Informal Interviews - Continued

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Why do I want to conduct informational interviews?

Informational interviewing is an excellent way to learn more about a career you are considering. Let's say, for example, that after extensive research you're pretty sure you want to be a management consultant. Informational interviews with seasoned consultants - employees at firms as well as self-employed consultants - will help you solidify your goals. 

If all goes well, your informational interviews should leave you much more knowledgeable about a particular career or field:

• You should have a sense of what - should you go down the career paths of your interviewees - you would do on a daily basis.
• You should be able to pinpoint prospective employers. Through your interview you'll develop an understanding what it's like to work for specific companies, firms, or individuals, and you'll be able to make informed decisions about what employer would be a good match for you.
• You will expand your list of contacts by collecting names from interviewees.
• Just by listening to your interviewees speak, you'll begin to develop a fluency in the vocabulary and verbal etiquette of your prospective field.
• You will cull information from your interviewees that, during your own job interviews, will help you show prospective employers that you've done your homework.
• You'll practice handling yourself well in a professional context and discussing your own objectives.

Whom should I interview?

As you might guess, you should interview people whose perspectives will help you make decisions about what you want to do with your life. There are two ways to go about finding interviewees:

The Connections Approach: Use your network of contacts to find interviewees. Your network - which includes friends, family, co-workers, college alumni, professors, and anyone else you know - might include potential interviewees. But what is most likely is that the people in your network either know a potential interviewee or know someone who knows a potential interviewee. And, of course, you can always ask for names from an interviewee.

The Cold Call Approach: This tactic skips the middleman entirely. You simply choose a relevant company and contact the person who's in the position that interests you. You can usually find names pretty easily on company websites and in company literature. However, if that doesn't work, call the main switchboard of the organization and ask, for example, for the name and phone number or email address of the head of advertising.