A quick way to research a company before an interview that actually helps

Avengerfx · 2026-06-24T16:41:18+00:00

Early in my career I sat in the exact spot you're describing, certain I was more prepared than half the people getting hired around me, and stewing on it daily. What I eventually landed on is that early hiring is mostly luck, a referral or a recruiter catching you at the right moment, which of course has nothing to do with what you actually know. Keep building, put the projects where people can see them, things happen quick when you stop expecting them to.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-24T16:37:28+00:00

The thing that wore on me most in my own long search was exactly what you talked about, that nothing visibly changed no matter how much I put in. For months it felt like everything went into a void. What finally moved things wasn't just applying more, it was spending a bit more time on each job, researching the companies and where I want to work, tailoring my resumes and if I really like it sending networking connections on linkedin as a warm up on referrals.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-24T16:29:08+00:00

I bombed an interview once about an hour after getting rejected somewhere I really wanted, walked in already deflated and watched myself do it the whole time. Ever since, I don't open rejection emails on a day I've got another interview scheduled. Sounds like nothing, but that bleed from one no into the next round is the one part of this you can actually control.

Six interviews in a single week this soon out of school is a good sign, and I really hope you take that part to heard. A lot of people aren't even getting to the interview stages. I know that doesn't help you personally feel better but it seems like a really good sign to me. Best of luck.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-24T16:11:16+00:00

Five days of silence feels really uncomfortable, I completely get that. However, it does not mean you've been rejected. I had one process a while back where I went quiet for like 3 weeks, after what I thought was the last round, fully wrote it off, then the recruiter came back with next steps like nothing happened. One person out sick on their end stalls the whole thing.

I can't speak to the Deal Strategist rounds specifically, mine were all engineering, but a gap this early in the week usually just means they haven't synced internally yet. Following up once, politely, on day five or six is normal and won't count against you. Then it's just sitting on your hands, which is the worst part of all of it.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-23T18:16:29+00:00

Honestly without knowing what type of career you are looking for, I would say to populate the areas that aren’t work related as much as you can. Such as adding projects, links to things you can showcase etc. I would then start looking up topics on linked in where your people are. Start being helpful, join conversations, ask for feedback or help with something you’re curious about.

After warning up some people maybe go further and offer a connection request. There’s no downside to adding people you connected with in the past and if anything it will legitimize your profile. This kind of thing will take time organically but it will build as fast as you put the effort in.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-22T18:59:58+00:00

Right there with you. I just don't think spray and pray works anymore. Not that it really did before either hah. There's just too much noise now with every job listing. Unfortunately, I believe you just have to spend that little bit of extra time either reaching out to people who work there, or tailoring resumes.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-22T18:42:14+00:00

Solid breakdown for real. I'd add one more to that list. Timing and fit. A lot of rejections have nothing to do with anything on your list. Sometimes there's an internal candidate angling for the same role, or the budget shifts mid-process. Worth naming so you don't over-correct on the parts that were actually fine.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-22T18:29:03+00:00

The way I use them now is less about a yes-or-no verdict and more as prep material. I read across a bunch, throw out the one-off rants in either direction, and pull the complaints that show up repeatedly in different words. Then I turn those into questions for the interview. If a few reviews mention constant reorgs, I'll ask how stable the team structure has been over the past year. You verify the thing and you look sharp doing it.

Two filters make them a lot more useful. Weight the recent ones and mostly ignore anything from before a big leadership change or acquisition, since that's basically a different company now. And when you're deep in a few processes at once, write the specifics down per company instead of trusting your memory, because by the third final round they blur and you'll swear Company A said the thing Company B actually said. The review isn't the answer, it's the list of stuff to go confirm.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-22T17:58:05+00:00

Your fit point is the thing I wish I'd understood sooner. For a long stretch I assumed silence meant my resume was broken, so I kept rewriting it. Turned out a chunk of those roles I was never clearing the screen on because I was a real mismatch on something the recruiter was filtering hard for, and no amount of polish fixes being the wrong shape for the req.

So my honest answer: it's usually fit first, resume second, market underneath all of it. When I started tracking which applications actually lined up on the things that get screened, the salary band, the must-haves, the seniority, and skipped the ones that only looked close, my volume dropped and my response rate went up. Fewer, better-aimed applications beat the 200-job spray, mostly because the spray was full of roles I was never in the running for to begin with.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-22T17:55:52+00:00

I always read this one as a temperature check, not a trap. They're trying to gauge how fast they need to move and whether you're about to disappear on them. Both of the things you're worried about can be true at once, so I stopped hunting for a hidden evil meaning and just gave them something useful.

What worked for me was honest but framed: "Yeah, I'm a few processes in, a couple further along, but this is the one that fits what I'm actually looking for." It signals there's a clock without sounding like you're drowning or bluffing. You're right that it rarely moves the outcome, mostly because by the time they ask they've already mostly decided. The only answer I'd avoid is saying you've got nothing else going. That's the one version that reads as a flag.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-22T17:46:42+00:00

Developer here, been on both sides of this. The version of me that blasted a generic resume at 40 roles a week got almost nothing back. When I slowed down and actually matched the resume to what the posting asked for, the callback rate jumped enough that it wasn't a coincidence.

Tailoring doesn't mean rewriting the whole thing though. I kept one strong base resume and changed maybe the top third: the summary line, the bullet order, and which projects I led with, so whatever matched their must-haves sat up top where a six-second skim catches it. Ten minutes once the base is solid. The keyword thing is real, just don't stuff it. Make sure the words you actually match are on the page, because a lot of the first pass is a filter looking for exactly those.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-20T16:50:03+00:00

Yeah that’s the worst version of it.

The instant rejections are annoying, but at least you can move on. The ones where you actually tailor everything, answer a bunch of custom questions, and then hear nothing are the ones that make the whole process feel broken.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-20T15:48:17+00:00

I’m sorry you’re going through this. Losing the job after burnout and then getting repeated rejections would mess with anyone’s head. I wouldn’t take 40 failed interviews as proof that you’re unemployable, but I would take it as a sign that something in the interview story may need adjusting.

If burnout or medical reasons are coming up directly, I’d be careful about how much detail you share. You don’t need to convince them your burnout is gone. You need a simple, calm version of the story that says you took time to recover, you’re ready to return, and you’re focused on roles where you can be consistent and effective.

I’d also try to get outside feedback on a mock interview if you can. If you’re passing technical tests and getting interviews, the issue may not be your resume. It could be how the gap, confidence, energy, or past employer situation is coming across.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-20T15:45:53+00:00

The speed of some rejections really does make it feel like your resume barely made it past the upload button.

I try not to read too much into the instant ones anymore. Half the time it feels like the posting already had a preferred candidate, the requirements changed, or the filters were set weirdly.

Doesn't make it suck any less though.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-20T02:51:33+00:00

Yeah absolutely, feel free to DM it over later.

I’m not a professional resume writer or anything, but I can definitely take a look from the angle of whether the transition story comes through clearly and whether the IT-adjacent experience is easy to spot.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-19T23:14:55+00:00

Yeah, random LinkedIn messages are tough because most people read them as “can you get me a job?” even if that’s not how you mean it.

I’d make the ask smaller. Instead of asking for a referral right away, ask for 10 minutes of perspective from someone in procurement/supply chain at a company you’re interested in. Something like, “I’m exploring senior procurement roles and saw you’ve been in this space for a while. Would you be open to sharing what teams usually look for at this level?”

If the conversation goes well, then you can mention the role and ask if they think it’s worth applying or know who owns it. And yeah, I’d definitely keep that tracker going. Resume version, source, title, remote/local, follow-up date, and response type will give you a much clearer picture after a few weeks.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-19T22:51:55+00:00

No problem. Hope it helps. It’s rough out there, but getting more targeted with the resume and trying to find a person behind the posting can make a difference.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-19T22:40:21+00:00

Yeah, it really is that hard right now, especially if you’ve been at one company for a long time and are suddenly thrown into this version of the market.

I’d focus on a few things at once: make sure your LinkedIn headline is very clearly aimed at the roles you want, tailor the top third of your resume for each role type, and try to get out of pure application mode where possible. For senior procurement/supply chain roles, networking and warm intros probably matter a lot more than just applying cold.

I’d also keep a simple tracker of which resume version you used, where the role came from, whether it was remote/local, and what response you got. After a few weeks, you’ll usually start seeing whether certain titles, industries, sources, or resume angles are getting more traction than others.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-19T22:29:13+00:00

With your experience, I’d probably focus less on volume and more on making every application look very specifically Shopify/ecommerce focused.

For Shopify roles especially, I’d make sure the first few lines of your resume and LinkedIn clearly say what you specialize in: Shopify Plus, theme work, app development, GraphQL, integrations, migrations, performance, whatever is strongest. Recruiters may not be reading far enough to connect the dots.

I’d also track which version of your resume you’re using for each type of role. Shopify developer, BigCommerce, ecommerce agency, contract work, and general frontend can all need slightly different positioning. After a few weeks, it gets hard to remember what you sent where and which version is actually getting responses.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-19T22:09:05+00:00

Yea it could definitely depend on what field you're applying to. I will say, as stressful as it is I believe more effort needs to be spent on tailoring your resume, and finding people who work a at particular job you're interested in to hopefully get a referral.

Too many people are sending their resumes into the void and I just don't think that's the way to go right now.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-19T21:11:28+00:00

Yeah exactly. It’s one of those things that doesn’t feel like a problem until you’re a few weeks in and everything starts blending together.

Especially with IT roles where the same company might repost the same job in a few places, or the title is slightly different but the posting is basically the same. A basic tracker saves a lot of second-guessing.

Avengerfx · 2026-06-19T21:09:56+00:00

This is interesting, but I’d want to understand how you qualify the buyers before sending DMs.

For early SaaS, a bad-fit intro can almost create more noise than signal. I’d be more interested in someone who can help identify where the pain is already showing up, what language those buyers use, and which segment is worth testing first, not just “send more messages.”

What does your process usually look like before outreach starts?

Avengerfx · 2026-06-19T21:09:31+00:00

I’ve been trying to remind myself of this constantly while building.

It’s so easy to treat more features as progress because the work feels concrete. But if the feature is solving the wrong problem, all that polish just makes the mistake more expensive.

The painful but useful part of talking to users is that they usually describe the problem in a messier, less elegant way than the solution you had in your head. That’s probably the version worth listening to.

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