"What do you know about us?" is rarely a quiz on revenue figures. Interviewers ask it to see whether you understand what the organisation does, what this role is for, and whether you have thought about fitting in. Good company research also protects you: it helps you spot fake offers, reality-check a startup, and ask questions that tell you whether you actually want the job.
This guide is about research for an interview you have already been called for. It sets out primary sources Indian candidates can open themselves, a timed 90-minute workflow, a one-page brief template, and ways to turn what you find into answers.
What you are trying to learn
Before opening a single website, decide what you need. Most interviews reward five kinds of understanding:
| Question | Why it matters in the interview | Best place to start |
|---|---|---|
| What does the company sell, and to whom? | Lets you link your skills to real customers and products | Official website, product pages, the product itself |
| What is this team responsible for? | Shapes your "why this role" answer | Job description, team or engineering blog |
| What is changing right now? | Gives you informed questions to ask | Press releases, stock exchange announcements, official blog |
| How does the company describe its culture and hiring? | Helps you prepare examples that match | Careers page, published values or principles |
| Is the employer genuine and stable enough for you? | Protects you before you share documents or resign | MCA master data, annual reports, filings |
Keep these questions visible while you research. Anything that doesn't answer one of them can wait.
Keep preparing
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1. The job description and careers page
Read the job description line by line and mark three things: the outcomes the role owns, the tools or skills named, and anything about location, shift or travel. Then read the company's careers page for how it describes its hiring process and values. Many companies now publish the types of interview rounds or the principles they assess. If they do, quote that wording in your notes, because it tells you what evidence to bring.
2. Annual reports, investor pages and stock exchange filings (listed companies)
Listed companies publish annual reports, results and material announcements on their investor-relations pages and through the exchanges. You can search filings on the BSE corporate announcements page and the NSE annual reports page.
For larger listed companies, look for the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR). Under a SEBI circular dated 10 May 2021, filing the BRSR became mandatory from financial year 2022-23 for the top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalisation. These reports often contain workforce tables a candidate rarely sees elsewhere. L&T's BRSR, for example, includes sections on employee and worker headcount, the turnover rate for permanent employees and workers, and training given to employees.
Use these numbers with care. Companies define "permanent" and "worker" differently, so compare a company with its own previous years rather than ranking it against others.
3. MCA master data (any registered company, including startups)
Private companies and startups don't file with stock exchanges, but every company registered in India appears in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs records. On the MCA portal, go to MCA Services, then View Company or LLP Master Data, and search by company name. That is the path described in an Indian Embassy guide to checking registered companies. The result helps you confirm the exact legal name, registration status and registered office. Check that the legal name matches what appears on your offer letter or appointment email. Detailed filed documents are a separate service on the portal, so check the current terms there.
4. Official blogs, documentation and the product itself
Engineering blogs, design blogs and developer documentation show how a company thinks about its work. If the product is available to you, use it for 15 minutes and note one thing that works well and one thing you would ask about. This first-hand observation is usually more useful in an interview than any statistic.
5. Secondary sources: news and review sites
Business news and employee review sites can point you to questions, but treat them as leads, not facts. A review is one person's experience at one time. If something worries you, turn it into a neutral question for the interviewer instead of repeating it as a claim.
A 90-minute research workflow
This timebox suits most first-round or second-round interviews. Add time for senior roles or final rounds.
| Step | Time | What to do | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Decode the role | 15 min | Mark outcomes, skills and constraints in the job description | 3 role priorities |
| 2. Read the company's own words | 20 min | About page, careers page, values, how they hire | 2-3 phrases worth reflecting in your examples |
| 3. Check what's changing | 20 min | Latest annual report or investor update, exchange announcements or official blog posts from the last 12 months | 2 recent developments, with dates |
| 4. Use the product or read the docs | 15 min | Try the product, or skim the public documentation | 1 observation and 1 question |
| 5. Write the brief | 20 min | Fill in the template below and map your stories | A one-page brief |
Total: 15 + 20 + 20 + 15 + 20 = 90 minutes.
One-page company brief template
Copy this into your notes app and fill it in for each interview:
COMPANY BRIEF — [Company legal name] — Interview date: [dd/mm/yyyy]
1. What they do (one sentence, my own words):
2. Who the customers are:
3. What this role/team owns (from the JD):
- Priority 1:
- Priority 2:
- Priority 3:
4. How they describe culture / hiring (exact phrases + source link):
5. Two recent developments (with date + source):
-
-
6. My product/document observation:
7. My matching stories (one per priority):
- Priority 1 → Story:
- Priority 2 → Story:
- Priority 3 → Story:
8. Questions I will ask (2-3):
9. Checks done: legal name matches offer/emails? Recruiter email on official domain? Role listed on official careers page?
Every fact in sections 4 and 5 should have a link next to it. If you can't find the source again, leave the fact out of your answers.
Turning research into answers
Research only helps if it changes what you say. Here is an illustrative example for a hypothetical candidate applying for a customer-support analyst role at a listed software company.
Generic answer: "Your company is a leader in the industry and has a great culture, so I want to join."
Research-based answer: "In your latest annual report you describe expanding support for small-business customers. I spent two years handling ticket queues for small retailers, and I cut repeat tickets by writing help articles for the five most common issues. I'd like to do similar work for your customers, and I'd want to understand how your team decides which issues become self-help content."
The second answer works because it (1) cites something the company itself published, (2) links it to a specific piece of the candidate's own experience, and (3) ends with a genuine question. For more ways to structure this answer, see our guide to answering "Why do you want to work here?".
Good questions that come out of research include:
- "Your careers page says you assess ownership. What does ownership look like for someone in their first six months in this team?"
- "The job description mentions [tool or process]. Is the team building it, or already running it at scale?"
- "I saw the announcement about [development, with month]. How does it change this team's priorities?"
Legitimacy checks before you share documents
Research also protects you from recruitment fraud. Pause if any of these happen:
- You are asked to pay a fee for an interview, training, a laptop or "processing".
- The recruiter writes from a personal email address or a domain that doesn't match the company's website.
- The role doesn't appear on the company's official careers page or job board.
- The legal name on the offer letter doesn't match MCA master data.
If you have lost money or shared bank details, report it on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal or call the national helpline 1930, which the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre lists for reporting cyber financial fraud.
Common mistakes
- Reciting numbers without a point. Quoting revenue or headcount doesn't show fit unless you connect it to the role.
- Using stale information. Date-stamp every fact in your brief. A product or leadership change from two years ago may no longer apply.
- Treating rumours as facts. Don't repeat review-site claims in the interview. Ask a neutral question instead.
- Researching people instead of the work. Looking up your interviewer's professional background is fine. Mentioning their personal social media is not.
- Over-preparing one company and neglecting your own stories. The brief is only half the job. You still need clear examples, so see our STAR method guide and the wider interview preparation guide.
Quick checklist
- Job description marked up: outcomes, skills, constraints
- Company's own description of culture and hiring copied with link
- Two dated developments from official sources
- Product or documentation observation noted
- One story mapped to each role priority
- Two or three questions written
- Legitimacy checks done (official listing, email domain, legal name)
Ninety focused minutes with primary sources beats a whole evening of scrolling. The goal isn't to know everything about the company. It's to know enough to show the interviewer why you, specifically, fit this role.