The Informational Interview – Career Series Part Ill

After our last article on Finding The Hidden Job Opportunities a lot of people were asking about what they should do when they actually land an informational interview
so I am going to dedicate this article to advice on what happens when you get the opportunity to talk with someone about their company or job. Here are some tips on how to make the most of an informational interview.

What is an informational interview?

An informational interview is a meeting to learn about the real-life experience of someone working in a field or company that interests you. It’s not a job interview, so it’s important to keep focused on getting information, not a job offer.

Be clear about your purpose

Before showing up to the interview, make sure that you are clear on what you want to learn from the person you will be speaking with. Are you going because you want to learn more about their role? Or is it more about the company or industry that you are interested in? What knowledge is going to be the most helpful for you when deciding on a new job or direction.

Don’t go in cold!

In order to ask good questions, do your research beforehand and draft your questions in advance. Make sure you have knowledge about the people you will be interviewing. Read their LinkedIn profiles to get an idea of their careers and things they are interested in via what they “like” or comment on. Do a Google search on their careers and see if they have made any major changes over time.

If you want to know more about the company, read the company website, try to understand the organizational structure and who the leaders are? Are they new? If, so what company did they come to? What are the products and services they produce? Are they globally located and where?

Finally, if you want to know more about an Industry, read more about the competition and the trends and developments in that industry. A useful resource for this is Google Trends.

People appreciate your ability to speak industry lingo and talk about what’s trending. Don’t assume they are up to date on what is happening outside of their company, because most people don’t have the time to network themselves! You will also come across as being more credible in the other person’s mind, when you can ask relevant and interesting questions.

Listen well

The main reason that most people want to do informational interviews is because ultimately they want to get a job somewhere. However, a great majority of people you will be speaking with usually don’t have a ready job for you. Instead it will be the people they know, that may know of a role. With this in mind, what is key is that the person you are speaking with likes you enough to refer you to someone else. At the end of the day, it’s a numbers game! The more people you speak with the more likely it is that you will find the right person at the right time.

Keep your introduction short

What people really hate is when they agree to meet you and then you only talk about yourself and what you are looking for. The informational interview is not the place to talk about your job search. It is an informational interview. You are there to learn from the person and get feed-back on how someone like yourself might get into a particular company and or industry. Be specific on what you want to know and ask for feed-back. People can’t help you unless they understand what you’re looking for.

Leave a positive impression

You want to provide people enough information about you to feel comfortable in opening their “little black book” of contacts in order to recommend you to others.

Here are some tips to ensure that you will leave a positive impression.

At the beginning of the interview, establish your relationship by revisiting how you were connected in the first place. Ideally, this person has already introduced you or perhaps you have a friend or colleague in common, so remind them. It’s a good idea to state at the outset that you’re interested in talking to 10 or 15 industry experts during your information gathering phase. That way, the person will recognize that you are looking for additional sources early on. If you wait until the end to ask for other referrals, they might be caught off guard. Don’t forget to ask about time constraints up front and at the end of the time allotted, say, “I want to respect your time, so please let me know when you need to go” would be a polite way of showing them you respect their time.

Prepare a list of questions

You don’t need to be an investigative journalist but preparing a list of questions will help the interview to go smoother.

Sample questions include:

• What is a typical day like in your job?
• What do you like most / least about this career?
• Is your job typical of others in this field?
• Are there related fields I might want to look into?
• Which firms do you think are your toughest competitors, and how do they differ from your company?
• What would you recommend I do at this point to get into this field?
• What are the future trends for this field?
• Is there anyone else you would recommend I talk to in this field?

It’s also okay to ask for advice on what you should do to position yourself for a job in the industry by asking a question such as, “Based on what you know about my background, what do you see as my weaknesses? And what would I need to do to allay the concerns of a potential hiring manager?”

How long should the meeting be?

Keep it short. Limit your initial interview to 20 – 30 minutes based on how the conversation is going. End the interview with stating any follow up actions you will take based on their recommendations.

Follow up

It is perfectly fine in today’s world to send an email thank you note. However, don’t wait longer than one week after the interview. Here you can express gratitude, describe how the person was helpful to you and follow-up with any promised material or references that you may have offered in the interview.

The ultimate goal of informational interviews

The ultimate goal of informational interviews is to make new professional connections and develop future champions for your job search. Consider ways that you can stay in touch by sending articles or links of interest and of course, when you get the new job, don’t forget to let them know. Finally, it has been my experience that “what goes around comes around”, so don’t forget this experience down the road, when you are the one contacted for an informational interview.

Your rocket50 career adviser, Marie

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