[MUSIC] There are at least two times when you
want to analyze a company's website. The first is when you're
applying to the company, so you can customize your cover letter and
resume to the position. The second and when most job
seekers finally do some research is when you've been invited
to a job interview. You certainly want to showcase your
knowledge of the company at that time. Employers expect you to know about
their organization and industry, chances are high that they will ask you
question design to test you, for example, you could be asked one or
more of the questions shown here. All of which require
knowledge of the company. Here are several ways to research
a company in anticipation of an interview. [MUSIC] The best way to convince your interviewer
that you know the company well is to be able to articulate what
differentiates it from its competitors. Companies will often tell you the answer
to this question right on their website. One way companies share how they stand
out is through their mission statement. You can usually find the mission
statement in the about us section. Read closely to learn how
the organization positions itself. Look for what makes the company
unique in their industry. Here for example is the mission
statement of the UnitedHealth Group an organization you will hear
more about later in this course. You might notice that the company has
formulated a social responsibility policy. And focuses on collaborative relationships
with patients, positions, and healthcare providers. If the company's management is put time
and money into developing this policies. They have value to the organization. You should be able to
start to get a sense for the company's values from
its mission statement. Some companies also elaborate their value. This company and United Health
is a Fortune 500 organization is one that is published its
organizational values online. Here you see an abbreviated list
of UnitedHealth Groups values. Under each value on the full list on the
website, it's a brief statement related to that value along with indications of how
that value should manifest an action. These are the ideals
the company strives to uphold. You should be familiar with
them prior to an interview. You should ensure that your
personal values aligned with these. because a good interviewer will
ask you appropriate questions to sniff out your values in action. Remember what you learned in course one, interviewers are unlikely to ask
you directly about personal values. Rather, they will search for stories
that reveal those values in action. If your values do not align with those of
the organization you're interviewing with, you wont get the job. [MUSIC] While you're on the website
click on Investor Relations, for most large companies you should be able
to access and listen to a publicly available quarterly earnings conference
call, and read an annual report. These calls and reports cover a range
of topics including new products, company risks, and
whether revenues are growing or stable. If you're interviewing with a startup,
check out its profile on CrunchBase. Here you can find information about
rounds of funding, acquisitions, recent hires as well as
relevant press coverage. Once you've scoped
the company's financials, it's up to you to draw
your own conclusions. Being able to speak with insight and
from facts about where you think the company is going in the future will
mark you as an outstanding candidate. [MUSIC] Of course, you've read the news
that comes up when you search for the company online and you've taken
a look at the company page on LinkedIn to see what kind of updates or
feature, right. Aside from these obvious sources,
corporate blogs especially for newer companies. Provide a wealth of information whether
it's suppose welcoming new staffers or an announcement about
new product features. The more up to date you are, the more will seen to the interviewer
as if you're already part of the team. The information you pick up here
will also give you topics to bring up in conversation,
having this kind of topic at hand is part of the art of small talk that
you'll learn about in the next module. While you're on LinkedIn, check out the profiles of the people
that you'll be interviewing with. Make sure you have your profile set so that they can see that you
viewed their profiles. This is good news to them. You're not spying,
you're showing you care and are doing your due diligence
before the interview. [MUSIC] Check out the company's
social media profiles. Get a feel for the tone of their postings. Is it professional or casual? Is it non-stop promotion? What impression do you get? That should help give you a feel for
the company's culture. But if you really want to gain
insight into the company's culture, take a look at the company
profiles on The Muse. There you can watch interviews
with current employees and hear what makes each workplace so
different. Or see what positive and negative things
people have to say about the company you're interviewing with on Glassdoor or
Vault. You saw those sites in the last lesson. You can also go to quora.com and ask your question about
working in the target company. Searching on what it's like to work? We'll bring up a host of questions
from McKenzie, to LinkedIn, to Dropbox, as shown here. The answers are typically
provided by a past or current employee and can be reveal them. [MUSIC] Aside from knowing as much as possible
about the place you're interviewing, it's a good idea to be able to talk
about the industry as a whole. And even more impressive to be
able to talk about competitors and how the company fits
into the bigger picture. The last lesson introduced you to a number
of websites you can use for this purpose. You can also use Yahoo or
Google finance to find competitors. Sometimes the information you'll find
on a company's website is limited. While the trend is certainly for companies
to place more and more information on their sites, private companies, those are
companies not traded on a stock exchange, tend to have less need to
provide sensitive information. In these situations, the best solution
is to read outside reviews and profiles of company. The resources you learned about in
the last lesson should help you here. After you've done your research
you should know whether or not you want to work at the company. If the answer is no, well, you can
always use the interview for practice. But if the answer is yes,
you should be able to back it up by being able to talk about
what makes that company unique. You should be able express
your enthusiasm for the company based on solid information. It annoys hiring managers know when the candidate fails to do
research in a perspective company. The same vain,
if you're one who does the research, it will help you separate
yourself from the competition. If the hiring manager feels
you're already part of the team, that makes it all the easier
to make you an offer. And after all, that's your goal. [MUSIC]
