?
FYI - info from the WSJ http://blogs.wsj.com/laidoff/2009/05/06/advice-how-to-research-a-company-before-the-interview/
Is there a downside when it comes to doing company research?
People do a ton of research and feel like they need to showcase that information, so doing too much research can actually work against you. I've seen people go in and say ‘ Why did you do this and that in Asia?' and they end up questioning the company - it's presenting the information they've gathered in a negative way. I had one client who went into an interview at her dream job and she brought up recent postings she'd read about the company and how its employees were unhappy with their pay. She asked how they were planning on handling that - that cost her the job.
So, what's the best way candidates can use the research they've done in the interview? If you want to point to research you've done, say something like ‘I saw this and I love it .' But, you don't ever want to say ‘ I would do this differently. ‘ Learning about the company is also great for tailoring your (interview examples) and highlighting things that you see in the company that are commonalities with you and areas where your expertise could be useful.