It's pretty standard practice for job candidates to scour the website of the organization they're interviewing with, looking for clues to the company's culture, mission, and latest projects.
In fact, if you show up at an interview without having done your research, you're probably in trouble.
But some interviewers are looking for candidates who have gone one step further. Lillian Landrum, the head of talent acquisition at the job-search and career-advice platform The Muse, said she was impressed when candidates researched the careers of other company employees, including their interviewers.
Landrum recommended asking about an interviewer's work history and how the person got to his or her role.
But don't worry about coming off as creepy, Landrum said. "It just shows that they're interested, they're dedicated, and they're going beyond what is expected of them to make sure they're fully set up properly for the interview," she said.
Another human-resources expert at The Muse, Toni Thompson, previously told Business Insider something similar.
Thompson said she once interviewed someone who "had done their homework on me" and knew she'd started at The Muse a few months earlier.
"They asked me about some of the things I was most proud of since starting at my company and some of the challenges I faced," she recalled.
"It was a memorable question," she said, "because it showed that they did their research and were genuinely listening to the answer and were curious about the response."
You can also do some sleuthing to figure out what you and your interviewers have in common: Maybe you worked for the same company or graduated from the same school.
"When you can discuss your commonalities, the hiring manager also has a better perspective about how you would 'fit' into the organization," the career coach Anita S. Attridge told The Washington Post.
If there's a question you want to ask the interviewer but aren't sure about, Landrum recommended running it by the recruiter first (if there is one). "We're your safe space," she said.
