Things you should do before an interview.

After searching for your dream job, after hundreds of sent out resumes, countless hours that turned into days of scrolling through LinkedIn, it’s finally happening – a recruiter invites you to an interview. The countdown begins and it’s completely natural to be nervous before the big day. But whether your head is filled with “what if’s?” or you’re already bursting with excitement, you should definitely spend the time before the meeting to prepare yourself as well as you possibly can.

1. Research the company beforehand

Never lose sight of the big picture. In other words, give yourself enough time to do the research about your potential employer. Always look up reviews from current or former employees, make sure to read about the culture within the organization, its structure and, most importantly, find out what interests you most about the position in the first place. All with the aim to find out whether you truly want to work at that particular place.

Put yourself in the shoes of your future employer. Wouldn’t you want to know whether the candidate is truly interested in your company or are you just a number on their checklist of companies they applied to? Also, keep in mind that employers simply like to listen about themselves. With that said, they will ask you questions related to what they do, their industry and their business profile. They usually want to find out if you have made the slightest effort to go online and Google them. So do the homework and gather as much information about the company as you can and be prepared.

2. Where to look?

The most important source of information about the employer is the company’s website. Technically, everything you need to know is just a few clicks away. Apart from the mission and vision, the list of customer benefits and the value proposition, what you should pay attention to is the Careers tab. If it’s well-thought-out, you will be able to read through the company’s core values, employee benefits and maybe get familiar with the bios in the Meet The Team section.

You should also visit the company’s social media accounts. LinkedIn is usually used for corporate news and job offers, Facebook will be of a more employer branding nature, while Twitter can serve many purposes. Other than that, it’s a good idea to read any kind of news that quotes the company; from business to marketing. You can also lookup a wider list of current employees on LinkedIn to get a better picture of the team. Make sure to look through every piece of information from genuine reviews to case studies.

3. Summary

Give yourself time and the best chance possible for interview success by preparing well. Use your time wisely and memorize what you learned about the company days before. Get a good night’s sleep the night before to wake up in the morning and show the recruiter and your future manager that you’re organized and diligent. Good luck!