What or who is it?
People, culture, brand, history, and the interviewer too.
What does it do?
Core business, value proposition
Who does it do it with?
Customers, supply chain, competitors
How well does it do it?
Competitive, financial and strategic outlook
What's happening to it?
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Also PESTLE, Porter's 5, etc.
What's your role?
How this job relates to the first five questions.
3 Steps to Find Answers
Do the obvious
Explore the website, Google them, and check social media.
Go beyond the obvious
Search the deep web. Save time and learn more with specialized databases for news and business research. Check with your library.
Talk to people
Use your network to learn from people in the organization and industry.
1 Reminder for Perspective
You don't need all the answers.
Just dig deep enough to uncover the really interesting questions. It's not about showing off, it's about having an intelligent conversation.
Thanks to Andy Spackman at BYU for the excellent infographic!
