(Jan Reha – Career Discovery) I’m here with Career Discovery, in this segment I’d like to discuss researching because I think it’s an integral part of this whole job search process. And I’m always encouraging my clients to research companies. So could you tell me a little bit about researching in terms of the interviewing, as well as the resume writing process that you got.
(Kerry York – Recruiter) I think that you really have to look at what is this company’s position in the marketplace. What do they do, because a lot of times, one of the questions you’ll get in the interview is, why do you want to work here. And if you say because I think you’re really great company.
Next. So, basically, let’s start out with, what do you do? Do you make something? Do you provide a service, who else does it? Are you national or global? Are you local? How long have you been in business just the basic stuff, you could probably find out online, but then take it to the next step.
How does this company, do what they do and how good are they at it? Are they second in the marketplace are they first in the marketplace. Are they a startup. It all helps you to understand how you’re going to translate your skills into that position, would you add anything that I agree. Yeah, the other thing I would look at is what is within the company, what did they do well and what are some of the challenges, specifically in the marketplace and I find a one great resource, or one of many great resources online is their own website, I find that they put a lot of information on the website you can have, you can go through the press releases, you can go through the financial statements you can see who the company leaders are there’s a lot of information there to begin your search in terms of understanding about the company. I also think it’s important to understand as much as you can from a cultural perspective about the organization and how you would fit in from that perspective as well.
(Jan Reha – Career Discovery) When I work with clients I’m always having them of course, discover who they are and what their own personality yes and then I’m encouraging them to find that personality out in the company somewhere. And another thing that I think is important. I’ve mentioned to my clients is that you need to know the what I call the trade winds, the economic and political forces that influence an industry and where is the industry in this particular portion of the cycle, because that would determine where the money is coming from, and always looking at the bigger picture which I don’t think a lot of people do. I also encourage clients to look at and do a five year history on the company, and you can then tell what has occurred in the company within the last five years and then drill down to sell that, because we’ve gone through a very tumultuous last five years, and where are they in that cycle now, hopefully you know we are seeing some improvement, but you need to find that out with in the industry and I think people need to look at industries and then companies within the industries and just as you mentioned, are they a first or second player are they a neophyte.
(Danielle Reha – Executive) So, those are very important things to do in preparing, didn’t you imagine that you had an example when your interviewer said you knew more about the company, and it was a private company and I spent a lot of time online looking up information and talking to different people through it through LinkedIn I also was able to find some people that were familiar with the company and so I think it’s important to really understand that and I think it sets you up as a candidate when you’re able to talk at that level, about the organization, and it shows that you’re very serious about the role and that you really are how you want that role and that can differentiate you. Absolutely. And what was his comment to you and he was impressed he said I knew more about the work and I was able to articulate more about the organizations and then he, and he could I guess that’s the kind of comments you want at the end of the interview.
(Jan Reha – Career Discovery) Those are some of the things that I think are essential in today’s world, research, research, research so you know what you’re talking about when you and it prepares you and makes you feel more comfortable in the interviewing process. This is January and with Career Discovery. In the next segment we’re going to talk more specifically about interviewing skills and some of the positive and not so positive sides of interviewing.