One technique that I teach almost every mentee is to conduct informational interviews as often as you can. This is especially useful in the early stages as you graduate from school, start your first job, and navigate your career.
Informational interview 101
Simply put, it is a meeting (in person or remote) where you ask someone in a desired field a bunch of questions. It is not a job interview and it is not a mentor session. The purpose is to
- Understand the ins and outs of a particular field
- Get to know the kinds of people in that field
- Build a professional network
How to set it up
LinkedIn is a perfect medium to mine for informational interviews. First, you have to identify the title of your target audience (e.g. Product Manager, Engineer, psychologist, etc). Once you have the title, search LinkedIn to find people that match. Send a message to them (or try to connect) with a custom note. Example notes:
Hi, I am learning about [field] and was hoping to interview someone (like you) with that job. Would it be possible for me to ask you a few questions on zoom? It would just be like 30m.
Keep it short and get to the point. Never say it has anything to do with finding a job. You want it to be casual and information based. If you research the target a little, you can customize and increase chances of a positive reply.
Expect a 5-10% success rate. You may need to reach out to numerous candidates to get 5 info interviews set up. Be patient and persistent. Never bother anyone twice. And again, make sure to be extremely brief. Do not get into verbose mode.
What to ask them?
Here is a series of questions to help you.
- How did you get first into [field]?
- What makes someone great at it?
- What makes someone bad at it?
- What’s your favorite part of it?
- What do you hate about it?
- What does a typical day look like?
- What books do you recommend to learn more?
Sometimes these people will want to ask you questions. This is ok, but it’s not an informational interview. Go with the flow, but the more you speak, the less you will learn.
When to do them?
Obviously people do them most when they are looking for a job. This is probably not the best time though. It is similar to LinkedIn recommendations, you should get them over time, and not get a bunch only when you are looking to leave a company.
The best time is when you are considering a new career path. You can get a much better idea of the job with just a few interviews. Every single person I know who has done these have left with more confidence in their career direction.
The reason people don’t do this is shyness, introversion, and FUD. That is your advantage. You can be in the beneficial minority who get extra information and wisdom.
This is my go to technique and I hope you benefit from it.
Whatya think?