Advice & Resources

Google Alerts: Your Best Job Interview Friend
by Leylanorman - 2015-04-04

You can get lost searching on some organization websites for news. It's that news that you need to store away for your job interview, though. It's vital to the success of your interview. It sets you apart from other candidates as it demonstrates that you have done research about the company. It shows you care and are interested enough in the position for which you are applying to have done a bit of homework before you entered the lobby of headquarters.

Company websites don't tell all about what is going on there, either. Outside sources of news can also be helpful, and that is where Google Alerts steps in.

Go to http://www.google.com/alerts to sign up for email alerts any time the name of the organization with which you want to interview enters the news. Just type in the name of the organization and your email, and you will soon receive updates that focus on the search terms you provided. If you already have a Google account, you can just sign into it instead of entering your email address.

Google Alerts is also a helpful tool if you want to just get general industry news. For example, if you are an English as a second language teacher, you can receive news from around the world based on a few search terms you provide, like "ESL," "English as a second language," or "English language learner." Put in the name of the professional organization for your job or industry. You may get updated information about new resolutions or standards it has adopted.

Any bit of information you can get about the company or organization for which you want to work or your industry in general can be pivotal to your getting the job you want. When your interviewer asks why you want to work for the company, you will have statistics about how well its new product is performing in the market at your fingertips, and you can then answer that the product is doing well, and that you are excited to be part of such an innovative company.

Take the time to sign up for Google Alerts and then to actually read the alerts every day. Couple this with press releases and blog updates from the organization's website from time to time, and you will be armed for any interview question that comes your way.