Informational Interview Approach to Job Seeking

Informational Interview Approach to Job Seeking:
(By Richard Russey)

Develop a goal … it should include as specifically as possible the kind of position (or job) you wish to engage in; the type of environment in which you wish to work; the nature of your own character and personality vis-à-vis working with others, in a small/medium/large bureaucratic or hierarchical system; and the lifestyle you are working to create (things like salary, location, benefits, and other options contribute, broadly, to the lifestyle you wish to create).

Research the landscape of opportunities that match your goal. Note that I didn’t limit the field to “businesses” or “organizations” as there are significantly greater numbers of ways in which people can “work” at the dawn of the 21st Century. Keeping your goal (let’s just call it a “dream job”) in mind, cast a wide net, but uses your goal specifics as a screen. The task here is to develop a list of 10 or more specific entities (companies, organizations, nonprofits, community leaders, and academia) to serve as a base for the beginning of the informational interview approach.

Contact these entities. Go as far up the staff chain as you can, so as to avoid being sidelined somewhere along the way by an erstwhile assistant or staffer. With a little ingenuity you can usually either figure out the email of the CEO or at least a VP level person if you are approaching a company sizeable enough to have those positions. Or, you can always write an old-fashioned paper and pen letter and snail mail it to the CEO of the company. It is rather amazing at how approachable many of these people are, but my experience is that they almost feel that it is a responsibility they have to give back to others with assistance and shared knowledge in gratitude for where they are in their careers.

Once you’ve made the contact, introduce yourself, quickly mention what your request is (I would like to request a brief amount of your time to ask you a few questions about the XXX industry in this area. I know that you have a good reputation in the XXX community, and I believe I would benefit greatly in my job search from your knowledge and experience.)

Do your homework before the informational interview. Go on the company web site; learn about the particular programs/initiatives/business of the company that you are most interested in. Be prepared with facts and figures demonstrating that knowledge, where appropriate, during your conversation. Google the company for news articles and associated information that may prove helpful. Make several resume files (see below).

During the informational interview itself, do these things:

Introduce yourself (even though you’ve already communicated to set up the meeting), and immediately thank the individual for the kindness of sharing their time with you.

When you are both seated, hand the individual a plain file that contains a copy of your resume, and any other very pertinent items, but keep it simple and straightforward.

Have a file of your own with a copy of your resume, a notepad, pen, and copies of anything you put into the file you made for the person you are meeting with.

State very clearly why you sought this meeting. Such as, “Thank you so much for your time Ms. Simmons. I am interested in speaking with you because I am aware of your contributions to the XXX community (whatever applies here, you are speaking to the reason you thought that person would be good to talk with, based on your research).

State that you have several goals for the meeting, such as “I wanted to introduce myself to you, let you know that I am currently looking for a position in the XXX field, and I am engaged in researching as much as I can about the current landscape (or state of the business, or whatever is appropriate here). I have some specific questions to ask. Also, I’d very much appreciate it if you might be able to recommend some additional people I should be talking with as I go about my research and as I seek employment.

The conversation will flow based on the interest level of the person you are talking to, so your background research on the company will come in handy here … to be able to lead into new areas of conversation, or ask intelligent questions about the field and the current environment. I try to be ready to wrap things up in 15 or 20 minutes … but often the person I am meeting with allows the meeting to go much longer. Show deference to their schedule of course.

As you engage in the interview (or conversation) be sure to be prepared to take notes, which means tablet and pen out and ready. This demonstrates your seriousness and interest. It will also prevent fumbling later when Mr. X spouts out a website or email address or an important name. Be ready. Write everything down that you will want to remember later … phone numbers, people’s names, other companies, organizations, resources. Do not worry about being rude here, your act of taking notes will assure the person you are speaking with that their sharing is very useful to you.

Be sure to ask at some point whether you may use Mr. X’s name when you contact the people he has recommended. And, ask if he’d like to be kept informed as a courtesy if you meet with others based on his recommendation.

As the meeting ends, stand and shake hands (if there are others in the room, shake hands with everyone). Thank Mr. X once again for his time, and as a summary, indicate you will follow-up in any ways you might have discussed (invariably these days, someone says, “please send me that web site, or email address”

Within 12 hours of the meeting (the sooner the better) write an email to Mr. X, thanking him again for his time, knowledge, wisdom, etc. Thank specifically for specific things whenever possible.

Within 24 hours send a hand-written note of thanks. (Many people will resist doing this old-fashioned task, but it still carries significant weight as a gesture of a professional and a person of manners – both good components of the positive image you should always be trying to portray during a job search.

And then … follow-up on all the leads that might have been gleaned from the informational interview. Use the same process (#1-10).

Have patience … it will work … plant seeds and they will grow. Informational interview networking, augmented by robust online social/professional networkng is the best way to plant seeds.