Why You Should Conduct an Informational Interview

I’ve seen first-hand how students who conduct informational interviews receive the following benefits:

• They gain insights into particular industries, companies and job leads and opportunities from the person they interview.
• They learn the finer details about majors and career paths.
• They get to meet new people or get to know acquaintances better who can provide career assistance.
• They get to improve their networking and communication skills.
• They get to improve their listening skills.
• They get to improve their interviewing skills.
• Their confidence levels increase.

It’s no wonder that according to many career experts, the most important career-related tool and strategy out there is the informational interview.

What Is an Informational Interview?

Right off the bat, please let me make clear that an informational interview is NOT a job interview. Instead, an informational interview involves talking to someone who’s working in a job or career that you want to learn more about. You are seeking career-related information. It is not appropriate to ask for a job during an informational interview.

Here’s an interesting fun fact about who coined the phrase “informational interviewing.” I still vividly remember attending a career conference about seven years ago where I got to hear Richard N. Bolles deliver a keynote presentation focusing on a number of career-related topics, including networking tips.

When he inevitably talked informational interviewing, he – as an aside – said that he is the one who created the concept of the informational interview as a career tool. So for those of you who like to know about such things (like I do), now you know. 🙂

The Main Goal of an Informational Interview

The main goal of the informational interview is to gain useful career-related information from the person who you are interviewing. The best results will come from someone who is open and shares insightful information with you freely.

Because people might open up to you more if there is a connection, it’s usually an advantage if you are referred to somebody through a mutual friend, colleague, or even acquaintance.

The informational interview used to be primarily for folks seeking jobs, and it still is to a great degree, as an informational interview provides job seekers the opportunities to:

• Learn more about a particular career field or company
• Network
• And most importantly, ask about possible employment leads and opportunities

More people, including students, are now becoming aware of how effective informational interviews can be for their career planning, especially if their main goal is more based on being in information gathering mode versus solely focused on trying to get a job.

If the focus is not on getting a job, then there is less pressure on both you as the interviewer and the person you are interviewing, and consequently the experience can flow more freely and enjoyably.

How an Informational Interview Works

If you’re interested in considering a career as a paramedic, wouldn’t it be great to speak to someone who works as a paramedic? You could ask the following types of questions:

• What do you like most and least about your job?
• What’s the best way to become a paramedic?
• If you could start all over again, would you do anything differently?
• And so on…

Other than doing the paramedic work itself or having the chance to job shadow (spending time with a paramedic during a typical work day), the next best thing to finding out what it’s really like to work as a paramedic is to directly talk to one.

The sharing of career insights from true insiders is what an informational interview is all about. If you are already very knowledgeable about a particular career, then you’re likely to simply confirm all the career information that you know, but you just never know what valuable information or opportunities might arise from an informational interview:

• A career path that you hadn’t considered previously
• Special education or training you were previously unfamiliar with
• Unexpected insight into a particular company or organization
• An invitation for you to job shadow
• An offer by the interviewee to review your resume
• A list of recommended people (referrals) whom you should contact for additional informational interviews
• An internship or job lead

And don’t forget about the other benefits of doing an informational interview that I began this post with.

If doing an informational interview seems nerve-wracking, then please know that as is the case with actual job interviews, you’ll get better at it the more you do them.