I’ve made some mistakes before.  I didn’t do my research or was too trusting.  I did that so you wouldn’t have to.  If the company is being dragged on Glassdoor, believe it.  Ms. Smart took a job even when the companies employees were trashing them.  Ms. Smart thought that no company could be that bad and still be wrong. Ms. Smart was WRONG.  Ms. Smart has also withdrawn from the hiring process because things didn’t FEEL right.  I once interviewed, got the job, but took a lower paying job because the first job didn’t feel right.  The office dynamics didn’t feel right.

Anyhow, prior to going on the first interview, check deep into Glassdoor.com and Google. I’m talking about going into page 20.  Always ask the names of the people who will be interviewing you.  Research their asses too.  Have zero shame about them seeing you looked them up on LinkedIn.com.  Don’t shy away from their social media either.  I don’t have to tell you to steer clear of folks with eagle avatars. Look for non-work related commonalities.  Most people will bring signs of those commonalities into their work space.  If you happen to be interviewing in someone’s office, you should already know they are a die hard Eagles fan (batshyt crazy and insufferable) because you would have seen them posting about it all over the internet.

Look into all of their other jobs.  Where’d they come from?  Create a story. They went to University of Michigan?  They know the struggle of cold weather.  When they ask you if they can get you coffee, accept and throw in a comment about warming up from the cold.

Warning: Always look them up in your local court documents and offendersearch.com.  Had I looked up an old boss, I would know he likes to lay hands on women so working with someone like me, who has ideas and knows things (like how legally biding contracts work and that my signature would put me on the hook for his federal lies), wouldn’t go over well with him.

People like people like them, even when they don’t. For example, liberal low key racists like me because they assume I share their views, dislike Black people, based on class (not race), etc.  I look like a safe one.  I look like someone who could be their best Black friend and take monthly trips to Ann Taylor with them.  That’s what they think. I make it work for me without saying a word.

Know the company.  Know their pain points, recent successes AND failures.  Know their structure.  If you’re doing a panel interview, pay attention to who they defer to but give equal eye contact to them all.  It makes the underlings feel important and that you’re not trying to step over them to get close to the biggest boss at the table.

Enough for now.