For the executives you are going to meet, you should find out about education and schools, industrial and other experience, and hobbies. For the company, you should get information on products, annual sales, recent achievements, recent problems, acquisitions, and divestitures.
Why You Must Prepare a List of Questions Beforehand
The success of the interview will depend to a large degree on what you do beforehand. One essential task is to prepare a list of questions that you will ask during the interview. These questions should be designed to reveal your background and achievements in areas where you know the company is interested.
For example, in your research you may discover that a significant portion of the PE's business involves selling microwave coaxial cable components to the Navy and that the PE has had a great deal of trouble with quality control. If you have a quality control background, write down a question pertaining to this problem that will reveal your expertise in this area. For example: "I understand you have had some reliability problems with your microwave coaxial cable components. Was this an engineering problem or some problem with quality control?" If your background is in marketing, you can ask this leading question: "I understand that you sell microwave coaxial cable components to the Navy. Has marketing been any help in straightening out the quality control problems that you've had?"
Get the PE to talk about his problems. Once you are on the subject, continue to ask intelligent questions. These questions will indicate three things to the PE without your having to say them: (1) you know something important about the PE's company and appreciate his problems; (2) you have experience in areas that the PE is interested in; and (3) you are an expert in these areas.
You should also make a list of questions about the PE's recent successes. If sales have risen markedly over the previous year, ask how the increase was achieved. If the company has made a new acquisition, ask about the general philosophy behind it and whether the company plans to expand. Ask similar questions about declines in sales and divestitures. Formulate a list of questions pertaining to your specialty that you can use in all your interviews. These questions will help to establish your credibility as an expert in your field.
You should use your notes on the PE's executives to help establish rapport, build empathy, relate your background to the interviewing executive, and avoid pitfalls. Look for common interests. Maybe you went to the same school as the hiring executive, were in the same branch of military service, worked for the same company, or worked in the same industry.
If you have something in common, bring it up during the interview: "I hear that you worked for the XYZ Company. I was with them back in 1965." If you are going to be interviewed by the president and discover that you and he have a similar functional background, use this information. Mention it directly if you can, or try to couch your questions and answers in the terms of that specialty. Obviously you should avoid statements that are critical of that specialty.
If you are going to an interview with a company about whose product you know very little, you must spend enough time to acquire at least some specialized knowledge about that product. That is precisely how Allen S. got his superior job. Allen had spent the largest part of his career selling radio communications equipment. His interview was with a company developing, manufacturing, and marketing computer peripheral equipment Allen managed a very successful interview, which ultimately led to a job offer, because in addition to his other qualifications Allen appeared very knowledgeable about the computer peripheral industry. He had spent several hours at his local library boning up on the subject before his interview. Even though Allen said that he had no experience selling computer equipment when he was asked, his questions were to the point and phrased in correct terminology. There was no question in the PE's mind that what Allen didn't know he could learn very rapidly. You must do the same thing Allen did if you are going to an interview with a company that makes a product with which you have had little experience.
