With the ocean of information available with a few clicks, there is no excuse to go into an interview flying blind. Gone are the days of poring over microfiche and articles at the library prior to the big day. Most progressive companies have an online presence and in the social media world, and you can use those resources to your advantage.

Many companies looking to hire a freelancer or hire writers have corporate profiles on LinkedIn, along with a list of their employees. Prior to your interview, look at the profile for your interviewer to try to gauge their background and interests; specifically, look at topics in which they are knowledgeable and which may come up during your interview. If you’re a freelancer, connecting with the companies/managers with whom you’ve worked through your own LinkedIn profile is a great way to keep them abreast of your current work.

Connecting to current employees at your prospective company could also yield good insider information, both for your interview and to gauge whether it’s a good fit for you. Utilizing Twitter listing services like wefollow, twellow or listirious, you should be able to find current employees at your prospective company. A discreet exchange with them in advance of your interview with a request for some ‘tips or advice’ could be the factor that impresses your interviewer, or perhaps indicates that the company really isn’t for you.

Lou Perseghin is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments. WriterAccess is powered by ideaLaunch, a full service content marketing agency serving hundreds of clients and thousands of writers since 2000.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.