Where To Go To Get Your Company Research Information?  

Many people already recognize the value of doing company research for your next job interview.  Knowing key information about the company can help save you from making any major mistakes in assumptions or thoughts about the company and, it can provide you with a way to separate yourself from the list of other job applicants.  Simply put, doing quality company research can help you look like a more professional candidate. 

However, the challenge for many is knowing where to go to get this company research information.  To help with this process, we have put together a list of tips to consider: 

1. Visit the company's website- review its annual reports and general information. They will normally highlight what they want the image of their company to be and also show if they are listed for any awards.

2. Use website services like Hoovers.com, Vault.com, Wetfeet.com, etc. These services can give you a broad array of information from who their competitors are and give you specific information from employees like the interview process, salaries, etc. Vault.com is really good for the latter.

3. Visit sites like jobvent.com to find out what the disgruntled employees or former employees think of the company. These may not be helpful in the interview, but they can help you decide if a job is a good fit for you.

4. Use websites like topix.com or google news and type in the company name to find out if it is coming up in news articles. This can be great for getting a broader focus for the company. Also, some investment websites can be helpful for getting other information about the company, but this is generally geared towards investing.

5. Go to the company location or a nearby restaurant/bar/lunch location and ask if anyone works for the company. If it is a big company, odds are you will run into a couple people who work for the company. Ask them your questions. Most people love to talk about their experiences. If it helps, offer to buy them an appetizer, dessert, drink, etc. Also, if you are a college graduate look into your alumni services to see if any former college alumni are working for that company. If they are, you can maybe get their contact info and send them an email.

This should be plenty for you to get a good working list of information. Another way is to simply setup an informational interview where you meet someone who works for the company. The key point is to start gathering information and not to be concerned if one avenue doesn't yield much info. Just keep going down the list and you will be surprised at how much company research information you can gather.