[nickreese]

I'm in the process of hiring for our company / startup and you hit the nail on the head here. I'm amazed at the number of people who have done 0 research on us, yet tell us how impressed they are at what we've done.

My favorite line to follow up on these empty complements is: "Thanks for the kind words. What do you think we're doing that is unique? What would you do differently if you were in my shoes?"

In that past week, 2 of 8 interviews have had this empty praise. Neither of the 2 could provide a meaningful example of how what we're doing is truly unique... and it is in the job ad clearly spelled out. One of the 2 hadn't even been to our website.

Interactions like these make you want to put up huge filters to weed out the people using a "resume shotgun" interview process but in my experience the amount of effort you invest in hiring pays dividends once you do hire.

[cfusting]

Seriously? It's hard enough to find talented people. Why do you expect them to research and understand your company along with 100 others they are applying to?

Smart people will grasp your product once they get going; I'm more interested in their intelligence, skills, and experience. If your product is sufficiently complicated that a solid engineer might not understand it's market appeal three weeks in good luck selling it.

Sounds to me like you like it when people who interview flatter you with their understanding of your amazing invention.

[ryanwaggoner]

Applying to != interviewing at.

It's reasonable to not do in-depth research on every company you apply to during a job search (though some would argue that the smart applicant does exactly that and applies to far fewer jobs with a more personalized, targeted approach).

It's completely unreasonable to walk into an interview without having the foggiest idea of what the company does. This isn't complicated; take an hour or two before an interview to learn about the company, the competitors, and the space in general. Yeah, you might get hired by someone without doing that, but you're at a disadvantage against other applicants who understand that "talented" isn't enough.