Informational Interviews: Ten Steps for Getting the Most from Them

The following guest post on informational interviews is by Alexia Vernon, a certified coach, trainer, speaker, and the owner of Catalyst of Action.

Unemployment has hit its highest level in 25-years. While the national unemployment rate is 8.1%, states like Michigan or my old stomping grounds, Nevada, are experiencing even higher rates, 11.6% and 9.4% respectively.

This is sobering news for job hunters, but it should not be grounds for giving up on finding a job or for calling friends and family for a couch to crash on until the recession ends.

It’s simply a reminder that traditional ways of conducting a job search, from perusing online sites like Monster and CareerBuilder to attending regional job fairs, probably aren’t going to enable you to close the gap from job seeker to gainfully employed.

People who get employment in a down economy don’t wait for opportunities to appear. They create them. They know where their expertise lies and how they can marry their strengths with unfulfilled needs in the marketplace. (And believe me, those needs exist.)

Perhaps most importantly, they are proactive about reaching out to leaders in their fields for informational interviews so that they can learn from and make a positive impact on these key players.

Informational Interview Step 1: Scoring Face Time

So how do you land an informational interview?

1. You compose a brief cover letter (no more than one page) and email it — both in the body of your email and as an attachment — to the prospective interviewee.
2. You explain succinctly and dynamically who you are, what results you have achieved, and why this person should give you the time to discuss existing and anticipated opportunities in the field.
3. If somebody recommended that you reach out or you have read this person’s column, blog, tweets, etc., you mention this early in the letter.
4. Finally, you state that you will call in the next week to set up a face-to-face, or if you are out of the area, telephone interview.

You DON’T attach a resume and you DON’T ask for a job.

While job opportunities often come out of informational interviews, this is not what informational interviews are for.

Your goal should be to introduce a leader in your field to what you have done and what you plan to achieve next, learn as much as you can from this person’s experiences, and make yourself so irresistibly attractive during the interview that the interviewee keeps his/her ear to the pavement for opportunities for you, many of which may actually be outside of the person’s organization.

Informational Interview Step 2: Breathe and then Bulldoze Forward

You called your prospect when you said you would. And after a few rounds of phone tag, you have converted the person into an informational interviewee. Most likely you have a couple of weeks to prepare.

It’s important to celebrate this victory, and recognize that a little bit of smart work has paid off. Acknowledging the objectives we achieve en route to our goals keeps us motivated and engaged.

But after a night off from online job searching (old habits are hard to shake, so you’re probably still trying out different keywords on Indeed.com), it’s time to get back into preparation mode.

Informational Interview Step 3: Develop Your Self-Marketing Strategy

Personal branding is the rage right now, and there are oodles of articles, blogs, magazines, and books dedicated to the art of developing and pitching one’s self. Anything written by Dan Schwabel is a good place to start.

As with any interview, it’s important to remember that everything you wear, communicate, or do creates a narrative about you, and this becomes your brand.

Take some time to reflect on three words your closest friends, family, co-workers, teachers, and mentors would use to describe you. Muse on how to tailor your performance in your informational interview to show these traits.

To be clear, this is not an exercise in creative fiction. You are not seeking to become the person you think others want you to be. Inauthenticity is incredibly unsexy and can be smelled from miles away. Instead, you are being intentional about which of your real qualities to play up during the informational interview.

Informational Interview Step 4: Be Curious

Know what the heck it is you want to discover by the end of your informational interview and make sure that you have prepared questions that enable you to get the answers you seek.

There are oodles of great informational interview questions online. One of my favorite compilations is from Quintessential Careers.

I suggest customizing your questions to your particular industry and focusing your specific questions around five or six major themes (e.g. emerging trends in the field, recommended academic and experiential qualifications, opportunities for career advancement and learning, or workplace culture and values) rather than trying to cover dozens of different topics. This will enable you to walk away with a deeper understanding of your field.

Informational Interview Step 5: Make Your Interviewee Comfortable

From the moment you step into your interviewee’s office throughout the life of the relationship you’re cultivating, you want your interviewee to share information that’s really going to inform the development of your career.

Regardless of the questions you ask, you want to encourage this person to talk about him/herself as much as possible. This will keep the interviewee engaged, but more importantly, enable you to get as much of an insider perspective on the job and field as possible.

Ask for examples or stories to illustrate what your interviewee is stating.

Unlike a job interview where you are on the hot seat, you are the host of this show. Make it fun for yourself and the interviewee, and solicit information you couldn’t read in a book or on a website.

Informational Interview Step 6: Learn What Goes on Within the Organization’s Four Walls

Job satisfaction is not about landing in an industry we find interesting. Rather, it’s about consistently performing tasks that enable us to play to our strengths, engage in meaningful relationships, and feel like our work makes an impact.

It’s no easy feat finding a work environment that enables us to thrive.

Think through how you can ask questions that enable you to ascertain whether this company can provide what you desire — or whether your interviewee can provide leads to others that can.

Informational Interview Step 7: Sell Yourself.

Ultimately, you’d like to move into a job that allows you to be successful and happy. You know this. So does your interviewee. While you’re not interviewing for a job, you are sniffing around for opportunities the person sitting before you can help you land.

Give this person both a reason and an opportunity to give you what you want. Find repeated reasons to tell your interviewee of your unique strengths. Share with them what you have previously achieved. Help them imagine what new things you will accomplish when given the right opportunity.

If you know this person can offer you something, gosh darn it, ask for it. And be specific.

I recently had an informational interviewer ask me to identify my three favorite coaches and make introductions to them for her. And I did. I’d much rather put myself on the line for someone who knows what she wants than hem and haw over how to help someone who doesn’t give me any parameters for how I can be of use.

Informational Interview Step 8: Solicit Feedback

Every informational interview is successful if you have learned something.

One of the greatest gifts an interviewee can offer is feedback on how we can make ourselves more competitive to prospective employers.

Ask if the interviewee will take a look at your resume or make a recommendation for a course or hands-on learning opportunity.

Give your interviewee the permission to tell you where your strengths and limitations lie. Sometimes the truth hurts. But even if we make the choice not to acknowledge it, it’s still there.

Informational Interview Step 9: End With a Bang, Not a Whimper

While first impressions are important, so are final ones. When you are wrapping up with your interviewee, (as the interviewer, you should have agreed to and stayed within a time limit), you want to reinforce what makes you a standout from your competition (your unique selling point).

Ask for permission to follow up with your interviewee. You also want to take this opportunity to ask if there’s anything you can do to help them.

The platinum rule of networking is you have to give to receive. Showing that you are committed to investing in relationships, not just taking from them, will score you many bonus points.

Informational Interview Step 10: Find Reasons to Reconnect

Send your email or handwritten thank-you note to your interviewee within twenty-four hours, reflect on the experience, and try to find a reason to be in touch within the next one to two weeks.

If your interviewee is a member of any online or face-to-face social networks, join and use these as an opportunity to reconnect.

If you see an article the person might like, forward it along.

Relationship building works best when we invest continuously in it and provide value to those in our network.

Guest post by Alexia Vernon, a certified coach, trainer, speaker, and the owner of Catalyst of Action, a leadership development company that empowers emerging and evolving leaders to build companies and careers that are successful, sustainable, and make a positive social impact.

Ms. Vernon is the Corporate Leadership columnist for the Newark Examiner and is the author of Musings from the Generation We Coach