Originally published at https://easedit.co/blog/researching-your-interviewer
How to Research Your Interviewer Before the Meeting
You'll spend 30–60 minutes in a conversation with someone you've never met. That person has a professional history, areas of expertise, ways they think about their work, and things they care about — all of which are relevant to how you prepare.
Most candidates don't look. The ones who do have a meaningful advantage. Not because they can flatter the interviewer with their knowledge — that backfires — but because they can ask better questions, frame their experience more relevantly, and read the conversation more accurately.
What you're looking for
You're not building a dossier. You're looking for four things:
- Their professional trajectory — where they came from, what they've worked on, where they are now
- Their functional expertise — what they're known for, what they likely care about in a candidate
- Shared context — mutual connections, overlapping experiences, adjacent industries
- Signals about what they value — content they've published or shared, projects they've led
Where to look
LinkedIn — the primary source
A LinkedIn profile gives you the clearest picture of someone's background in the least time.
What to look at:
- Their career history — not just job titles, but the companies and sectors they've moved through
- How long they've been in their current role — a new hire sees the company differently than someone who's been there five years
- What they list in their skills or summary — these are self-selected signals of what they want to be known for
- Posts and articles they've written — people who write publicly have given you their thinking directly
- Mutual connections — do you know anyone who's worked with them?
What to do with it:
- Prepare one or two questions that are genuinely informed by their background: "You've spent a lot of time in [area] — how has that shaped how you think about [relevant topic]?"
- If there's a shared connection, consider mentioning it briefly and naturally
- Note if they've moved around a lot vs stayed at companies a long time — this sometimes signals something about the culture they work best in
Published work
Some interviewers have written articles, given talks, or been quoted in industry coverage. A 10-minute read of something they've published gives you their actual thinking rather than a summary of their career.
Search: "[name] [company]" on Google, filtered to the last two years. Check their LinkedIn for shared articles or posts.
If they've published something that connects to your background or the role, you have a natural opening: "I came across your piece on [topic] — that framing of [X] actually connects to something I ran into at my last role."
The company's about page and press coverage
If you can't find specific information about the interviewer, focus on the team and company context they're operating in. What has the company been working on? What's been in the news? That context informs the kind of candidate the interviewer is looking to find.
What not to do
Don't mention every piece of research — it can feel like surveillance rather than preparation. Reference what's relevant, naturally.
Don't look at personal social profiles — restrict your research to professional contexts (LinkedIn, published work, industry coverage). Anything beyond that crosses a line.
Don't force a connection — if you can't find a genuine shared reference point, don't manufacture one.
Connecting research to the interview
The best use of interviewer research is in the questions you ask. See questions to ask the interviewer — in particular, the questions that begin "I noticed you..." are the ones that demonstrate you've done background research. They require knowing something specific before you can ask them.
The night-before preparation checklist includes a 20-minute background research block that covers both company and interviewer research as a single step. The company culture research post (how to research company culture) covers the broader picture; this post handles the person.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it creepy to look up my interviewer before the meeting?
No — it's expected. Interviewers look at candidates' profiles. Candidates who look at interviewers' profiles are doing exactly what any prepared professional would do. The line is using what you find to be more prepared and ask better questions, not to make the interviewer feel surveilled.
What if I can't find anything about my interviewer?
That's fine. Research the role and company more deeply instead. The interviewer's background is supplementary context — it's useful when available, but the core preparation (your stories, the company's context, strong questions to ask) doesn't depend on it.
Should I mention that I looked at their LinkedIn profile?
You can reference what you found naturally — "I noticed you worked at [company] before this" is a normal thing to say. You don't need to announce "I looked you up" — that's implied. The signal of preparation comes from the quality of your questions and references, not from disclosing your research process.
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