Interview Preparation - Company Research

RESEARCH BEFORE THE INTERVIEW:

Do this as soon as you know about an opportunity, so that you can make adjustments to the CV, prepare for an interview, and clarify early if there is information you need to research in depth.

What is the company?

• What do they do? (Typically on landing / about us / our mission page)
• Who is on their team (Typically on their About Us / Our Team page: for small companies this can be the full staff; for large corporates it typically includes the leadership)
• Are the people who are interviewing you on this page? If so, read a bit about them. If not, try to find them on LinkedIn.
• What are their main projects / products? (Typically under ‘Our Work’ or ‘Services’ and ‘Products’ pages)
• Do they say what technology they use?
  • This might be on the job description / advert
  • Some companies also put this on their website, typically under “Our Work”, or under “About Us” if they are Microsoft partners, linked to the Python foundation, and so on.
• Who are their main clients (Typically under ‘Our work’ or ‘Clients’ or Services / Products)

Where is the company?

• How will you get there -
  • by Taxi / Train / Bus / Car
• How long will that take?
• When should you leave to get there on time?
  • NB: this part is VERY important.
  • We have often had people arrive up to an hour late, or not arrive, after we checked they knew the directions!
  • Use Google Maps to find the address on the map: Directions from codeX
  • Use StreetView to see what the building looks like.
  • Make sure you know where the closest taxi rank / bus stop / train station is, and how far you will have to walk to the building.
  • Print the map, or send it as an image to your phone, so that if you get lost you can ask directions.
  • If going by car, find out if they provide parking, or if you have to find parking away from the building.
  • Estimate to get to the building 10 minutes early, as some buildings are big and confusing, and you may need directions when you are in the building.
  • Especially since COVID-19 - could take time to screen as you go in.
  • You can ask a recruiter what the building security and access is like. Then make sure you act on it!

PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW

Questions to ask the interviewees:

Projects

• What are the main projects?
• What kind of project would I be working on?

Technology

• If you know the technology (on the job description or website)
  • According to the advert / your website, you use (microsoft / ruby / python / other); do you use this on all your projects?
• If you don’t know yet:
  • What is the main technology stack?
  • My tech stack is (your tech stack); Do you have any projects where this is used?
  • If it’s a different tech stack: explain how you are planning to learn the new stack, what you have researched / downloaded / tried out so far, and what your plans to research / download / try out are.

Teams

• What size are the teams?
• Are they agile teams?
• What time do they do standup?
• REMOTE:
• Which remote tools do you use?
• How do you do planning?
• How do the team members collaborate?

Questions your interviewers could ask you:

• See the Interview Preparation Questions
• Think about your answers
• Write out answers for them, so that you have clearly framed wording that you can remember
• Make sure that your answers are professional, and reflect YOU, as the awesome person you are!