How much research do you do:
(a) in the first instance, after seeing the job ad and before/while completing your job application; and
(b) prior to an interview?
I'm just wondering how unusual I am, and how much research and preparation other people do.
I've always kind of assumed that everyone would have a good look around the company website and also Google the company to have a quick glance through any news over the past year or so, but from some reactions I've got, interviewers seeming surprised that I know stuff about their company/products, it makes me think maybe other interviewees either haven't bothered or haven't been as thorough.
Example 1: During the course of the interview, I was asked how much I knew about the company and was able to give some general background info, and at one point I was asked how I'd describe the products to someone and because I'd read up on them, and bearing in mind some general knowledge I have about the product category, I was able to make some general comparisons about the type of product, and also mentioned some of their specific ingredients.
The interviewer seemed surprised that I'd done what I considered to be basic general research about the company and products.
Example 2: During the course of an interview for a previous job, one of the interview panel was giving a general overview about the company and said something about how they were coming up for the company's tenth anniversary the next year, in May or June... Now I'd done my research, read their website, so I was able to pipe up 'April, it will be the tenth anniversary next April'. (And I saw one of the other panellists smile at my interjection.)
Again, they seemed pleasantly surprised that I'd done what I considered to be basic general research about the company and its services.
So do other people read the company's website and learn about their products/services? Or do you think that's something you'd learn about in detail if/when you got the job? Would you have been able to mention stuff you'd learned about the company's history, or its products/services? Isn't that to be taken for granted that candidates have done that level of research?
Here's where I think I am unusual (arguably excessive?), going back to those two examples:
Example 1: During the same interview as Example 1, above, I mentioned to the interviewer that I'd managed to track down their FMCG products, buy some of them and try them. And I think he was pleasantly surprised by that.
Example 2: During the same interview, as Example 2, above, I referred to the pre-interview writing task that had been set and mentioned how I hadn't just done online research about the place I'd written about (their client), I'd not only gone the extra mile, I'd gone the extra 30 miles, because I'd hopped on a train and visited it.
I figure that maybe not every candidate would be that proactive - especially when people might be applying for lots of jobs and don't have the time and/or resources - but surely everyone reads all about the company and what they do before an interview?
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