Are You Talking to the Right People? - Informational Interviewing

Informational interviewing is a wonderful way to learn more about this pathway opening up in front of you. I ask people, “Now would you buy a thousand dollar business suite without trying it on first, to see if you like it, if it’s the right color or if it even fits?” I would guess probably not unless you have so much money that it doesn’t matter to you if you waist it. But if you are like most of us before you hand over that kind of money you want to make sure it’s going to be something you are going to be happy with. Well why wouldn’t you want to do the same thing with how you are going to make a living. Don’t you want to know, without question, that you’re going to enjoy this thing at which you’re going to be spending over 50% of your waking day… maybe more? Here’s my point. If you spend hours, maybe days in finding the outfit that makes you feel like a million bucks. Don’t you owe it to yourself to take the time to really get a feel for what this new career is all about? How does this career look on you? Does this profession make you feel like a million bucks?

You want to talk with people who are doing the kind of work you are interested in doing.

This is how you would go about the information interview process.

First, create a list of people who would actually do the kind of work you are interested in. Ask your friends or relatives if they know anyone who is in this field or does something similar. You stand a much better chance meeting and talking with them if you use their name as a referral. Such as,

“Hi my name is Kathy Smith and Carol Jones suggested I give you a call. She told me you’re in (the field you are interested in). I am very interested in learning more about this field. I’m not sure if it would be a good fit for me, that’s why (Carol) suggested that I contact you. She thought you would be a good source of information and you could give me a better understanding about the opportunities in this area. I was hoping that I might make an appointment with you and spend twenty minutes to find out more about what you do?”

If you are a job seeker and you specifically know what kind of career field you are looking for and just want to meet people who might be able to assist you in connecting with decision makers consider this approach. One thing I would like to caution you about. The person you want to conduct an informational interview may say something like, “Sorry, we are not hiring right now” and dismiss the meeting. So you want to be careful to share with them you are exploring option within the career field and you would value their opinion. This phone or email introduction might look like this:

“Hi my name is Kathy Smith and Carol Jones suggested I give you a call. She told me you’re in (the field you are interested in). I am very interested in learning more about options in this field, that’s why (Carol) suggested that I contact you. She thought you would be a good source of information and you could give me a better understanding about the opportunities in this area. I’m not asking if you’re hiring. Rather, I would enjoy the opportunity to meet you and I would truly value your opinion. I was hoping that I might make an appointment with you and spend twenty minutes to find out more about what you do and get your insight on the industry?”

If you are sheepish about calling up strangers and asking for a help, I suggest you take one of the above paragraphs and use it as your script - type it out on a piece of paper in large bold font so that its easy to read. Of course exchange you name and the name of your friend. Then practice it over and over out load… it makes a huge difference from just saying in your mind. If I were to pick a number I would say thirty times, because when giving a speech to an audience, professional speakers are coached to practice their new bit thirty times before they present it when it really matters.

If you don’t get names from friends or family, don’t… I repeat … don’t skip the informational interview process. Find someone to talk with. You can look in the Yellow pages or here’s something I always recommend you try. When you don’t know anybody who knows somebody you want to talk to I suggest you call a local Chamber of Commerce (three or four in your area for that matter) and let them know you want to do some networking. You can tell them you want to interview someone in your field of interest. Sometimes, they might invite you to attend a networking meeting, which is great. If they extend this invitation, I would strongly suggest you try to attend. But due to the nature of Chambers being attended by business owners, they may not invite you to the meeting. Don’t be offended; simply ask if they might recommend anyone who is a member that you might be able to connect with. More times than not they will help you and give you a name of a member and contact information. If you are lucky and get invited to a meeting, don’t hesitate to call this person in advance and tell they were recommended by the Chamber and would you be willing to meet them at the next Chamber meeting? I would not suggest you attempt to interview this person at the meeting, its best to just build a foundation in your new relationship then ask for a second meeting.

Once you have scheduled an appointment you want to prepare questions that you will want to cover. Because you want to be able to hit your pressing concerns you will want to write your questions down in a notebook so you don’t forget any of them. I have prepared a list of questions you might want to consider using. However, this is only a guideline – if you are meeting for only 20 minutes you may realistically have time for only four or five questions. So think this through carefully.

1. Tell me about your role with this organization.
2. Can you share with me some of the kind of projects / responsibilities you have?
3. Tell me about how you decided to get into XYZ field.
4. What do you feel were some key choices along your career path that has brought you to this point in your career field?
5. What are some of the most surprising things you find in this line of work?
6. What are some insights you have for the future of this field?

This is where you might give the person a 30-second overview of your background then ask something like …

7. For someone with my history, what might be some opportunities that you might see as a good fit?
8. What would be important for me to consider as I explore this field?
9. What are things you think I should invest my time and / money in developing myself a career in this field.
10. What are things I should not waist my time or money on?

Although all these questions are good ones for you to fold into your own collection, the one you do not want to leave the interview without is the following. This is the most important question to ask.

11. Do you know anyone else with whom I should talk that does this kind or work or something similar?

This is the most important question to ask because you want to talk to a number of people, the more the better.

Here’s a hint on establishing and building good report with the person you are interviewing. I know this interview is ultimately to help you get a better understanding of the career field. But when you are doing the interview, make the interview all about them. I now refer to this as “Brown noise 101”. It sounds stuffy, but it’s really very effective. Your conversation doesn’t want to come off like it’s all about you, at all; you don’t want to appear selfish, “I want to do xyz, what can you do to help me?” and here’s why. Most people are simply put off by people who seem to be me, me, me. Rather, people love to talk about themselves, it makes them feel important, they like to talk about their achievements; sharing their vision just makes them feel good. So, I highly recommend you let them feel good. If you can approach this dialog from the point of view, “Wow, I really think what you are doing is great. I want to be more like you”. You give them a bit of a taste of celebrity. And the more you put them in the spotlight, the more they will tell you about who they are, what they do and how they did it. Plus, they will become more of a champion for you. They are more willing to help you in other ways. When you ask for a referral, they are feeling so good about you because you make them feel so good about themselves they will be happy to give the names of other people you should talk to. Why, they might even pick up the phone and call them and tell that person, they want them to meet you. It happens all the time. The miracles begin to fall into your lap.