Do Your Research

It doesn't matter how much knowledge or experience you have about the position you are applying for if you don't have a clue who the company is or what they do. It is disastrous to enter into an interview and not be able to tell your interviewer what their company is about. How else are you going to tell them why you feel that you would be a good addition to their team?

A excellent way to investigate about a company is to look up their website. You can get all of the general information about a company, including the names of key people and their job titles. (There will be more on that in a minute) You should sift through most of their pages, including the pages that show samples of their work and/or products.

You can also look them up in the media files if there are any. Read the articles about them and soak in as much information as possible. Another thing that would be nice to do is to check out the area surrounding the company. It makes for a nice breaker during the interview and allows you can make a comment about a particular store or  place nearby.

A trickier way to get a little extra information about the company is to call them on the phone and ask general questions, without referring to yourself as a potential employee. Its a nice way to get the goods on upcoming promotions etc.