The Reverse Brief: What to Know About Each Interviewer Before You Meet Them

Why Interviewer Research Gives You an Edge

Most candidates research the company but ignore the people who will actually be sitting across the table. This is a missed opportunity. Understanding your interviewer's background, expertise, and likely priorities allows you to select the right stories, use language that resonates with their experience, and build genuine rapport. A hiring manager with an engineering background evaluates differently than one with a business background. A peer interviewer is looking for collaboration fit. An executive is looking for strategic alignment. Your answers should adjust accordingly.

Finding Your Interviewers

The first step is getting the names. Most companies share the interview schedule in advance. If they do not, ask. Send the recruiter a brief email: "Could you share the names and roles of the people I will be meeting with? I want to make sure I am prepared for each conversation." This is a professional and expected request. If the recruiter will not share names, you can still research the likely interviewers by looking at the team on LinkedIn.

The LinkedIn Research Protocol

For each interviewer, spend 5-7 minutes on their LinkedIn profile gathering the following:

Career Trajectory

Where did they work before this company? How long have they been in their current role? Did they rise through the ranks internally or were they hired from outside? An internal promotion suggests they value loyalty and institutional knowledge. An external hire suggests they were brought in to change something. Someone who has been in the role for 6 months has different priorities than someone who has been there for 5 years.

Expertise and Interests

What do they post about or share on LinkedIn? Have they written articles? Do they engage with content about leadership, technology, industry trends, or culture? This reveals what they care about professionally. If your interviewer recently shared an article about data-driven decision making, weaving data into your stories will resonate more than it otherwise would.

Education and Certifications

Shared educational backgrounds create instant connection points. If you attended the same university, took similar certifications, or studied the same field, note it. Do not force these connections ("I see we both went to State University!"), but if it comes up naturally, it builds rapport.

Mutual Connections

Check if you share any LinkedIn connections. A mutual connection can provide insider information about the interviewer's communication style, what they look for in candidates, or even specific questions they tend to ask. Reach out to mutual connections only if you have a genuine relationship with them.

Beyond LinkedIn

For senior leaders and executives, check these additional sources:

• Company website: Leadership pages often include bios and sometimes video introductions.
• Conference talks: Search YouTube or industry conference archives for talks or panel appearances. Watching someone speak for 10 minutes tells you more about their communication style than any written profile.
• Published writing: Medium, industry publications, or company blogs. If your interviewer wrote an article about their management philosophy, you are reading their instruction manual for how to impress them.
• Podcasts: Many leaders appear on industry podcasts. These are goldmines because people are more candid in conversation than in polished articles.

Building an Interviewer Brief

For each interviewer, create a brief with the following sections:

1. Name and role: Their title and likely relationship to the open position (hiring manager, peer, skip-level, cross-functional stakeholder).
2. Background summary: 2-3 sentences about their career path and expertise.
3. Likely evaluation focus: Based on their role, what are they probably assessing? A hiring manager evaluates day-to-day fit. A skip-level manager evaluates strategic thinking. A peer evaluates collaboration. An HR interviewer evaluates culture fit and values alignment.
4. Connection points: Shared experiences, interests, or background that could create rapport.
5. Tailored stories: Which 2-3 stories from your story bank are most relevant for this specific person?

Tailoring Answers to Different Interviewers

For the Hiring Manager

This person will manage you day-to-day. They want to know: Can you do the job? Will you make my life easier? Can I trust you with increasing responsibility? Emphasize execution, reliability, and the ability to work independently. Use stories that demonstrate you can take ownership and deliver without hand-holding.

For a Peer Interviewer

This person will work alongside you. They want to know: Will you be easy to collaborate with? Will you pull your weight? Will you make the team stronger? Emphasize teamwork, communication, and complementary skills. Show that you listen as much as you lead.

For a Senior Leader or Executive

This person is thinking about the bigger picture. They want to know: Do you understand the business? Can you grow into a larger role? Are you aligned with the company direction? Emphasize strategic thinking, business impact, and your vision for how the role contributes to broader goals.

For an HR or Culture Interviewer

This person is evaluating values alignment. They want to know: Do you fit our culture? Are you self-aware? Are there any red flags? Emphasize your values, how you handle conflict, and your genuine interest in the company mission. Be authentic rather than strategic.

The Ethics of Interviewer Research

There is an important line between preparation and overstepping. Researching publicly available professional information is expected and appreciated. Researching personal social media accounts, family details, or private information is inappropriate and will make both you and the interviewer uncomfortable if it surfaces. Stick to professional profiles and published content. The goal is to understand their professional perspective, not to create a dossier on their personal life.

When you reference your research in the interview, do so naturally: "I noticed your team recently launched X" is fine. "I read every article you have ever written" is not. The best research is invisible; it shapes your approach without being explicitly mentioned.