Why You Should Google Your Professional Contacts

Posted on 5/15/2013

It’s easy these days to find out pretty much anything about anyone you meet. Between Google search and social media sites, it’s easy to find out almost unlimited information about someone online, from their professional past to their favorite hobbies. That’s why today, it’s so crucial to do some research prior to meeting important people for the first time in a professional setting. Especially at an interview, important meeting or networking event, it’s essential to know the basics of who they are and what they’ve done before you arrive. However, how you use and refer to this information can either foster or ruin great rapport. While you don’t want to refer too frequently to background knowledge, you can use what you dig up to shape the conversation.

Here are some tips for using professional background research to build rapport:

Scan your contact’s major public profiles: Google search, Twitter, and LinkedIn. See if any other niche platforms come up under their name, and look at recent articles published about the company. Do they have a blog? Perhaps you can look over it briefly. You don’t need to do any intense digging- just make sure you spend a few minutes scanning so you’re updated.
Look into their hobbies, interests, and personal milestones that they may have mentioned on their public blog or Twitter. Don’t be the first to bring up this information, but if there is a lull in the conversation you can mention a common interest or casually bring up a topic you know they’ll have more to talk about. Or, use the information you’ve researched to ask a question about a topic on which they can elaborate.
Did your Google search reveal that your interviewer loves running on the weekends and has participated in many races? If they ask you what you like to do for fun, and you are pretty active, here’s a great place to mention how you love hiking or running on weekends – but don’t make it up if it isn’t true! Or, if your interviewer is into art, maybe you can mention a gallery you recently visited? The key is keeping the conversation natural, not forced.
When your interviewer asks if you have any questions for them at the end of the interview, you can use what you’ve learned to ask more specific questions about key projects that they may have worked on in the past that interest you.
Blog posts can reveal a lot about your contact’s stance on topics that they’re passionate about, and help you get a sense of what to avoid. For example, if you see that they’re opinionated about a certain political subject, perhaps you can steer clear of politics.
Check their company website, Twitter, Facebook and Google News for recent company news and announcements. Getting caught in the dark about major announcements or headlines won’t reflect favorably on you.

There are certain times you can directly mention content found online without sounding like a stalker. If a company announcement is public news, that’s fine to mention in person. If a colleague you are connected with on social media shares big news online (think an engagement, change of job, pregnancy), that’s alright to mention the next time you see her.

We put information online for others to read it. At the same time, it is still creepy if a professional contact seems like they know too much about you– even though you put the information out there in the first place. Using these tips, you’ll be able to seamlessly build rapport with other professionals without seeming like you’re trying too hard.

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