Skip to Main Content
site header image

Preparing for Job Interviews: What to Look For?

This guides offers some suggestions for individuals in the process of searching for jobs or interviewing.

Interview intelligence graphic. Six questions you need to ask about the organization. What or who make up the organization? This can include the people, culture, brand, history, and the interviewer too. What does the organization do? Their core business and value proposition. Who does the organization work with? Their customers, supply chain, and competitors. How well is the organization doing? Its competitive, financial and strategic outlook. What is currently happening to the organization? Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). Also PESTLE, Porter’s 5, etc. What will your role be in the organization? How does this job relate to the first five questions? Three steps to find answers. Do the obvious: explore the organization’s 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. One 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!