Avoid the most common job interview mistake with this often-overlooked resource

The interview is where job applicants make the most mistakes in the hiring process, and not having enough knowledge about the hiring company is the most common job interview mistake. Luckily, the free online learning programs offered by many companies offer job seekers a way to avoid these mistakes.

According to 2010 research from Accountemps (a finance staffing company owned by global HR consulting firm Robert Half), 32% of more than 1,400 chief financial officers (CFOs) surveyed said that the interview was where candidates make the most mistakes. A 2016 Accountemps survey of more than 2,200 CFOs found that over one quarter (27%) of respondents said that having “little or no knowledge of the company” was the most common mistake job candidates made. A 2018 report from employment website CareerBuilder ranked knowledge of the “job or company” in the top 10 mistakes that will instantly destroy your chances of being hired.

The lesson? Do your homework before your next job interview. And don’t just glance at a company’s “About Us” page. Familiarize yourself with the company’s industry, their competitors and the current market conditions. Learn about their products, their executive leadership and their corporate culture. Lastly, make sure to read any recent news stories about the company.

Coming into the interview with knowledge about the company demonstrates to the interviewer that you know how to prepare for an important conversation and that you’re enthusiastic about the possibility of joining the company. It also helps you understand the company and its culture, answer potential interview questions and prepare your own questions to ask during the interview.

Corporate online learning platforms are a great resource for job seekers

There are plenty of tools to help job applicants research a business before their hiring interview; the company website, career sites, social media accounts, business information portals, and media outlets. There’s also a less-well-known source of company information, corporate learning platforms, like Celonis Academy. And although not all companies have them, especially smaller companies, they can be an excellent resource for job seekers.

For example, every Celonis employee, or Celonaut, is required to take the Celonis Kickstarter course as part of the new-hire onboarding process. It’s also available, completely for free, to everyone else. This interactive course introduces learners to the company, our history with process mining and the Celonis EMS (execution management system). It also includes hands-on exercises that let you play around with our software. The knowledge in this 1-hour kickstarter course is valuable to both new employees and job candidates. After you complete this course, you’ll even earn your first Celonis Digital Badge, which definitely doesn’t hurt to put on your resume.

Learn process mining and execution management skills

Celonis Academy offers over 300 courses to help you learn the process mining, process management, and execution management skills that today’s employers are looking for…all online and all for free. For more information about the on-demand training courses and learning material available from Celonis, check out the following resources:

• Celonis Academy

• Learn PQL with these free online courses from Celonis Academy

• Top online training courses for business and tech professionals from Celonis Academy

• These Celonis Digital Badges could be among the hottest new credentials for tech pros

• Process Mining: From Theory to Execution (free 10-hour, on-demand course developed by Celonis and the Process and Data Science (PADS) group)

• Discover EMS (free 4-min video introduction to Celonis Execution Management System)

• What is Task Mining? (free 4-min video introduction to task mining)

• Celopeers job market message board

If you want to help build the execution management and process mining systems that will be part of every enterprise IT toolkit, come work for Celonis!

Bill Detwiler

Senior Communications Strategist and Editor Celonis Blog

Bill Detwiler is Senior Communications Strategist and Editor of the Celonis blog. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic, where he hosted the Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET’s popular online show. Bill is an award-winning journalist, who’s covered the tech industry for more than two decades. Prior to his career in the software industry and tech media, he was an IT professional in the social research and energy industries.