Email/Call Potential Employer Prior to Interview?

I've been doing some research for an upcoming phone interview I've got on Thursday, and I've tracked down the names as well as the resumes of the guys who will be interviewing me. One of them has a consulting business and website on the side, where he pretty much gave me a goldmine of information on how the department I'd be working in operates, what challenges they are having, what technology they are using and hoping to use, etc.

I'd like to email this guys, 1) because I'm still curious about how my potential position would situate itself compared to my current position and 2) because it shows that I'm passionate about this stuff and can do my research.

Is this unprofessional, creepy, or just not a good idea?

BTW: I don't intend on asking his many questions, just curious what software the company is using, how big the department is and its structure, if they hire many out-of-state applicants, how quickly they'd want a potential candidate to start, that kind of thing.

As a guy who interviews candiates, I'd say no.

E-mail to confirm the time, and tell them that you are looking forward to the interview.

Ask the questions during the interview- as there should be a time when you get to do that. The way we do it, we would note both the points as well as the questions- that you would get credit for knowing the company, and wanting to know more about where you would fit.

Keep the questions to a person-person basis, not e-mails.

As I see it.

Sorry, I should have stated that this is a phone interview and I've never faired well in phone interviews. I'm generally a curious and casual guy who asks good questions, but was never any good at answering typical HR "tell me about a time when" type questions.

Listen to alfadriver. Make a list of your questions and make sure they get answered during the interview. Phone interview or in-person, same protocol.

You sound prepared, so you should do well!

I'd say no. The point of the interview is to get that kind of information - don't try to end-run the interviewers. I've never been great at phone interviews either, but I think the trick is to write down all the questions you want to ask in advance, and have that sheet right in front of you during.

Following up after is a good way to show you're interested and have done your homework, so if you don't get to anything during, I would say save your emails for after the interview.

I'm no HR expert. However, MY OPINION matches the above HR expert and don't let on that you have been cyber-stalking them. Keep that knowledge in your head and use it in negotiations. You can see how they think. You can use it to show how you can solve the problems they think they have. It's like having a copy of the last semester's test. You do that, right?

I wouldn't. I would save that for the interview. Knowing that much already should impress them.

I'm generally a curious and casual guy who asks good questions, but was never any good at answering typical HR "tell me about a time when" type questions.

I've walked out on interviews like that. Anybody that that lazy can't be trusted to make an an honest assessment of your qualifications.

I wouldn't call before. Just ask the questions during the interview. Also if you are calling them, they might be unprepared or it is a bad time. They have time slotted for the phone interview and are expecting it then. Imagine if a company you have an interview with Thursday called you this afternoon to chat.

Ok, no email. Got it.

I think I'm going to approach the interview with a "here is what i want to say" attitude, if they ask me dumb HR canned questions, I'll more or less prepare for them and also be prepared to say what I need to say to portray the experience I've got.

In the past, I've been caught off guard by not having enough examples of projects with successes and failures to be able to "flow", and I ended up repeating myself a bunch of times.

I wouldn't email them early and admit to the stalking but I would bring it up during the interview. Something like " during my research it seemed like you may have XXX problems....luckily i have skills in YYY that will let me research and come up with a solution. The solution is is miata."

Anytime they ask you a stupid HR type question, just reply "Miata" then refuse to elaborate.

More and more interviews today, especially from large companies, only ask scripted "canned" questions. They do this to be "fair," and keep the lawyers happy.
Most interviewers hate the questions too, they don't learn much from them. Think of the questions you would want to ask if you were doing the interview. When you get to the "Do you have any questions? " or " Is there anything that you would like to add? " part of the interview, answer the questions that they would like to, but cannot, ask. Pay attention during the interview, they will often lead you to what they want to hear.

The place I'm working at now does this: After the initial phone interview, they give you data sets in Excel spreadsheets and some basic questions. You analyze the data and make a powerpoint presentation and present it to them for the "interview" in front about about 10 of the other employees. It should be like you were presenting to a client. Then you answer questions on the data set and your analysis, and a few general questions, not too HR'ey. It's pretty thorough and gets rid of a lot of riff-raff, I imagine. I loaded their data up in SQL Server so I could throw some big iron at it and not have to mess with vlookup() crap.

PHeller wrote: Sorry, I should have stated that this is a phone interview and I've never faired well in phone interviews. I'm generally a curious and casual guy who asks good questions, but was never any good at answering typical HR "tell me about a time when" type questions.

That's all I do- I'm a first screen before face to face interviews.

Well technically I already got the screening call with HR. I assume there would be another interview after this one as I'm a out-of-state candidate.

In reply to PHeller:

I do formal interviews over the phone, is what I mean. For some, it will lead to an local interview, others to a job. It's just how we hire for the jobs that I interview for.

For someone like you, if you passed a screening interview, we'd pay for you to come to Dearborn for a different set of interviews- more to find the right place. Bear in mind, we spread a pretty massive swath of needs- from finance to virtually all kinds of engineering you can think of.

PHeller wrote: Sorry, I should have stated that this is a phone interview and I've never faired well in phone interviews. I'm generally a curious and casual guy who asks good questions, but was never any good at answering typical HR "tell me about a time when" type questions.

Here are three quick tips for phone interviews.

First, make notes ahead of time about everything you want to cover in the interview. This includes your questions and any other information that you want to have handy. Spread it all out where you can see and reference it easily during the conversation. They can't see you. Use it to your advantage.

Second, stand up while you talk. When stand it opens up diaphragm and abdomen. You sound stronger and more authoritative. This may sound silly but it works.

Third, you won't have visual feedback to see how people are reacting to your answers. Be ready to ask something simple like, "Did that answer your question?" If the answer is yes then move on. If the answer is no, then follow-up right on the spot. You want them making their decision based on complete accurate information.

I hope this helps.

I'll be at work, so I may have to take some personal time to go to a park or something. Otherwise I'll be sitting in my car.

PHeller wrote: I'll be at work, so I may have to take some personal time to go to a park or something. Otherwise I'll be sitting in my car.

If you are in your car, you can still have a page of notes to reference.

One last thing.

Always send a thank you note or email to each interviewer. Only a small percentage of people ever do this. It is an easy way to stand out.

Phone Interview was interesting. No "typical" HR questions, everything related to the position. Some caught me off guard, some were difficult to answer quickly, and others allowed me to describe my skills and experience.

I came into my element though when I got to ask them questions. When were able to just talk about the work we do (and i do nearly identical work to what the position is for), I was able to really show them that I enjoy this stuff, I'm passionate about it, and I want to learn more.

I think I also impressed them when I said I could relocate in as quick as 4 weeks. It would be a fireball of a change, and I'd need to leave my wife to the packing, but I could do it.

In reply to PHeller:

Just out of curiosity, what do you think typical HR questions are?

I'd like to judge the questions that I'm have to ask. Our interview is mostly scripted.

Tell us about a time when you were given a special project, what challenges did you face and how did you solve them?

Tell us about your ideal work environment.

What type of people do you find it easy to work with? What type of people are difficult to work with?

First one for sure, the last two, not at all.

Actually, I'd avoid the last ones due to possible misunderstanding and how that may play out.

But they didn't do those? Or did they frame the questions so that it seemed like something else?

They didn't do those.

In most cases they said "this is what we do, do you have any experience with this, and if not, do you have similar experiences that you can relate to how we do this?"

So, how did it go?