Interview Research Tips
Want to get a competitive advantage over other job applicants? Then get to know the company before the interview.
- Even novice business researchers can do basic company research before an interview.
- The key resources on this page will take your knowledge well beyond what you can find on the company website or through a basic Google search.
- Be better prepared to answer interview questions.
- Use your research to draft questions to ask the interviewers.
For more thorough research tips, take a look at the resources for corporate strategy.
Gather Basic Company Information
D&B Hoovers is a good place to start, especially for job-hunters who are inexperienced with company research.
- Great for large companies, and publicly-held companies (those traded publicly on a stock exchange such as the NYSE)
- Simply search for a company by name to find:
- analysis of a company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)
- general financial information for a company
- company news and recent developments
- analyst (stock) reports indicating how the company is valued
- links to industry reports
- executive biographical information
- D&B Hoovers
Use for company profiles, news, analyst reports, SWOT analyses, executive information, company financials, and more. Note: If you have trouble logging in, try opening the link in an Incognito or Private browser window.
Privco is used to find financial information and profiles for many larger, privately held companies.
- It can be very difficult to find information for private companies, as there is not a public record for these companies.
- With profiles for over 850,000 firms, Privco provides some relief in finding information for these harder-to-research companies.
- PrivCo
A fantastic source for business and financial research on non-publicly traded corporations, including family-owned, private equity-owned, venture-backed and international unlisted companies. The primary area of focus is on private companies with at least $1 Million in annual revenue or $1 Million in VC/PE funding.
- Use Intellect to find both large and small company information.
- You can also use Intellect to search for companies by industry.
- For example, if you want to work in a brewery in Tennessee, you can use Intellect to create a list of all breweries in the region.
- Mergent Intellect
Use to find companies and competitors by user-defined search criteria, such as size, location, industry, sales, and more. Useful for private company information which includes estimated sales.
Understand the Industry
- Use IbisWorld to read about the industry to learn key facts, terminology, trends, etc.
- Search for an industry by keyword to find:
- industry performance
- major players
- key success factors
- competitive landscape
- First Research is also great for a basic, easy to understand overview of the industry
- Look for the "Call Prep Questions," which you can use to draft your own questions for the interview.
- First Research
Provides industry profiles on over 600 industry segments. The reports are very easy to read and can help you gather a quick understanding of the industry.
Use Local Newspapers
America’s Newspapers is a wonderful resource to find what the local press says about a company.
- Use to search for newspaper articles from papers in the state or city where the company is located.
- This can be a great way to find additional information about companies not easily found elsewhere.
- From the database home screen, choose a state, then city(optional) to limit newspapers by location.
- Next search for your company name in the Lead/First Paragraph
- Use search filters to limit by date or by particular newspaper.