Interview Prep and Company Research Assignment

CFANS/ICP 3201 Career and Internship Preparation

Fall 2012

Interview Prep and Company Research Assignment Adapted from Carlson’s School of Management (BA 3000) Interview Prep Assignment

This assignment is due to by 12pm via moodle on December 13th

Purpose:

Learn strategies for successfully researching companies and positions

Learn how to answer common interview questions integrating your company research and your personal

brand

PART I: RESEARCHING A COMPANY & ARTICULATING YOUR BRAND STATEMENT

Researching a company prior to having an interview is critical to your success during the interview process.

Companies expect you to know basic facts about them and their industry. You will be able to better answer the

recruiter’s questions and formulate your own questions if you have done your homework. Doing company

research will also help you to figure out what characteristics are most important to a company and how to best

market yourself during the interview process.

Choose a company for which you may want to work. If you can find a job description for the company

that you are interested in, this may be helpful, such as the job you created your resume and cover letter

for. Using at least three different resources from which to draw your information, identify four

significant things that you have learned about the company that you should know before going into an

interview for a position of your choice.

You can choose from magazines, newspapers, the Internet, company websites, or any other legitimate source for

your research. Select sources that are current (within the past 6 months to one year) and reputable. See the

„Effective Interviewing‟ handout at: http://www.careerhelp.umn.edu/interviews.html handout for

resources ideas, as well as the resources discussed in class.

Some ideas to consider might be:

a) Current events in the company, both positive and negative, for example, recent mergers

&/or acquisitions, lawsuits against the company, etc.

b) Information on the organizational culture and structure

c) What types of positions the company hires for and/or the career paths within the company

d) Changes in management or leadership in the company

e) Financial information (please put it in layman’s terms)

f) Information related to labor market, for instance, layoffs or expansions

g) International/global news of the company (foreign acquisitions, for example)

h) Any other interesting information that you would like to report about the company

i) Are they launching any new products or services?

j) Who is their biggest competition, and what are they doing to differentiate themselves?

http://www.careerhelp.umn.edu/interviews.html


Fall 2012

PART II: USING COMPANY RESEARCH AND YOUR BRAND STATEMENT

Next, refer back to the Personal Brand activity and create a statement that you feel summarizes who you are and

what you have to offer an organization.

Using the examples below as a guideline complete the ―Your Turn‖ section integrating the four things you have

learned while completing your company research as well as your personal brand to answer the interview

questions. Either type your answers into the included template or in a separate Word document and upload it to

moodle by 12pm on December 13th. Remember to include a reference list to cite your sources!

Your company research indicates that the company:

Has recently restructured their employees into ―work process‖ teams.

Has a strong leadership culture.

Is a food processing company.

Has worldwide business relationships and partnerships

Personal Brand: I am a food science student with a strong interest in food processing who excels at building

teams and leading others.

“Tell Me About Yourself”

Whether you are asked ―tell me about yourself,‖ ―walk me through your resume,‖ or ―tell me about your

background,‖ your response can be the same – a brief overview of your background and skills that matches the

needs of the organization, as well as something unique about yourself (your personal brand). Company research

can help inform your answers, as in the example below:

Q: “Tell me about yourself.”

A: ―I grew up in a small town in South Dakota where I graduated with 32 people in my class. This gave me

great opportunities to build my teamwork skills in sports and other extra curricular activities. From there I

came to the U of M College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences to pursue a degree in Food

Science. This past fall, I was elected president of the Food Science and Nutrition club, which has given me some

great leadership skills that I think align well with your organization’s focus on leadership development. This

past summer I studied abroad in Italy which perked my interest in international business, so I was excited to

learn what a large international presence your organization has. Your company seems to be offering an

internship that will allow me to utilize my food science background in an area that I am eager to learn more

about—food processing, which is why I am very excited to be meeting with you today‖.

“What Are Your Strengths”

Use the company research you conduct to inform you of the skills and qualities the employer is seeking then

identify which of these are your personal strengths. When asked ―what are your strengths‖ name a few related to

the position and give detailed examples of how you’ve demonstrated these strengths in the past—remember

employers are looking for proof in your answer! Tip: Think about what your top five strengths are from

StrengthsQuest and/or your Prospective assessment results.

“What is one of your strengths that makes you a good fit for this position?” A: ―I relate well to all types of people and enjoy working with a group of individuals to achieve a goal. As the

president of the Food Science and Nutrition club I get much joy and fulfillment through working with the other

members of the executive board. We are all very different individuals so I’ve taken the time to get to know each

person which has helped us become a cohesive and productive team. My ability to relate to people would allow

me to build relationships quickly within a work process team at your organization.


Fall 2012

Questions To Ask the Interviewer

Asking the interviewer specific questions about the company at the end of the interview is a great chance to

showcase what you know. You should prepare 3-5 questions to ask the interviewer at the end of the interview.

Make sure that you are asking for information that isn’t obvious, but instead is informed by your company

research. The following is an example of how you can showcase your research in the questions asked to the

interviewer:

Q: “Do you have any questions for me?”

A. “Yes, I noticed that your company has just expanded their operations into China. What are the

challenges the marketing department is facing during this expansion?‖

Behavioral Interview Questions

Many recruiters ask ―behavioral‖ interview questions to see evidence of your past activities related to a

specific skill. This type of interviewing is based on the belief that past performance predicts future

behavior. These questions are often in the form of ―tell me about a time when…‖ Interviewers are

looking for very specific scenarios in which you showed evidence of the skill, not general skill

statements. A good way to do this is to develop a ―STAR‖ scenario (Situation, Task, Action, Result)

for some of the skills/abilities that your company research has helped you to ascertain will be

important to the interviewer. Draw from your background – education, work experience and

leadership/community activities. The following is an example of how a student might answer a

question from a company that works in a fast-paced industry (time management skills):

Q: Tell me about a time when you showed strong time management skills.

A:

Situation/Task:In my statistics class last semester, we were assigned to groups of four to complete a

research project on a topic of our choosing. My group chose to study the effect of flexible

schedule programs on organizational commitment. With this project, we were required to write

a paper on our statistical analysis and present our findings to the class.

During the last and most important week before our project deadline, one of our group

members had to return to his home country to attend to his sick father. He was to be

responsible for the presentation that we had planned to assemble during that week. In addition,

another group member’s computer crashed – destroying all new additions to our 25 page

paper. Needless to say, we needed to respond quickly to ensure our project would be completed

in time with the unexpected changes in our plans.

Action: First, I set up a meeting for the three of us to meet face-to-face to discuss and divide the

remaining work. Second, I focused on creating our presentation to allow the other members to

focus on re-revising our paper. Finally, throughout the week, I followed up with everyone more

than usual to ensure things were running smoothly and to keep motivation up during this high

pressure week.

Result: The group really pulled together and leveraged everyone’s best talents. In the end we received

an A on the project and presentation. I was really proud of the work we did and more

importantly our ability to unite and respond to the catastrophe. I learned that sometimes things

happen that are out of your control and that in those situations maintaining communication

with your team members is really key.


Fall 2012

The “Final Sell”

It is important for you to leave your interviewers with a positive final impression, reiterating why you are a good

fit for the position (think about your personal brand) and your excitement about the company. Company

research can tell you a great deal about what skills will be most important to the organization and can help you

formulate ideas for your response. You may be given this opportunity at the end of the interview when asked,

―Is there anything else that you’d like to share with me today?‖ or ―Why should we hire you?‖ Look at the

example below and how the student uses the research they have done to guide what they highlight in the ―final

sell‖:

Q: “Why should we hire you?”

A: ―I wanted to reiterate that I have a consistent history of leadership in activities, at school and in the

workplace. Also, I believe one of my strengths is the ability to grasp the scope of a project, planning the key

steps, and seeing it through to completion. As we discussed, my experience as the president of the Food Science

and Nutrition club has allowed me to lead a group of people and manage large projects, such as the

professional development workshop series that I spoke about earlier. I also feel that my study abroad experience

in Italy gave me insight into international business operations through the job shadow experience I described

earlier. I also think it is important for you to know how interested I am in applying my food science knowledge

to assist in streamlining food production and I know that by working for your organization I would be learning

from the best. I am very excited about this opportunity, and am looking forward to the next steps in the

process.‖

Your Turn

Your Name:

The company you researched:

Your company research indicates that the company:

Q: Tell me about yourself:

Q: What are your strengths (hint: think about your StrengthsQuest and your personal

brand)?

Q: “Do you have any questions for me?

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

What is your personal brand (1-2 sentence summary)?


Fall 2012

Choose two transferable skills for which you believe a recruiter in your chosen company would be looking for

based off of the company research you’ve conducted and what you know about the field. Answer the following

behavioral-based interview questions utilizing the STAR technique. Type your S.T.A.R. responses for each of

your behavioral-based questions.

Q: Tell me about a time when you demonstrated strong ________________ skills.

Situation/Task:

Action:

Result:

Q: Tell me about a time when demonstrated strong ________________ skills.

Situation/Task:

Action:

Result:

Q: Why should we hire you?

Reference List: _________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Grading Criteria:

5 points—Identified your personal brand and four things you learned about the company

10 points—Responses to interviewing questions and the questions you ask demonstrate your brand as

well as the company research you conducted. Responses for interviewing questions are fully developed

and give specific examples from past experiences

5 points—Responses are in full, well-written, concise sentences.

5 points—Reference list that sites three different sources

25 pts total

Documents

Interview Prep and Company Research Assignment