Happy Thursday ThinkTalkers! For a lot of you days of the week now mean nothing since school has ended and maybe you haven’t started those summer jobs yet (need some time off to relax, right?). But soon enough you are going to have to focus again and get serious about finding that elusive full-time position (I know, I know, not pleasant to think about when looking forward to warm weather and members of the opposite sex on the beach).

But at some point this summer all of the companies you’ve applied to will realize what gems they have found and bring you in for an interview. Take a breath, it’ll be okay. Interviews are often the scariest part of this whole process but stick with us boys and girls and we’ll get you through. I have recently come across a blog that deals a lot with the interview.

Cube Rules has all kinds of advice for answering specific types of questions and how to structure your answers for the interview. But in today’s blog I want to focus on a part of the process that sometimes gets overlooked: preparing for the interview by researching the company. Hiring managers can easily tell which applicants come prepared with research and questions and which did not prepare enough. Out of those two candidates whom do you think they’d rather hire? Exactly.

According to Cube Rules blog writer Scot Herrick:

The assumption is the more research you did, the more motivated you are

By listing off all of the different types of research you did (I’d leave out the part where you researched the hiring manager…), there is this assumption that you are more motivated to do the work. By spending two hours going through a company website and taking notes, it somehow translates into motivated to do the work for the company.

Beyond impressing the hiring manager with your stellar knowledge of the company and intelligent questions to ask when it is your turn, researching the company is also used to benefit you, the job seeker. It is important to make sure the company you are applying to matches your job search goals. By examining the company prior to your interview you can also determine how well you will mesh with this company culture.

I know career counselors, parents, etc beat you over the head with these kinds of tips but it really is the little things like preparation that make all of the difference in this kind of situation. So suck it up, take the lap top poolside and do your prep work while getting some sun!

"Jeff at the computer” courtesy bdjsb7 via Flickr Creative Commons