Preparation: What Employers Expect You To Know
By Sklar & Associates In Candidate Article On August 3, 2014
The most critical step to securing your next job is to be prepared prior to speaking with your prospective employer.
That begins with doing a bit of research. Employers expect you to be well informed about their company, their products and their industry.
“Employers expect you to be very well prepared,” says Peter Vogt, president of Career Planning Resources. “It’s so much easier than it was 10 years ago to get information.”
There is at least one thing you can do to gain an edge over other people, say experts. While it’s good to know something about a company, it’s far better to use that knowledge to explain how you would use your skills to address an issue facing the company.
“When you go to an interview, your goal is to show them that you are a person who can help them solve their problems,” says Deborah Brown-Volkman, president of Surpass Your Dreams.
A good place to start your research is the company’s website, of course. You can find information there about the company and the qualities it most values in its employees.
The next step is to find information that provides an unbiased profile of the company.
This way, you find out positive aspects of a company but also the real-life challenges facing that company – challenges you may be able to help resolve.
In addition to the company’s site, read online newspapers and business journals from the company’s hometown.
The next step is to take what you’ve learned about a company and practice speaking about it, so that your conversation is natural and comfortable.
“It can become overkill if they get the sense you’re trying to demonstrate how many websites you visited,” says Vogt. “It’s better to be subtle and work it into your answers. A more proactive way is to ask some questions about the company.”