Now that you have landed up with your first interview call, or your first breakthrough, it is time for you to do appropriate research so that you can prepare yourself for the interview. In my career, I've come across a lot of candidates who are paid for the interview, and they had no idea about that organization. So, this is a very common mistake. And I would not want you to do this when you are preparing for an interview. In this lecture, I will be sharing with you seven things that if you follow, you will be able to do appropriate research, which is mandatory before appearing for any interview. The first thing that you will have to do is try to identify the skills and the experiences that organization actually values.

You can do this by going online and visiting their website, try to understand their mission and vision and also the values that they have. By doing so, you will get valuable information about what kind of organization it is, what kind of employees they usually hire, and what they expect their employees to do. So this is something that you must do, and you can do so like I said before, you can go to their website. You can also To go to their competitors website and try to understand what that organization wants out of its employees. If you do this properly, you will automatically have a huge competitive advantage when you're comparing yourself with other competing candidates. Second thing that I would like you to do is to put on your investigation hat and try to determine who are the key players in that organization.

You can do this by obviously going online if that information is available on their website, or you can try to approach your friends or your acquaintances who are currently employed in those organizations and ask them for all the information that you can get. And while doing so, try to highlight the key players that are in the organization. For example, the CEO, direct reports, the kind of departments that organization has its overall structure. This is generic information that can be available by putting in a little bit of an effort. Following this, what I would like you to do is to go to their website and try to get information about the latest news and the most recent events that organization has gone through. Most good organizations have A dedicated section on their websites, which has all the press releases and the latest news related to that organization.

And that is a great source for you to gain valuable information which other candidates might not be getting. The next important thing that you should have to understand is that according to research, 45% of HR professionals feel that culturally fit candidates are the most important thing or the most valuable aspect that they are looking for when they are looking for candidates or conducting job interviews. So do some research with regards to the culture that organization has. And you can do this by understanding the values or the vision that organization has, which can be easily found on the website. You can also do this by visiting their social media accounts or their pages, and try to understand what kind of things that they are promoting. And if you have an understanding about their culture, at the very beginning, you can frame yourself or maybe just tweak yourself as well accordingly, when you're preparing for the interview.

A potential employee should have an idea of what kind of business That organization is doing. So a good starting point would be that you go and do some research with regards to what kind of clients that organization has, what kind of products that organization is selling, and how they are strategically placed in the market. Then comes the inside scoop. If you have someone who is currently working in that organization, you have a good advantage over other candidates, I would recommend that you get in touch with that person, try to gain as much information as you can with regards to the organization, the department that you will be working with the HR department and then all the other relevant departments and how they actually work together. If you get this information beforehand, you can prepare yourself and give fully prepared structured answers during your interview. And finally, I will like to tell you that one important thing is that try to find out who will be interviewing you and what kind of interviews you will be preparing for.

If you know the person who will be interviewing you. You can do some research by going on to social media checking out his or hers online profile then trust that person has in all relevant things that might help you during the interview. When you're doing this, you will also get an idea of what kind of questions that you can expect. You can do a very good rapport building because you will know the interest that person has, and you can accordingly start your interview in a very positive manner. Now at times what will happen is that the person who calls you up for the interview, he or she will not share the name of the individual that you have to meet. That is perfectly fine.

Just ask for the position or the title that will be interviewing you. And if you know that you can do some more research and try to find out who that person is. If you can't find out this information, that is fine, but if you do so, try to exploit it as much as you can.