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Research a company before applying

Let your assistant prepare the company brief and match the role to your CV. Review the evidence, then practise the interview. Worked through on a live Mistral AI role.

By Evolc4 min read
A magnifying lens over an architectural office model and paper research cards.
Editorial illustration created with AI.

Give your assistant the original job advert, the company website and your CV. Ask it to prepare a short company brief, match the role to your actual experience and suggest interview questions. Spend your time checking the result and rehearsing your answers.

1. Get a company brief

Have the assistant summarize what the company sells, who buys it and what the role involves, with links to the company profile and original vacancy. Check the working arrangement and the parts of the job that matter to you.

2. Review the matches to your experience

Ask the assistant to match the main responsibilities to examples already in your CV. Review two strong matches. Correct anything it has overstated, and be clear about work you have not done.

The Mistral advert asks for

Lead executive workshops

My example: “I ran discovery sessions with a client’s operations leadership and turned them into a prioritised list of three use cases.”

The Mistral advert asks for

Own proofs of value

My example: “I scoped a six-week pilot, agreed the success measure up front and presented the result to the sponsor.” Only use this if it is true for you.

Ask about the work

What happens today?

“Could you walk me through a recent deployment, from the first workshop to production, and where this role would take over?”

Keep your examples concrete: what you did, who it helped and what happened. If you measured a result, include it. If you didn’t, describe the outcome without inventing a percentage.

3. Choose the questions you want answered

  1. 01

    Why is the role open?

    Ask: “Is this a new position or a replacement, and what would you want the person to take ownership of first?”

  2. 02

    What would a good first three months look like?

    Ask: “What would I have delivered by the end of month three, and who would help me get there?”

  3. 03

    What would make this work for you?

    Choose something you need to resolve: salary range, office days, travel, on-call work or the hiring process. Ask directly.

Ask for interview prep you can use

Prepare me for this interview

Prompt or example to use with your assistant

Help me prepare for [job advert URL] at [company website]. Use the company profile on Evolc and the original advert; browse the company website if you can. My CV is attached.

Return a short brief: what the company does, available revenue/profit trends with reporting years, and what this role owns. Link the sources and mark unavailable data.

Match the two most relevant responsibilities to real examples in my CV. Do not invent experience or results. Suggest three interview questions about the actual work, expectations and anything important missing from the advert.

Then interview me one question at a time. Help me make my answers concrete without adding claims I cannot support.

If you check accounts, note the legal entity and reporting year. An old filing won’t tell you what the team is like today. Use what you find to ask a specific question, then listen to the answer.

Try it now: choose a role on Evolc Jobs and give your assistant the original advert and your CV. The company profile in the directory can help you get your bearings.

Keep exploring

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