Job-hunting techniques - should we contact company employees for information

Question

Hi

First I can understand it is not programming related but you are welcome to Re-tag it as appropriate.

This question is purely targeted to those who are in a position to make hire or fire decisions. I am a bit confused about taking the following action.

I have the third and final interview with the senior management in a few days with a company in UK. Been told it is going to be kind of unformal chat with Big Boss(es). As we should do our home work about the organisation. While serching for company and its current and previous employees, I have been able to figure out some of the contacts (mainly email addresses for 3/4 developers). My Question is

Is it Ethical / Acceptable / right / Stupid thing to contact them and ask for information like:

• Reasons for working for that organisation?

• What are their Likes ?

• satisfaction rate for the work place ?

• Working culture (Democratic or
  bureaucrat) ?

• And specially some informationthe person
  who is going to be the interviewer ( have been invited to see at interview)

• and some other things

Other points : Firstly, Will these people reply me at all if I tell them, I am a candidate for a position I do not know any one in the organisation personally at all. I will honestly inform them about my sources of information during the interview if asked

Position applied for : Asp.Net / C# Developer

Answer 1

I wouldn't contact them under (any) circumstances. I'd feel really weird if a prospect emailed me before starting and certainly before an interview.

At the informal interview you could maybe ask to talk to a few of the developers. that i think would be ok to do but not email.

btw, this is way off topic and should not be part of this site.

Answer 2

Unethical? Not really. Stupid? Extremely.

Think about it this way, how much do you like strangers cold calling you? How much information would you give about your company to "some guy" that called up out of the blue.

Best case scenario, you might gleam a small iota of information that might help you in your interview.

Worst case scenario, you piss the person(s) off and they make it known to the people higher up the food chain.

That said, finding out as much information about a company as possible before an interview is pretty much good interviewing practice. Truthfully though, this can be done with a couple of google searches and some reading. Go through public tax files, SEC filings, news releases, investor analysis reports, etc... All you really need to show is that you understand the company and can show some initiative.

Answer 3

When I'm at the interview, especially if it's a third/final interview, then I might ask to talk with some of the other developers; I'd also kind of expect the manager or team leader who interviews me to suggest that of their own accord: because, shouldn't you want to meet the people you'll be working with? I doubt you should do it by email though.

Answer 4

If you even have to ask whether X is "ethical" to do then you probably shouldn't do X. The answer is subjective and you have no idea on what your potential employer's opinion on X is. Don't do it, esp. on your final interview.