Being informed about an employer does not guarantee a successful interview unless you use that information effectively. Knowledge related to the key facts to research is only helpful if you know how to tactfully weave that information into the interview. Rattling off a lot of memorized facts will not convince the interviewer of your interest in working for his/her organization. Instead, you need to communicate in a way that demonstrates you have 1) reflected upon how your qualifications relate to what the employer needs and 2) collected information for the purpose of determining if the position – and that particular organization - would really be a good fit for you.
You can communicate this through the questions that you ask. For instance, if you want to work for an employer that is committed to community service, you could ask a question like, “I read an article about this company’s annual involvement with the Swim for Diabetes. I think it’s great that a company with only 10 employees raised over $3000 last year. Does this company support other charity events?”
Additionally, if the employer asks, "Why should we consider you over other candidates?” – or some variation of this question – you can relate your skills, knowledge areas, and/or experiences to what you know about the employer’s needs. For the sake of an example, if you discovered in your research that the organization is planning to expand operations to a geographic are where you would like to live, you could say something like, “I read in the annual report that this company is in the process of establishing operations in Quebec. My French language skills are very strong and I would welcome the opportunity to be involved in such an exciting venture.”
