Landing your dream job requires more than just a great resume. It requires experience, knowledge, networking, and an understanding of what the hiring manager is looking for.

 

The job market is competitive and tough with fierce competition. It can be challenging when you're looking for the right position in your field of expertise. Thus, you need to stand out from the other applicants by doing your homework and being knowledgeable about the company you plan to work with in order to increase your chances of getting hired.

 

Now let's consider four things you should know about a company to get hired:

Understand their product or service, and their target market:

If you want to stand out among other candidates, it helps to know a bit more about the company and position than just what's on the job description.

 

Which is why it's important to understand their product or service, and their target market.

 

A great way to start is by reading industry reports, trade journals and news articles about the company. Also try to understand their business model.

 

In addition, consider how these factors may change over time — for example, if there's an increase in demand for certain products or services due to technological advances.

 

Look at the company website for information about its current products and services, who they sell them to (i.e., what types of customers/clients, or types of businesses they serve) and where they operate around the world.

 

You can also check out LinkedIn profiles of current employees at different levels within the organization — they may have posted information about what they do on a daily basis that helps give you insight into how things work behind-the-scenes at this particular organization.

 

In addition, also check their website for their mission, history and other company details. It gives you a glimpse of their big "WHY" and what drives them to do the things they do as an organization.

Identify the required skills, qualifications, and experience for that position:

You'll typically find this information in the job description. A company's job description is a document that outlines the role of a position, the qualifications required to fulfill that role, and the responsibilities expected of an employee. It highlights the most valuable skills and experience that the recruiter is looking for in an ideal candidate.

 

The job description is usually provided in the hiring process as part of the job application. If it’s not available, then call up the HR department and ask them if they could send you a copy of it by email.

 

When you're applying for a job, it's important to understand what your potential employer requires from you. This can help you determine if you're qualified for the position, whether or not it's something you want to do, and how much you should expect to be paid.

 

When you've identified the skills that are needed for the position you're applying for, think about how your skills match up with what is required for that particular role. This will help you focus on highlighting these skills in your cover letter, resume, and interviews to make yourself stand out amongst many other applicants.

Find out the company’s challenges:

A good place to start your research about a potential employer is by learning about the company's challenges — both current and future. This can help you determine how aligned your skills are with what the company needs now and in the future. It also shows you what kind of person they're looking for: someone who can help them grow or fix something that's broken.

 

You should do your own research before applying if possible, or before the interview to identify the organization's challenges. Also, you can ask about their challenges during the interview.

 

Asking about challenges is a great way to get the recruiter talking about what it’s like to work at the company. You can learn a lot from hearing about the obstacles that the company faces and how they deal with them.

 

For example, if you ask an interviewer about their biggest challenge, they might say something like: “We just launched our new product and we need to educate customers on how to use it.” This tells you about how they operate as a team and what kind of support they expect from employees.

Identify how your role impact the company’s revenue:

Whether you’re applying for a job at a Fortune 500 company or a small business, it’s important to know how your role fits into the overall objectives of the organization. And increasing revenue and profitability is the foremost objective for many organizations.

So you should try to identify how your role will impact or contribute to revenue growth. You don't have to be in sales to impact revenue, even non-sales roles in an organization contribute indirectly to growth in revenue.

The ability to establish a connection between the impact of your role and an increase in revenue will show potential employers that you are business savvy, and you care about the profitability and growth of the organization.

Study their competitors:

You need to know who your employer’s biggest rivals are and what they do better than them. This can also help you understand why they'll want to hire you, because they've probably seen some ways in which you can help them get ahead of their competition.

 

Also, identifying and studying the company's competition can help you identify challenges they're facing, opportunities they might be overlooking, and threats they might not have envisaged yet.

 

By learning about your potential employer's competitors, you can also gain insight into their business model and culture; what they value; what they believe in; and how they approach their customers and community.

 

Here are four things you should know about your potential employer's competitors:

 

1) Who They Are and What They Do

 

2) What They've Done Well/Poorly in Past Years

 

3) How They're Doing Compared with Industry Peers

 

4) Where They're Going (and What That Means for You)

 

With these tips in mind, you should be able to go into an interview feeling confident and prepared, not to mention you'll be able to better answer some of the tough questions that hiring managers could ask you. That in itself is a reason for you to read up on the companies you want to work for.