Research to Complete Before Applying to a Job

Applying to a new job can be an exciting moment. 

You have found a position at a company that you are interested in, you can envision yourself working at and look forward to representing. 

Applying to a job can be a nice distraction during a rough day to picture yourself happy in a new environment although before you start the emotional roller coaster that is the job search process, take a few moments and do the following research to ensure that you are not wasting your time of that of the interviewer:

Location of the Office

We have seen many studies showing the effects that a stressful commute can have on employees ability to be productive at work and know how important location of an office is to a prospective job seeker. 

Make sure that before you apply to a position, that you quickly research the physical address of the office. 

While the location of the job could show “Springfield,” make sure to find out exactly what part of town the company is located in “Springfield” and understand that 5 miles can be completed in 10 minutes in one part of town, but due to the traffic patters and red lights, 5 miles in another city could realistically take 35 minutes. 

Loosing this extra hour per day commuting could be the difference and make or break whether or not the position is one that you would realistically be happy at for the long term.

Current Employees

Have you ever had a co-worker you were actually happy to see leave for another position for one reason or another?  Well years have passed and you better do a quick search to find out where they are and make sure that they aren’t currently working at the company you are about to apply to. 

This can be done with a simple LinkedIn search where you can see if you have any connections currently at the company and also source if the company has hired anyone from your current or previous company who might be able to assist in making sure that the Manager gets your resume. 

Completing a search of current employees also gives you a chance to see if there seem to be any similarities amongst the current employees such as experience level, education, previous employers, etc that you can use to your advantage when highlighting your skills.

Glassdoor Reviews

In addition to being a job search site, Glassdoor.com is a website that allows users to post company reviews, interview tips from past candidate experience and even some information regarding salaries in the local marketplace for specific jobs and what you might be able to expect financially from a company. 

While this is a great site to get some insider information, as with any website reviewing a product or establishment, do take these with a grain of salt as it is very common for candidates who have had a negative experience with the company to post, while people who might be happy or indifferent do not seem to leave reviews as much. 

The Glassdoor site is still an outstanding resource as you can typically obtain an overall snapshot of the company and challenges you might face if you end up working there. 

These topics can allow you to see if there are any employee issues that could be a deal breaker for you and they can also mention issues to bring up to the hiring team during the interview process to address if they are still relevant.

News Reports

Make sure to Google the company and know of any stories that have highlighted them in either a positive or negative light in the recent news. 

If the company is a publicly traded company you can even look at their recent financial information and see if their stock has been moving up or down. 

A steady stock price growth is very positive and could hint at stability while a recent drop in price could highlight changes or even potential cuts to come in the near future. 

Either way, having a quick elevator pitch about general news about what the company has been up recently to is important for any candidate to bring into the interview with them to show they have taken the time to prepare.

Visit a Field Location

For many corporate positions it is not advisable for a potential candidate to simply walk into the office to get a feel for things, although if the position is say for example an Operations Manager role at a large box retailer, a candidate might visit the local retail store to see how things seem.  Is the store well taken care of?  Do the employees seem engaged?  Are their any red flags at this level that could potentially be due to a larger issue that isn’t being addressed by corporate? 

The chance to have these experiences might be rare to most industries although when this is a possibility, the experience is worthwhile to pursue and could lead to very strong talking points to mention during your interview.

So next time you are about to start the process of filling out that 10 minute application for a new opportunity, follow these few steps to ensure that the position is something that is worth both your time and the hiring team’s time and you do not have to pull yourself from consideration later in the process once these issues are brought to light when the information was just a quick internet search away from the beginning.