'What Do You Know About Our Company?' Answer: A 15-Minute Research Routine

The answer to "what do you know about our company" should take about a minute, cover what the company does and for whom, one or two recent things it has done, and one specific reason that connects to you, and it should come from fifteen minutes of research that most candidates skip. Interviewers ask because it separates people who want this job from people who want a job. It pairs with why do you want to work here, and the research also feeds the questions you ask the interviewer. This page explains what the interviewer is really asking, gives a structure that works, three sample answers of forty to eighty words to adapt, the mistakes that sink the answer, and a ten-minute practice routine.

What the interviewer is asking

Whether you prepared, whether you understand the business well enough to be useful quickly, and whether your reasons for being there are specific. They are not testing recall of the founding year. A candidate who can say what the company sells, to whom, what changed recently and why that matters to the role has shown more judgment than one who recites the About page. Interviewers also notice when candidates get something wrong, so accuracy beats volume.

A structure that works

1. The fifteen-minute routine: the homepage and product pages (what they sell, to whom), the news or blog page (two recent items), the job posting (what this team is for), one outside source such as a news search or reviews (how others see them), and the interviewer on LinkedIn if you know the name.
2. Lead with the business in one or two sentences.
3. Add two recent specifics: a launch, an expansion, a result, a hire.
4. Connect one to you: why it matters for this role or why it drew you.
5. Offer a question if there is a natural one.

Three sample answers

Product company

You make scheduling software for small clinics, and from your pricing page it looks like most customers are practices with under twenty staff. Two things caught my eye: the patient-reminder feature you launched in the spring, and the partnership with the dental association announced last month. The reminder feature matters to me because reducing no-shows was half my job at the clinic I came from.

Service business

You run three regional distribution centres serving independent grocers, and the recent coverage of your cold-chain expansion suggests fresh produce is becoming a bigger part of the mix. That is relevant to this role because the posting emphasizes temperature compliance, which I handled at my last warehouse. I would be curious how the expansion is changing the inventory systems.

Large employer

You are the second-largest hospital system in the region, and this role sits in the new outpatient centre that opened in the autumn. I read the system's most recent community report and noticed the emphasis on reducing readmissions, which is exactly where care coordination roles like this one make a difference. I would like to hear how the outpatient centre fits into that goal.

Mistakes that sink the answer

• Reciting the About page or the founding year.
• Getting a fact wrong; check anything you are unsure of or leave it out.
• Flattery with no substance.
• Knowing the company but not the team or the role.
• Going past ninety seconds.

A ten-minute practice routine

1. Run the fifteen-minute routine the night before and write five bullet points.
2. Pick two recent specifics and one connection to you.
3. Say the answer aloud in under a minute.
4. Answer it in a mock interview with the job description loaded and compare with the structured answer.
5. Write one question that follows naturally from what you learned.

Where CoPilot Interview fits

CoPilot Interview is an AI interview assistant whose browser demo at /try lets you answer this question aloud and compare your answer with a structured one, free and with no signup, and whose free AI mock interview asks it in the context of your résumé and the job description and scores your spoken answer out of ten. The free plan gives 15 minutes a day of live help in sessions of up to 15 minutes, with AI mock interviews included. Practice is the use nobody objects to; if you consider live help in a real interview, follow your employer's rules.

Disclosure: CoPilot Interview is our product, so weigh what we say about it accordingly.

Frequently asked questions

How do you answer 'what do you know about our company'?

In about a minute: what the company does and for whom, two recent specifics, and one connection to you, from fifteen minutes of research the night before.

What should I research before an interview?

The homepage and product pages, the news or blog page, the job posting, one outside source and, if you know the name, the interviewer's profile.

What if the company is small and has little online?

Say what you found, ask good questions about the rest, and show you understand the kind of business it is.

How long should the answer be?

Sixty to ninety seconds at most.