A lot goes into interview preparation, but the obvious things—like putting together the right outfit to wear, arriving on time, practicing how you will answer the questions you’ll be asked—often take precedent over other interview prep efforts that could be just as important. One of the top factors overlooked by many job candidates is familiarizing themselves with the organization itself.
That can be a deal breaker for some hiring managers, who will quickly favor applicants with some knowledge about their employer over those with none. How can you find out about the place where you’ll be interviewing? Here are five pre-interview research tasks to put on your to-do list—
- Visit the organization’s website. You’ll learn about the services it provides, its commitment to its patients, its mission in the community, and more. Be sure to click on the “news” or “press releases” button too to see what’s been going on with the facility most recently.
- The official website will, of course, paint an absolutely glowing picture of the facility, but for a more objective view of what you may be walking in to, conduct a Google or other Internet search to see what kinds of reviews it’s gotten from patients and other care providers and/or what kind of financial shape it is really in. Glassdoor.com is one site with employee ratings and reviews of employers that could shed some light on the experience you may have there if you are hired. You can even type the facility name into YouTube to see what comes up.
- A great way to learn more about your potential new colleagues is to search LinkedIn for the organization. Look specifically at the respiratory care department staff that come up to see who’s working there now, how long they’ve been with the facility, what jobs and credentials they hold, what their experience looks like, etc. You will also find people who worked there before, and may be able to gain some insight into why they left from what they’re doing now.
- Now that you know who works in the department, Google them too to see what you can learn. You can also visit their Facebook pages to see how your personality and work style might fit with theirs and get a better idea of what it would be like to work with them on a day-to-day basis.
- Before you head out the door, do one last thing: pull up Google, Yahoo, or another Internet search engine and use its “News” function to search for the organization. If anything has happened to the facility since you did the bulk of your research, you’ll be clued in.
With this type of knowledge of the facility, you’ll have everything you need (indeed, more) to walk into the interview equipped to talk about the organization and how you can fit into its goals, objectives, and RC department and hospital culture.
