Prepare your meeting with the company
When you have scheduled a meeting with a company, you have reached a major milestone. This is the beginning of the preparation phase, where you can focus on getting ready for the meeting.
On this page you will find 4 tools for your preparation. They guide you on how to do research about the company, prepare your presentation, consider which tasks you want to solve and, not least, how to present your competencies in a concrete way.
Feel free to pick and choose from the tools and use what makes sense to you in your preparation for the meeting.
Bring a notebook to the meeting
Feel free to write your questions and points in a notebook instead of on your phone. It seems more professional and well-prepared to bring a notebook rather than sitting and looking at a phone in the meeting. Most people find this rather distracting.
Tool 1: Research about the company and contact person and prepare questions
| Time usage: | A couple of hours |
|---|---|
| Materials: | Your best research skills, a computer, and a notebook |
It is important to keep in mind that you are the one who initiated the meeting, which means that you should be prepared to ask relevant questions. The company should be the focus of the conversation. By knowing a lot about the company, you can create questions that reflect your knowledge. This ensures that you come across as serious, proactive, and competent.
A classic mistake that you shouldn't make is asking for information that you could easily find yourself through your research and that may be a bit irrelevant. For example, questions about the number of employees, who the CEO is or whether they have Christmas parties.
Instead, when you're doing your research, pay extra attention to the things that surprise or interest you - and write them down. This can serve as the foundation for the questions you prepare for the meeting.
In your research you can look into things such as
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The contact person's background
- What position, experience and education does the contact person have?
- Do you have any contacts in common on LinkedIn?
- Can you find anything interesting about the contact person by googling them?
- Is there anything you have in common or is there anything you're curious to know more about, such as the person’s career path?
The company itself
The company’s website and social media
- What story does the company tell about themselves?
- What does the company value?
- What background do they have and what development have they been through?
The company's current and historical situation
- Has there been any recent or historical news about the company or its employees?
- For example, has there been anything special to celebrate or anything particularly challenging?
- Has the company been in a difficult situation, where it would be interesting to ask how they handled it?
The company's goals, values, and vision
- Can you see how they work with their goals, values, and visions in practice?
The company's target audience
- Who is the company's primary target group?
- What are their current situation and challenges?
Different conditions in the industry
- What characterizes the industry in terms of competition, company size, values, target groups, employees, current challenges, news, etc.?
- Are there any commonalities or differences that would be interesting to explore during the meeting?
Download the guide to your research and preparation of questions
Sources of information
The sky's the limit when it comes to places you can find relevant information about the company. An obvious place to start is, of course, the company's own website and social media. You can also dive further into LinkedIn, for example, and find employees in both the company and the industry in general.
Another good place to look for information is in the news or simply through search engines. See if you can find mentions of the company or its employees - both positive and negative.
Trade associations and industry communities can also provide a lot of valuable information. There are many different associations, and to find relevant ones for your industry, you can search for 'Trade association + [the industry you're interested in]'. In Danish: ‘Brancheforening + [the industry you're interested in]’.
You can also find industry associations and communities on these websites
- Confederation of Danish Industry member associations. Can be accessed in English.
- Danish Commerce Federation's trade associations. Can be accessed in English.
- SME Denmark's industry communities
Tool 2: Prepare your presentation of yourself
| Time usage: | 20-45 minutes |
|---|---|
| Materials: | A notebook |
There is almost a 100% chance that you will be asked some variation of the question 'Tell me about yourself' during the meeting. Therefore, you need to be clear about what you want to highlight when answering this question.
A good answer can be built around this structure:
- Provide a brief summary of your resume
- Present 1-3 specific experiences or skills
- Show your motivation for meeting with the company.
Use your research about the company to frame your presentation and make it as relevant as possible - both in terms of what the company might need, but also what tasks you would like to solve for them.
Write down keywords in your notebook to have something to refer to if you get nervous during the meeting. And spend some time practicing your presentation and saying it out loud. By saying the words out loud, you can easily sense if your presentation sounds natural or if you need to make some adjustments.
3 examples of how to answer the question 'Tell us about yourself'
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If you are a recent graduate and would like to work in the public sector
Give a brief summary of your resume
"I have just finished my degree in public administration. Throughout my education, I have been particularly interested in social work, and especially how municipalities work with children with disabilities under the current conditions..."
Highlight 1-3 special experiences or competencies
"... in my master's thesis, I delved into the Copenhagen Model and interviewed 10 caseworkers, among others. This has given me a lot of knowledge about the caseworkers' work conditions and how some procedures can be optimized to support both the caseworkers and the citizens..."
Show your motivation for the meeting with the company
"... right now, I'm looking for an opportunity to use my skills and knowledge in a meaningful role, and that's one of the things I'd really like to talk to you about today. For example, I'm very interested in hearing about the possibilities of starting an internship with you..."
If you have 3 years of experience in social media and advertising
Give a brief summary of your resume
"It's been 3 years since I graduated with a degree in languages and culture. Since then, I have had two different jobs working with online branding, social media and advertising..."
Highlight 1-3 specific experiences or competencies
"...especially in my most recent job at [XX], I have developed my social media skills as I was given the opportunity to take full responsibility for their Instagram and Facebook profile. This has given me a lot of experience with what works and what doesn't when advertising on social media. For example, I experienced being the center of a shitstorm on Facebook..."
Show your motivation for the meeting with the company
"... that's also one of the things I'd really like to talk to you about today. Both how you work with your social media and how you handle it, both when things are going well and really badly..."
If you have years of experience as a business consultant but want to change direction
Give a brief summary of your resume
"I have 20 years of experience as a Business Consultant. I have always been very involved in project management, even though it has never been my official field, and I would now like to use my experience in the green transition..."
Highlight 1-3 specific experiences or competencies
"...over the years, I have gained a great deal of expertise in change management and organizational development. I would like to use this experience to work with companies that want to transform their business models and integrate sustainability into their strategies..."
Show your motivation for the meeting with the company
"... I've been really excited to meet you today, as I have a strong desire to change field and work with green transition and project management. And I've been excited to hear how you work with helping companies with green initiatives and sustainable business strategies..."
Download the guide to make a presentation of yourself
Tool 3: Prepare which tasks you would like to work with
| Time usage: | 15-30 minutes |
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| Materials: | A computer and a notebook |
If you don't already know what tasks you would like to work with at the company, it's a good idea figure that out. If there is an opportunity to get an internship in the company, you can come up with ideas yourself of what tasks you would like to work with.
Since internships are typically short-term, it's a good idea to think project-oriented when it comes to assignments. This means that the tasks are concrete and can be solved within 4 weeks - and that the tasks are not too broad for you to get in-depth. For example, it could be creating a strategy, a proposal for an action plan, a concrete analysis of a business process, graphic layout for a newsletter, etc.
You can see examples of tasks that other academics have solved during their internship on the page 'What should an internship give you' under the topic 'Examples of tasks'.
Download the template to map out the tasks you would like to work with in your internship
Tool 4: Prepare small competence pitches if needed
| Time usage: | 30 mins - 1,5 hours |
|---|---|
| Materials: | A computer and a notebook |
A final tool you can use in your preparation is what's called a competence pitch. You can use this pitch when you bring up your own experience and competencies during the interview with the company.
The competence pitch is a short pitch where you present a specific competence and relate it to the task you want to solve for the employer.
Through the pitch, you show how you will specifically solve the task, e.g. by mentioning your approach, method or experience. It is in this description that you stand out because you are being specific about what you have to offer.
The competence pitch is good to use if you e.g.
- don't have much experience
- are unsure how to communicate your own value to the company
- like to be well-prepared before the meeting
How to prepare a competence pitch
If you want to prepare a few pitches for your meeting, you can use some of the tasks you've enjoyed doing in the past as a starting point. Think about how you solved them and what difference it made. This is your foundation to build the pitch and talk about the tasks as something you will be doing for the company in the future.
The structure of a competence pitch
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"I can help you with..." Tell what difference you can make to the company
Start your sentence with 'I can help you to...' and describe the value of what you can do for the company. Base it on the outcome of the task you've enjoyed working with in the past.
Did your coworkers’ job satisfaction increase in well-being surveys? Did you reach new target groups? Did you sell more? Did your processes improve?
Use words that create concrete images in your recipient's mind and formulate the result as something that could happen in the company in the future.
"I can do it because..." Explain how you will make a difference for the company
Continue your sentence with 'I can do this because...' and explain what makes you capable of solving the task
Be specific when explaining what you bring to the table and how you will solve the task.
Think about your previous assignments in relation to what you actually did and use it as inspiration.
"This means that..." Repeat your message
Finish by repeating your message with the words 'This means that...'. Here you explain the message again, focusing on the value you create for the company.
Example of a competence pitch
"I can help you create more visibility and strengthen your position in the market. I can do this because I'm good at adapting and targeting both message and product to different audiences, I take control and make sure the strategy is on the right track. This means that I can create greater visibility around the brand and in that way attract new customers and generate additional sales."
This example shows how the competency pitch creates a valuable image of yourself and your way of working. This gives the company much more to work with than if you had said "I'm good at working with target groups and messages...".
Download the template to make a competence pitch
Ready for the meeting?
Once you've spent some time preparing, it's time to recharge and get yourself mentally ready for the meeting. For example, it's normal to feel nervous before the meeting - you have something at stake. Remember, the hardest part is over: the company has already agreed to meet with you, so they have an interest in talking to you.
But. "What if the company doesn't want to offer me an internship or job after all?"
No matter how much you've prepared, a job or internship magically appear if it's not the right match or if the company can't accommodate it right now.
Therefore, don't be disappointed if the meeting doesn't result in a concrete opportunity for collaboration. Instead, you can think about what you want to get from the meeting as a plan B. Can the contact person recommend other people you can reach out to? Can they provide valuable information about possible job openings elsewhere? Can they perhaps provide some feedback on your application material?