Everyone knows they've got to do it. The majority will spend time on it. But how many see value in it, other than to prove during interview that they've done a bit of research?
From my experience, I'd make an educated guess that's it's around 50/50. That's a high proportion of people who don't understand the benefit of doing some homework prior to an interview and therefore put themselves at a disadvantage in the recruitment process. If you fall in to this category, it's time to change!
Employers do of course want to know that the individual they're interviewing has looked through their website. It's the minimum expectation. Depending on the firm, their website may well provide nearly everything you need to know to get an impression of the firm from a potential employee's perspective. A detailed 'careers' section and a content rich 'news' feed are great sources of information. Many company websites don't provide such useful info however, and in these cases you'll need to look further afield.
When asked at interview what you know about the firm, very few interviewers want to hear just stats and facts, e.g; "I know the business was established in 1845 by Sir Joe Bloggs, and now has 42 offices in 25 countries across the EMEA region, with 2500 staff serving over 600 clients". They want to see an understanding of what the business actually does, their culture, how they engage with their customers and what they're trying to achieve. It's also reasonable to expect that if they've been in the press lately (trade press or mainstream) the interviewee may well be aware of it.
The key point here though, is that you might not actually be asked "what do you know about the business?". If all you've done to prepare is memorise the number of offices and staff they have, you're going to struggle to drop it in to conversation naturally and are therefore unlikely to leave the impression that this is a business you know much about and are genuinely interested to join.
Fortunately, other sources of information are easy to come by. A simple search of the employer name on Google, filtered to 'news' results may bring up some invaluable topical information about the business. Wikipedia might provide some useful data too. One of the best sources however is online trade publications e.g. in the UK, for a Law Firm visit: www.thelawyer.com, or for a Retail business: www.retail-week.com. All industries will have something similar (and if they don't - there's a good business venture!).
Finding topical news articles can create great opportunities to show your interest and understanding of the business, by asking questions such as: "I read that you're opening an office in Paris this month. Would this role have any involvement with the overseas offices?". This can set you apart from other interviewees and is very helpful to have in mind when you're asked in the interview if you have any questions.
If you're interviewing via a recruitment business, the other key source of information is your recruitment consultant. A good recruiter will be a goldmine of information, and will expect (rather than wait) to be involved in your preparations for interview by sharing their knowledge of the firm.
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