5 Tips to Find Out More about Your Interviewer

 

We all know how important it is to find out as much as we can about the role and organisation before we go for a job interview.

 

We may be fortunate enough to actually know who’ll be interviewing us, but 9 times out of 10 we don’t, either way it’s a good idea to do some research on this person.

 

Follow our advice on how to go about this and you’ll go into the interview more prepared and in a position to connect with them.

 

1. Research the Job

 

Find out as much as you can about the job and the specifics around what the organisation needs from the person doing the job. The more you know about the job specification, the more you’ll understand where your interviewer fits in to the Company relative to the role they’re interviewing you for:

 

• What is their role in the Company?

 

• Is there an organisation chart that you can look at?

 

• How many people do they have reporting into them?

 

• How long have they been in the role?

 

• Is there anyone else doing the same role that you’re applying for?

 

2. Contact HR

 

Is it possible to make contact with HR? Whoever contacted you to invite you to interview may be part of the HR department and therefore able to help you. If they aren’t, they should be able to point you towards someone who is.

 

3. Look at LinkedIn

 

Look up the interviewer on LinkedIn. After all, they’ll probably be looking you up. Take in all the information you find on their profile, not just the details of their professional career.

 

• What school or University did they go to?

 

• What other Companies have they worked in? Are there any similarities to your experience?

 

• Who are they connected to? How come they’re connected to those people?

 

• Look at your own LinkedIn network to see if there are any mutual connections who can shine a bit of light on your interviewer.

 

4. Use Your Recruiter

 

If you got this interview through a recruitment agency or head-hunter, get as much information from them as possible. This is where a Recruiter is worth their weight in gold! They want you, as their candidate, to get this job so they’ll be happy to pass their insider knowledge on to you.

 

5. Identify the Boss.

 

Find out who this job reports to. At some point during the interviewing and assessment process, you’ll probably meet this person, so it’s a good idea to find out who they are so you can research them too.