Whether you’re still deciding what career path to take in the future or you know exactly what you want to do after graduation, informational interviews are a helpful tool for finding and refining your long-term career goals.
What Is An Informational Interview?
An informational interview is a conversation with a person in a particular field to seek advice or gather information. Informational interviews are the most commonly used framework to network with people to:
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- Learn in-depth about a specific industry, field, organization, and/or position, and then assess whether it’s a good fit for your skills, personality, and career goals.
- Observe and get a feel for different work environments.
- Connect with professionals who may have tips about future job or internship opportunities.
- Develop the social skills you’ll need in future interactions in the workplace.
The term “informational interview” is standard in the world of work – so you can use this term when reaching out to people. Most people will know what you mean!
Whom Can You Interview?
Almost anyone! Ideally, you identify a person that has a shared connection or experience – this is often called a “warm” contact. Warm contacts are often a bit easier since you have a person or experience in common.
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- Personal, family, or community contacts (or other people they may know)
- Professors and mentors at St. Olaf
- Current and past supervisors, and anyone else you worked or researched with
- Piper Center Coach
- Ole Alumni
- Someone you know that refers to another individual.
Sometimes, you may want to request an informational interview with a “cold” contact. This is a person you’ve identified but there isn’t a shared connection.
- An individual LinkedIn profile
- A staff person you found on an organizational website.
- Someone you meet in-person at an event or out in the world.
- …and more!
How Do You Find People to Talk to?
There are many ways to find contacts – some are the result of intentional searching but you can meet great connections simply by showing up to events and opportunities.
LinkedIn is a fantastic resource to identify people in the professional world with whom you would like to request an informational interview.
- LinkedIn: St. Olaf College Alumni
- Map your Network – reflect, identify, and list people that you know!
- In-person: career fairs, events, organizations meet-ups, social groups, etc.
- Other online groups: social media,
- Organizational websites.
Requesting an Informational Interview
Most often, you will request an informational interview over email, text, or online messaging (e.g. LinkedIn, Social Media). Email is usually the best option as most people manage professional communication via email.
Online messaging is often less reliable as people may not regularly check these platforms. However, if you do not have an email address, it is the best option. Texting is generally only best for younger professionals or someone with whom you have a stronger connection such as a family friend.
St. Olaf College Alumni Directory – great way to obtain email address for many alumni. If an email is available in the college systems, the option to email will appear on their directory entry. Selecting this will allow you to draft and send an email – don’t worry, the alumna/us will receive a typical looking email.
Basic Formula for an Outreach Email
An outreach email should be well-written and formatted. Keep it relatively short – very long emails are less likely to be read.
Introduce yourself (e.g. name, student at St. Olaf, major, class year)
“My name is John Smith and I am a sophomore at St. Olaf majoring in History with a Business and Management Studies Concentration”.
Share how you came to be connected to them (e.g. name of a person that referred you, Piper Center coach referral, you saw their LinkedIn profile, or perhaps you just found their name on a website)
“I was recently researching COMPANY and while browsing LinkedIn, I saw that you are employed there.”
“I was recently speaking with Prof. Smith about my career goals, and he referred me to you as someone who majored in History at St. Olaf and landed in marketing analytics. ”
Indicate why you are writing. Why are you specifically reaching out to them? What is your goal?
“I noticed that you work in Data Analytics at COMPANY and I am very interested in careers in that field. I’ve always been fascinated by data and I’ve been taking classes in stats and data science. I am especially interested in working in the marketing space and so am particularly interested in learning more about how you broke into that industry.”
“I am really interested in working for COMPANY and would enjoy your advice on how to find internships and how I can put my best foot forward.”
Make a specific ask.
“Would you be available for an informational interview sometime in the near future? I would greatly appreciate 20 minutes of your time to learn from your experience and seek your advice.”
Once you establish contact, set up a specific date, time and format for the interview.
Be as flexible as possible when scheduling a time to speak as your connection is often less flexible. Some contacts may prefer a time during business hours while others may prefer something during the evening or weekend.
How Do You Prepare?
Once you have set up an information interview, you should prepare to take full advantage of the conversation by doing some initial research on the person, their career industry, and employer. While the conversation itself is meant to help you explore, the more you can learn ahead of time will help to tailor the conversation to your individual interests and goals.
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- Create a list of questions you would like to ask
- Consider asking about their organization, their specific career path, the field you’re interested in, or other referrals for more information.
- Check out more sample questions for inspiration
- Be ready to speak concisely about your interests and goals.
- Dress up a bit – it can demonstrate respect and that you are taking the conversation seriously. It can also help you feel more confident.
Resumes
Generally, a resume isn’t needed for an informational interview if it’s not in person but it’s very common for a contact to ask for a resume as a follow-up. If so, send it as quickly as possible – perhaps with your thank you email – so you can take advantage of the momentum from the conversation. A great reason to have your resume updated before you engage in informational interviews.
It is recommended that you bring along a few copies of your resume for in-person information interviews – just in case! It’s certainly also appropriate to share the resume electronically as a follow-up.
During the Interview.
Be on time and ready! If it is an in-person conversation, arrive early. If it is online or by phone, make sure you are settled in a quiet, distraction-free spot before the scheduled time.
Start with an introduction and by thanking them for their time – shower them with gratitude!
Be prepared to lead the conversation – don’t expect the contact to drive the conversation, that’s your job! Your questions will help you keep the conversation going. Sometimes, the conversation can organically develop in exciting ways or the person is talkative – be flexible and adaptable – but you also want to make sure you are able to get your questions answered.
Occasionally, an informational interview can turn into a actual interview! This is more likely if you are talking to someone who is the actual hiring manager for an open job. Doing some initial research will help you feel ready in case the conversations turns in this direction. (You may also want to glance out our Interview Guide.)
Ending the Conversation (and Follow-Up)
When time is up, thank the person again for their time. Share something that you learned or that was especially interesting for you and if applicable, summarize some of the advise you’ve been given. (It shows you were listening.) If you plan to take action on something you spoke about, confirm your plans to do so with the contact.
There are three GREAT questions to end an interview with:
- Can I connect with you on LinkedIn?
- Do you mind if I stay in touch?
- Are there any other people you can suggest I speak with? (and if so, do you mind if I use your name to make the connection?)
Following the conversation, email a brief, written thank you within 48 hours of the informational interview. If necessary, connect with them on LinkedIn.
Maintaining A Relationship
Informational interviews may be a one-time thing, but sometimes they are the start of a meaningful relationship that can blossom into mentorship or, once you’ve established credibility, referrals for job and internships. When you’ve had a particularly good conversation or the person shares a strong connection to your career goals, staying in touch can build on the initial informational interview.
Maintaining and build a professional relationship takes work and is often on you to initially drive forward – when there is mutual interest of course. Maintaining a connections is how you build credibility and begin to build a lasting professional network.
Way to reconnect with people include:
- Say you followed their advice and share the results.
- Send them articles of potential interest.
- Update them on your résumé, experience, or personal situation.
- Tell them you read or heard something about them or their company/industry.
- Comment or discuss something you saw that they wrote, designed, or created – or something as simple as what they posted on LinkedIn.
- Offer them something—like volunteer help on a project, for example, or a college student’s perspective on their market or their mission.
- Ask new questions that may have emerged since you last spoke.
Stay Organized!
Make sure you have a place to keep your notes and information received in your informational interview. One of the most common reasons that people avoid networking is that it becomes overwhelming. Keeping track of your notes and reflections, as well as contacts, employers of interest, resources you are using, or opportunities of interest can really help you compartmentalize your networking tasks. Meaning, you have a place to keep all of the information you need for when you have time to work on it. Considering using a tool to stay organized – here are two options:
Further Information on Networking
Connector Learnings Part I: When you ask to connect with someone