Sacha Cohen
When you walk into an interview, are you prepared? I mean really prepared? You may know how to answer questions about your previous employment or what skills you have to offer, but that's not enough.
Are you prepared to talk intelligently about the company's philosophy and strategy? Do you know how the company started? What about its future goals and plans? Are you knowledgeable about the organisation's values and culture? Is it privately or publicly held?
If the answer to these questions is "no," you're at a disadvantage, because you only have half of the equation. Employers expect qualified candidates to know about the industry as a whole, to be able to discuss market trends and to have a grasp of the big picture. That's where competitive intelligence comes in. Think of it as icing on the cake, that something extra that could push you to the top of the candidate pool.
When it comes to gathering competitive intelligence, the Internet is your best friend. It's far-reaching, fast and, for the most part, free. You've got company data and background at your fingertips, newswires with the most up-to-date industry analysis and trends and even access to profiles of the company's key personnel.
For job seekers in technology fields, digging up information about your dream company is even easier. There are sites dedicated exclusively to news about technology companies, email lists that discuss the pros and cons of working at different organisations, and extensive databases that you can mine for data.
So before you set foot in a potential employer's office, take a few hours to learn as much as you can about the organisation. Here are some of the best resources for building competitive intelligence.