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Informational Interviews (V of V)
December 3, 1999
Stage III Informal Job Interviews
The final form of Informational Interviewing, when you are meeting directly with someone in the position to hire you for the Job you want, can turn into an Informal Job Interview. This stage is a potential minefield, as you don't want to break the unwritten promise you've made in advance that you're not going to ask for a Job from this Manager.
Handled awkwardly, you damage your Network. Done smoothly and sincerely, it may be signal the end of your Jobsearch. You are meeting with Hiring Managers and Employers that you have a reference to from your earlier, more broadly-based Interviews. They very well may be hiring workers to fill the Job you want to do, and at the Company you want to work for. And these meetings can, (always at the direction of the Interviewee!), become informal Job Interviews.
These meetings are with decision makers, and your questions might focus on what qualifications your target Job Title requires, what performance standards are used, and what personality types best fit into this Job and Company culture. They are looking to get better acquainted with you because you have been referred by someone they trust and they are willing to add you to a pool of potential Employees. Stay with your increasingly specific information gathering about the Job, Management, and the Company.
Tell them you are considering applying for this Job with their Company. If there are no openings, ask for a reference to their counterpart somewhere else. If your target Job is available, then you have a distinct edge when you come back for the formal Job Interview - you have a budding relationship built on trust and comfort with the person who can hire you.
Informational Interviews (IV of V)
Deceber 2, 1999
Stage II Making an Impression
After you have completed your background research interviewing a broad spectrum of workers from different disciplines, it's time to narrow your interview targets to those Jobs you really feel some connection with. At this stage you will be meeting with some of the people that make up your prospective Employers, Colleagues, and Professional Associates.
You only get one chance to make a first impression on these people, so you want it to be a good one. Once you know the type of Job you want, you should aggressively build and use your growing network of contacts. Even though you are Interviewing them, you should dress well and treat the occasion with as much care as you would if you were going to a bonafide Job Interview.
At this stage your Interviews should accomplish three tasks:
This stage is critical to using Informational Interviews wisely. While not occupying most of your time, you should be extremely focused and well prepared when you conduct these brief Interviews. If these people remember your positive attitude, intelligence, promptness, and politeness, they will be much more amenable to helping you further your career goals.
Informational Interviews (III of V)
December 1, 1999
There are several different stages of Informational Interviews, and the kind you use depends on how far along you are in your Jobsearch.
Understandably, beginning Jobhunters will use these methods more for background information about whether this is really the type of Job they should be pursuing. Advanced Jobhunters will be narrowing their search down to a specific Job in a particular Industry, perhaps even at one of a handful of targeted Companies.
Stage 1 Background/Research
If you are just beginning your Jobhunt, a good first step is gathering background information about the types of Job you might like to do. Interviewing a variety of workers from different fields may give you an indication of what kinds of workers thrive there. Work style, temperament, and day to day duties/responsibilities are the substantive issues around which you should frame your questions.
What you are looking for more than anything else at this stage is a 'feel' for the Job. Is this a career that holds some interest for you? Do you want to do this for a living? Conduct these kinds of Interviews for several weeks across different professions and see which ones really excite you.
Once you have a list of fields of Interest, it's time to refine your search to types of Employment. If you are interested in Health Care, you might start talking to Medical Transcriptionists or Registered Nurses, depending on which types of Jobs within the broader field appeal to you. You are trying to answer two fundamental questions, "What does this Job involve?" and "Will I like doing this?"
Background and Research Interviews should constitute the bulk of your Informational Interviews. You will conduct fewer and more focused Interviews as you get closer and closer to the Job that is good fit for your abilities and goals.
Informational Interviews (II of V)
November 30, 1999
The rising popularity of Informational Interviews has resulted in this strategy's overuse and misuse. Twenty years ago Employers were flattered to have someone want to ask them questions about their work. Now they are more wary when approached by Jobhunters, some of whom use this strategy simply to access the person with the power to hire them - and then ask them for a Job.
Employers almost universally hate this tactic. If you are applying for a Job, they have company channels and rigid policies that spell out how to submit your application. Skipping this process shows your disrespect for the very people that you want to impress. They will show you out the door tout suite, and their negative references may come back to haunt you.
So, what are some of the rules of etiquette for conducting Informational Interviews?
After the interview, send the interviewee a thank you note and keep them posted with brief email notes on your progress. While meeting people in person is optimum, don't be afraid to use other means of communication - chat rooms, discussion lists, snail mail, email, fax, and the old standby, the telephone. And beware disgruntled Employees who have an ax to grind - enlarge your sample enough to get a reasonably accurate cross-section of Industry workers.
Informational Interviews (I of V)
November 29, 1999
Personnel offices sometimes seem to be the locked gate that blocks admission to Jobland, that dreamy place of purpose, collegiate antics, and a river of money in the form of steady paychecks. Getting past the guards (the HR Manager and their minions) unscathed is a daunting task. The day of your Job Interview you can almost smell the bodies of your slain predecessors, their egos hacked to pieces by personality questionnaires, skills tests, interminable waiting, and Interview questions that painfully probe your psyche.
It's no wonder that Job candidates are eager to find ways around what typically feel like 'Rejection Interviews.' Career Guides over the last two decades have promoted the concept of 'Informational Interviews', which were conceived as a means to uncover some of the information that is needed to excel at Job Interviews. Informational Interviews help you find out:
Informational Interviews have been around a long time, simply known by more informal names. When your Father told you to go see your Uncle Bob about working in the local factory where Bob was a foreman, that was a recommendation for an Informational Interview. Just meeting someone casually while at a public event and asking them about their Job and what they actually do all day has some elements of this strategy.
It's really no more complicated than showing an interest in people and what they do for a living, but on a scheduled basis with a clearer purpose and set of questions in mind. The advantages compared to a full blown Job Interview are clear: you ask the questions, there's less pressure, you feel like you don't have to act and be 'perfect', and you can relax and enjoy a 'meeting of minds'. Best of all, you don't leave one of these meetings with a desperate feeling of rejection.
Disadvantages? One big one - you never leave an Informational Interview with a Job. It is just one step in the process of gathering leads, contacts, information, referrals, and the skills necessary to find the Job that suits you.
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Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.