How to research a company before applying

Research should help you decide whether to apply and what to ask if you get an interview. Check what the company does, why the role exists and where the work happens. Keep verified facts separate from your reading of them. A polished careers page tells you what the employer says; it does not show you what daily work is like.

Begin with your decision

Write the decision in one sentence:

Should I spend two hours tailoring an application for this role, and what must I verify before I do?

Then list your hard constraints and the two or three preferences that matter most: location, workload, working language, travel, contract type, decision authority or customer type.

This gives the research a stopping point. A source either answers one of your questions or it does not.

The University of Zurich advises applicants to judge whether an employer meets their workplace needs, not only whether they meet the employer’s requirements. Read its employer-choice guidance.

Use a source order

Start with the source closest to the claim:

1. Original job advert: tasks, reporting line, location, workload, language, contract and stated process.
2. Employer-owned sources: company site, careers pages, annual or impact reports, product documentation and dated announcements.
3. Official records: regulated registers or public filings where they answer a real question.
4. Independent reporting: recent coverage with named sources and clear dates.
5. Employee reviews and social posts: possible leads about what to ask, not verified descriptions of every team.

For a Swiss legal-entity check, the Central Business Names Index, Zefix, lists entities entered in the Commercial Register. The Swiss National Library notes that certified extracts and entries in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce are the legally binding records. Read the official research note and open Zefix.

Do not use a register entry to infer culture, financial health or that a vacancy is genuine. It answers a narrower question about the entity.

Copy the employer-research worksheet

EMPLOYER RESEARCH
Employer and official domain:
Role and original advert:
Research date:
Decision deadline:

MY CRITERIA
Hard constraints:
Strong preferences:
Reasons to stop early:

WHAT I FOUND
Question | Fact | Source and date | My interpretation | Unknown / next check

What does the organisation sell or deliver?
Why does this role appear to exist?
Where is the work physically based?
What does “remote” or “hybrid” mean here?
Which languages are explicitly required?
Who would this role work with and report to?
What changes or risks affect this team?
What does the employer say about the process?

DECISION
[ ] Apply now
[ ] Ask a question first
[ ] Watch the employer, but no suitable verified vacancy
[ ] Do not pursue

Reason:
Questions to verify in an interview:

Worked example: facts, interpretation and unknowns

The company, role and sources below are fictional.

Question	Fact	Interpretation	Unknown
Why is the role open?	The advert calls it a “newly created role” and names a new service line	The team may still be defining responsibilities	Budget, headcount plan and who previously did the work
Where is the work?	The advert says Bern and “up to two remote days per week”	The role is hybrid, not location-independent	Whether fixed team days apply
What will matter first?	The advert names supplier onboarding and a June launch	Early work may be operational and deadline-heavy	Which systems and suppliers are already selected
Is the culture collaborative?	The careers page uses the word “collaborative”	This is an employer claim, not observed working behaviour	How the team makes decisions when functions disagree

Do not turn this into the claim “the company has a collaborative culture.” Turn it into an interview question:

The advert brings procurement, operations and customer support into the launch. Can you give me an example of a recent decision that involved those three groups, and who made the final call?

Check the vacancy itself

Prefer the advert on the employer’s site. Save its URL, any publication or closing date, and the date you checked it. If a job board and employer page disagree, follow the employer’s application instructions. A missing employer page does not prove fraud or expiry, but you should verify the role before sending personal information.

Keep possible employers separate from verified vacancies. A company may be interesting even when it has no current opening; that does not justify writing as though one exists.

Research the work, not just the brand

Company-level research cannot answer every question about a team. One employer may have teams with different managers, tools, languages and working arrangements. Look for evidence about the business unit, location and role.

Useful areas to check:

• Customers, products or public services connected to the role.
• The team or function named in the advert.
• Recent changes that affect the work, with dates.
• Office location and any stated hybrid arrangement.
• Public responsibilities, licences or standards relevant to the role.
• What the employer asks candidates to submit and how it communicates.

The Swiss public employment service advises candidates to learn about an employer’s sector, products or services, market position, objectives and organisation before an interview. See its application and interview guidance. Use those points to guide your research; you do not need to memorise a company profile.

Know when to stop

End the first pass after 20–30 minutes if you can answer these questions:

• Does the role meet my hard constraints?
• Do I understand the work well enough to tailor an application?
• Is there a credible original source and application route?
• What are the two most important unknowns?
• Is the likely value of applying worth the next hour of work?

Spend longer on a senior, regulated or unusually opaque role. Stop when a hard constraint fails or the employer asks for inappropriate information before establishing a credible process.

Common mistakes

• Copying an “About us” paragraph into a motivation letter.
• Treating employer values as observed culture.
• Treating one anonymous review as representative.
• Confusing a Swiss office or headquarters with the role’s work location.
• Assuming an English advert removes other language requirements.
• Collecting facts without connecting them to a decision.
• Spending hours researching before checking basic constraints.
• Letting an AI answer replace the underlying source.

Employer-research check

• ✓I started from the original advert and official domain
• ✓Each material fact has a source and date
• ✓Employer claims, independent evidence and my interpretation are separate
• ✓The role's physical location and remote eligibility are not conflated
• ✓I recorded explicit language requirements and left unknowns unknown
• ✓I know which questions could change my decision
• ✓My conclusion is apply, ask, watch or stop—not a vague company summary

Turn the result into a concise application with the Swiss motivation-letter guide, or put the unresolved questions into your interview worksheet.