• How do you know whether or not it is a place where you would like to work if you don't know very much about them?
• How will you be able to articulate how you will contribute to the organization if you know very little about the organization?
• Why would an organization be interested in knowing about you (or hiring you) if you don't appear to be interested in them?

How can you learn more about a company or organization?

It's pretty easy, especially with the Internet at our disposal.

There are very few organizations or businesses that don't have their own web sites. Companies websites provide a wealth of information about themselves.

One of the best sources of information about companies is Hoover's Handbook of American Companies, a comprehensive profile of major US companies. This publication is available in the resource library in the Career Planning office. However, you can access it directly at Hoover's. Much of the information in Hoover’s is password protected. Contact the SEU library for more information.

Check out corporateinformation.com (www.corporationformation.com). It contains a wealth of information about U.S. and foreign companies. Visit our library’s (http://libr.stedwards.edu/) homepage and try one of the on-line databases to gather information about various companies

If you can find a recent article on the company or organization (Hoover's can help out here), you can formulate a question that can make you look very well informed and interested - "I was reading a recent article about your company's latest product. How has it been received?"