AFSNews Careers Column February 1995

Careers

If you are preparing to interview for a job, you need to know as much as possible about the organization you will be interviewing with. This knowledge is important: it shows the recruiter that you are interested enough in the position to have done some research, and it prepares you to ask appropriate questions during the interview. Candidates who are unfamiliar with their prospective employers are at a great disadvantage in job interviews.

Among the types of information you should seek are the size of the firm, where its headquarters and major offices are, the names and titles of its top officers, its potential for growth, its major competitors, the career paths available in the company, how employees are evaluated, and what the corporate culture is like. If you are looking for employment in a specific place, you will also want to learn as much as you can about the community in which you hope to work.

How do you begin learning about organizations? There are several avenues, all of which you should explore.

Business and industry directories, corporate annual reports and other company literature, computer data bases, business periodicals and newspapers, and trade magazines are just a few of the sources of information you can use in your research. In addition to visiting a library, explore resources available on the Internet. (See "Careers" in the August 1994 issue of American Folklore Society News.)

Other strategies you should use include networking ("Careers," April 1994), informational interviewing, and job shadowing. You should take full advantage of your personal contacts. Employees and former employees of organizations are excellent sources of information. Finally, feel free to call the organization and ask for annual reports and other literature. (You should request these materials when the interview is scheduled if you do not already have information on the company.)

Regardless of how you conduct your research, your knowledge of your prospective employer will greatly enhance your performance in a job interview. Such knowledge is more than just an edge over people who do not do their homework. It is imperative to getting a job.

If you have suggestions for future columns, please contact me at Career Services, Lucina Hall, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306 (tel: 765/285-2430; fax: 765/285-3757; e-mail: 00jpgoodwin@bsuvc.bsu.edu).

Joseph P. Goodwin Ball State University