Page 94 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

read their corporate/social responsibility mission statement,
and aim to glean something of their corporate culture. If their
shares are listed, how have the shares been performing, and
what do business journalists think about that performance?
Read recent copies of the relevant trade press, in print or online

(where you may also find some pertinent bloggers with a
di≠erent take not only on the sector you work in but also on
the company you are interested in) to find out how they are

perceived within the industry.
You should quickly get a feel of any relevant trends, how the
company is performing against their competitors, what their
major initiatives are and any significant achievements in the
previous couple of years. Many recruitment companies now ask

candidates, as part of their overall preparation, to draw up a
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis
of the company they are applying to join. You can do that o≠

your own bat.
I also find that reading press interviews with, or profiles of,
the chief executive, the managing director – at the very least
you should know who both of them are, and what they have
achieved – and other senior managers often provides you with

a sense of the company’s attitudes, expressed in a natural way
that you can reword and rework in the interview to convey
those attitudes without sounding like you’re regurgitating last

year’s company report. Along the way you can pick up phrases
or buzzwords that you can identify with when you are talking
about your own experience.
Beyond the internet, use any other network available to you.

82 get the job you really want