Checklist: what to research about a company before an interview

Preparing for an interview is often stressful. You don't know where to start, you're afraid of doing too much or too little. The result: either you spend hours combing through every page of the company site, or you show up empty-handed and wing it.

Here's a short guide, in the form of questions, to gather the essentials about a company before an interview. The exercise shouldn't take more than 20 to 30 minutes.

Why it helps: when you truly understand a company's business model, its products, its challenges, something subtle happens. The way you talk about your experience adapts naturally. You highlight the right skills. You bounce back more easily and ask better questions. That knowledge infuses your delivery, consciously and unconsciously. You become naturally more relevant.

Take a document and note your answers as you go. The simple act of writing helps you remember and show up more confident.

The questions to ask yourself

The company in one sentence

• How would you describe what the company does to a friend who doesn't know it?
• What concrete problem does it solve, and for whom?

The business model

• How does the company make money? (direct sales, subscription, commission, advertising)
• Who are its typical customers? (consumers, businesses, both?)
• Can you name one or two of its flagship products or services?

The company today

• Roughly how big is it? (number of employees)
• How long has it existed?
• What recent news did you find? (within the last 6 months)
• What's its current situation? (growth, fundraising, acquisition, restructuring, international expansion)

Understanding the role

• How would you simply summarize the role's missions and what would be expected of you?
• What makes an excellent candidate for this role?
• Which skills seem most essential?

Justifying your interest

• Name 3 things that particularly interest you about the role or the missions.
• Name 3 things that make you want to work at this company.

The competitive landscape

• What seems to set this company apart from its competitors?
• Is there something it seems particularly proud of?
• How would you summarize its current strategy?

Questions to prepare

Prepare 2 to 3 questions you'd like to ask. Use the information gathered above: did your research raise points you'd like to clarify? For substance and form, see The art of asking good questions, and keep a few back-up questions on hand.

Where to find this info

• The corporate site (About, Products, News, Careers sections)
• The company's LinkedIn page (news, recent posts, employees)
• The company blog
• Interviews with founders or executives (podcast, YouTube, media)
• An interview with a member of your future team (podcast, Medium article)
• Specialist trade press
• Product demos (YouTube)

The AI question

Tempted to paste this list into ChatGPT to save time? Understandable. AI can produce decent answers in seconds. If you do it, ask for maximum detail on each answer and verify the sources, especially for key figures.

But for this exercise, the time saved isn't worth it. Fifteen minutes of focused manual research will help you far more than a prompt. Browsing the site, scrolling the blog and the LinkedIn page, you pick up things AI won't give you: the mood, the tone they use, the details that speak to you, the questions taking shape in your head. This detective phase lets you soak up the company, not just collect data. And rephrasing what you understood in your own words anchors the information far better than a ready-made answer.

Enjoying this article?

Get the next ones straight to your inbox.

you@email.comSubscribe

FAQ

How much time should I spend researching before an interview?

20 to 30 minutes is enough. The goal is to understand the business model, the products, the recent news and the company's challenges, not to comb through the entire site.

Where do I find the most useful information?

The corporate site, the company's LinkedIn page, its blog, interviews with executives in podcasts or videos, and specialist trade press.

Is it better to use ChatGPT to prepare this research?

AI can speed things up, but manual research lets you pick up the mood, tone and details a prompt won't give you. Rephrasing what you understood anchors the information better.