Thursday | February 09, 2012
Informational Interviewing – How?
| Rate Center | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Today's Average Rates Across the Country* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
By
Peter Vogt
21 June 2005
Summary
- Figure out whom you want to talk to.
- Write questions that will help you learn about potential careers.
- The time and effort could pay off big in the future.
Second in a two-part series
Several years ago, a graduate student who was pursuing a master’s degree in counseling set up an informal meeting with the director of career services at a local college. The student was intrigued by college career counseling but didn’t know a whole lot about it.
He certainly did after the meeting though! What began as a 20-minute get-together quickly turned into a 90-minute question-and-answer discussion between the two men. And the student left knowing that college career counseling was the field for him.
That student was me, and as I and many others have discovered, informational interviewing is one of the best ways to learn about careers that interest you as well as careers you’ve never thought about before.
We discussed the many benefits of informational interviewing in the first part of this series. But how do you actually set up and then conduct one? As it turns out, you’ll be able to rely a great deal on your instincts and common sense.
The first thing you need to figure out, of course, is who you want to talk to. The possibilities here are limited only by your imagination. You might consider approaching:
- Family members and friends
- Your professors
- A campus career counselor
- Alumni/ae from your school
- Recruiters you meet at campus and local job fairs
- People you see in news articles or on TV
- People who belong to professional organizations with ties to the career that interests you
- People who are referred to you by any or all of the above.
Once you know who you’d like to talk to, you can approach him or her in a way that best fits your personality and style. Some students, for instance, prefer writing a letter or an email to introduce themselves and ask for an informational interview. Others would rather make a phone call.
Whichever approach you decide to use, be sure you’re specific in your request: You need only about 20 minutes of the person’s time, and you won’t be hitting the person up for a job or an internship. You’ll simply be asking him or her for information and advice — nothing more. This clarification is key. If the person feels as though you’ll be pressuring him or her for a job, your request for a meeting will likely be denied. But if the person understands that you’re simply trying to learn something, then more often than not your request will be granted. Why? In great part because most people are not only naturally helpful, but generally interested in sharing their expertise and insights with others, especially those who show genuine interest in them.
Once you have a meeting set up with an interviewee, it will be up to you to prepare for it and run it once it begins. That means coming up with a list of questions you’d like to ask. Again, let your natural curiosity and intuition rule here. What do you want this person to tell you about? If you’re like most college students, you’ll be interested in answers to questions like these:
- What do you actually do each day?
- What type of salaries do people in your field make?
- How did you get into this field?
- What do you like best and least about your career? Why?
- What advice do you have for someone like me who is considering this type of career?
As you ask your questions, feel free to jot down some notes if you’d like to. You might also want to write down any follow-up questions that pop into your head during the conversation so you can ask them either later in the meeting or in a follow-up letter, email or phone call.
Stick closely to the 20-minute time frame you asked for, unless your interviewee makes it very clear that he or she would like you to stay longer. At the end of your meeting, be sure to ask your interviewee for suggestions on other people you might talk to. That way, you can continually meet with knowledgeable people in the field to learn even more about the career you’re researching.
That’s informational interviewing, although you might want to top off each meeting with a quick thank-you note as well. Then you can think about setting up and conducting other informational interviews, knowing that your investment of time and effort will pay off in knowledge that will help you make more informed career decisions.
Tag Cloud
Financial help Center
Newsletter Sign Up
Enter to win a Young Money Career Package by signing up for our newletter.
Legal Articles…
[...]Get What’s Coming to You: Severance Packages Explained[...]…