Informational Interviews: Learning the Ins and Outs of your Career Path
Virtually every role, position, job, and industry is unique in its own way. While you may garner some information about your career path or a particular organization online, it is not always easy to know all that there is to know from the outside. There are certain intricacies to a job, an organization, and even an industry that only gets reserved for those within those circles - they have worn the shoes and have walked the path and will be in a better position to handhold a newbie through it all.
What are Informational Interviews?
Informational interviews are informal conversations you have with someone that is in a field, industry, organization, or position that is of interest to you. They serve as safe spaces where you can ask all the questions about a career path or an organization that you have on your mind. It is usually considered an effective research tool through which you get the most specific and current information about your chosen career pathway.
Why are Informational Interviews Necessary?
Informational interviews are useful for helping you find out more about the type of industry, career path, company, or role that you are interested in. Some of the many reasons why you should conduct as many informational interviews as possible as you prepare to enter into the world of work are;
Better Understanding: Informational interviews help you test the assumptions that you have formed regarding a particular industry, job, or career path. You might think you know all that there is to know about a given career path or industry. However, by talking to someone who is already in the industry you want to go into, your perspective will be broadened and you will gain more knowledge than you ever will from hearsay or a mere google search. You will get to find out about career paths you didn't know existed and get tips as well as insider knowledge about how to prepare for and land your first job.
Exposure: Informational interviews give you exposure. Through it, you will get to meet many industry professionals, give yourself the opportunity to make a great first impression, and build your professional network. It is a great way to get yourself known in the hidden job market and the visibility you will get from meeting from several industry professionals will increase your visibility with the industry or organization you hope to work in and put you straight on the shortlist for an interview or even a job.
Increased Confidence: The job search can be a daunting experience and will require some motivation here and there to keep you going. Waking up, dressing up smartly, and having a mission of meeting industry professionals regularly can do a lot of good to your esteem and confidence level. You send signals to your brain that you are doing good and on a mission to make your life better and before you know it, that thought will gradually materialize and you will be thankful for the hours and efforts you put in.
Steps for Conducting a Successful Informational Interview
Informational interviews embody many advantages. However, your approach to conducting informational interviews can either see you reap the many benefits that it embodies or remaining on the same spot (maybe even worse off than you were before the informational interview). Explained briefly below are seven steps to make informational interviews worth the while for you.
Prepare: At an informational interview, you will be asking the questions on your mind and looking to get answers. However, you do not want to come off as cold, laid back, and shallow. You want to be able to inspire whoever it is that you talk to and to make a great first impression. Hence, before you go into an informational interview, ensure you have done your research. You don’t have to know everything. But, you need to know enough to give off the message that you are proactive, enthusiastic, and excited about the industry, the field, and even the individual you are interviewing. Learn the vocabulary of the industry, know the key trends in the industry, know the big players and be generally familiar with the major details about the role, industry, or organization. You are going to be spending limited time with this person, so ask relevant questions, not questions whose answers you can easily get on Google.
Identify People to Interview: One of the most important parties to an informational interview is the interviewee (the industry professional you are looking to get answers from). In many cases, you may not know ideal interviewees from the get-go. Hence, you are going to have to identify and reach out to potential candidates for your interview. You can start out by asking everyone you already know (parents, siblings, friends, teachers, mentors, etc) if they know anyone in your field of interest and can refer you. You can also leverage your school’s alumni organization, speakers at conferences you attend, and even industry professionals you connect with on LinkedIn.
Prepare for the Interview: Before initiating contact with potential candidates, you should take time out to prepare for the interview. Develop a brief introduction of yourself as well as your hopes for the interview (a sort of elevator pitch). You should also prepare open-ended questions to ask during the interview.
Initiate Contact: When you have everything set, it is time to initiate contact with potential candidates. To initiate contact, you should contact the person either through email, by phone, or on LinkedIn. You should definitely mention how you got his/her name and ask whether it is a good time to talk for a minute or two. You should mention that you are looking for information and not a job and ask if you can schedule a 20 to 30-minute call or chat at the earliest convenience of your interviewee.
Conduct the Informational Interview: Your preparations are geared at making the D-day of the interview a success. Be sure to dress neatly and appropriately (as you will for a job interview) and also to arrive at the meeting venue on time (or maybe even a few minutes earlier). You should have your list of questions ready and positioned where you can see it or read from it during the interview. You are the driver of this interview so you should be prepared to direct it while allowing for an easy flow of conversation. Introduce yourself briefly and restate your objective for the interview (getting advice and not asking for a job). The conversation may get very interesting that you both may lose track of time. In such a situation, don’t just go with the flow. Draw your interviewee’s attention to the fact that you both are about exceeding your time and that you respect their time and will understand if they have other things to do or have somewhere else to be. If they say no and give you permission, you can continue the conversation. After the interview, do well to thank them for their time then ask if you can contact them again in the future with other questions. Now is also the time to ask for referrals or an introduction to other people in their circle that you can talk to. Please note that while you can take your resume along with you for an informational interview, the purpose is to get feedback on how you can improve it and not a way to ask for a job. However, your resume shouldn’t be the first thing you bring out. Try to establish rapport with the other person first. Also, make sure you take notes during the interview.
Follow Up with Gratitude: After the informational interview, do well to thank the person for their time either through email or a handwritten note. The thank-you note or email should simply describe how the person was helpful to you and state how his/her guidance led to a concrete outcome in your job search. Please note that asking for a favor immediately after an informational interview is wrong. However, if a couple of weeks or months later a job opens up at the person’s organization you send a short email or have a quick call to let the person know that you will be applying and that you will like to know if they have any advice on what to include in your resume or cover letter to stand out. Also, don’t ask them to put in a word for you. Just ask for advice on how to stand out from other applicants.
Stay in Touch: The purpose of doing informational interviews is to build strategic professional relationships and expand your network. It will be wrong to think of informational interviews as one-off meetings (they are not the end but a means to an end). Instead, think long-term about how you can cultivate your new professional connection and have that person in your corner for a long time. The best way to do this is to be helpful to the other person. You can forward links to relevant articles or even invite them to a conference or networking event. However, if there is a huge gap between you and the person in terms of age or professional experience, you can play the long game by simply keeping the person apprised of your progress.
Informational Interview Tips
Do enough background research before going into an informational interview (This way, you give off the impression of being credible and committed to moving into a new sector or landing a job in a given industry).
Explain your background and your reason for requesting the conversation briefly and confidently.
After the session, send a handwritten thank-you note to whoever you interviewed or had the conversation with.
Do not ask for favours (it is not a job interview). Instead, ask for advice on how to position yourself in the job market to land a job in your chosen field or industry.