There is a chance that one day you will find yourself interviewing for a very large company – the type of company whose website overwhelms you with the number and diversity of its various business units. Perhaps the classic example of such a company is Johnson & Johnson which has over 200 separate operating companies. It makes you wonder, how one person can lead such a broad enterprise. That also raises the question of how to best prepare for an interview with such a large organization.
The classic mistake made by people interviewing with a large company is when the enormity of the company causes them to lose their focus during the interview. For example, if you were interviewing for J&J’s DePuy Spine division, you wouldn’t want to waste time researching the specifics of the Janssen Pharmaceuticals part of their business. They have no relation to each other besides being under the same umbrella company.
Understanding this can help you, as a job candidate, develop questions for the interviewer. To appreciate this point, put yourself in the shoes of an interviewer. Imagine you are the hiring manager within Acme Widget Company’s division that makes pistons for car engines and you are interviewing a job applicant who asks questions about Acme’s smart-lighting business. You would probably conclude that either a) They don’t know what they are interviewing for or b) They prefer to work in smart lighting. Either conclusion is unfavorable to the applicant which means a low chance of them winning the interview.
So here are some tips for staying focused when interviewing for a larger company
- Start with a broad research of the company to find out what they do, to include their major subsidiaries. Don’t waste too much time on this effort. For now, you are trying to get the lay of the land.
- Research the types of companies with which they do business along with the company’s main competitors to get a general feel for the industry as a whole. Again, the purpose is to gain some big-picture perspective.
- Find out what part of the company the position is for. Many companies will include that information in the header portion of the job description. If that’s not clear, it’s perfectly fine to ask us or the person who set up the interview for you.
- When developing your questions for the interviewer, focus them exclusively on that part of the business. Any questions about other portions of their business can jeopardize your competitiveness.
- As a logical extension to point 4, when developing questions about the job position itself, DO NOT ask questions about other jobs that they have open. Focus them on the specifics of the job for which you are interviewing.
While this guidance is focused on larger companies, it can apply to smaller ones as well. Win the job that’s presented to you, not the one you wish you were interviewing for.