Interviewing? Come bearing gifts

"12 hours studying the company and market".

For all but new job hunters, you should have a decent grasp of the market you work in already.

For some type of work, it's a bit different - for web work, you may know the web scene pretty well, but nothing about the insurance industry. If you're going for a web job at an insurance company, getting familiar with the industry some will help a bit, but probably not too much during an initial interview.

I had one case where I knew more about the industry the interviewing company was in than the person interviewing me, and I had to bite my tongue and not correct him when misstatements were made. In other cases, there was little I could glean from the company about what they actually did, so it was hard to research too much, and my assumptions ended up being wrong. I'd tried, and they appreciated it, but I didn't actually know much about that industry (got the job anyway). Maybe just because I'd tried that swayed the decision? Dunno...

I thought this was going to be about actual 'gifts'.

I haven't interviewed for a traditional job in a long time, but I sometimes used to bring something with me - milk and cookies, brownies, flavored popcorn, etc - as a bit of an icebreaker. I didn't always do it, but it helped to keep things a bit more casual, sometimes gave the others in the group something to snack on while a couple others of us would have a discussion, and what not.

In one case, I brought some milk and cookies to a smaller company, and it happened to be the owner's birthday. He was pleased as punch. :)

It's a lot of work to spend 12 hours researching a potential company, especially if you're applying to multiple positions. But I guess whoever is hiring you will know that you're committed and passionate about the position and company.