"The questions we ask shape our destiny"
Martin Luther King

Informational interviewing is one of the best ways to obtain information about an occupation. Simply put, it means talking with people who actually work in the field you may be considering.

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Why conduct one?

There are a number of reasons to conduct informational interviews. Depending on your situation, your purpose may be one or any of the following:

• to help you make a career decision through collecting up-to-date information about working in a certain industry or with a particular organization;
• to look at a job to see if it "works" for you;


• to build contacts in your career interest area;


• to learn from the expertise of someone who has been successful in their job;


• to find out information about a job or an employer that you can't find anywhere else
;

• to discover local labour market needs and opportunities;


• to build confidence in your interviewing skills.

Remember the main purpose of an informational interview is to gather information, not to get a job!

How To Conduct An Informational Interview

It may take courage to arrange your first informational interview. Not everyone is comfortable with this research method. Remember, the results will be worth every bit of courage it takes. Consider the factors below in conducting an informational interview:

Decide what job or field of work you want to learn about

Identify people to interview
Start with lists of people you already know - friends, relatives, present or former co-workers, and supervisors that are in those positions. Professional organizations, the yellow pages, and organizational directories are also good resources. You can call a business and ask for the name of the person who is in charge of the unit, division, department, or the occupation that you want to find out about.

Prepare for the interview
Read all you can about the job before going to the interview. Decide what information is important to know about the job or work area and prepare a list of questions that you would like to have answered. Make sure you have the questions down on a piece of paper and take them with you to the interview.

Set up the interview
Contact the person by telephone or by letter followed by a phone call to set up the time and place of the interview. Not all interviews will occur face-to-face, some will occur over the phone. Be prepared! Do not present yourself in a way that the person assumes you are looking for a job interview. Ask to meet with the person for only 15 to 30 minutes at that person’s convenience.

Do the interview
Dress suitably, arrive on time, and be polite and professional. In short, prepare the same as you would for an actual job interview. The person you are seeing is doing you a favour so be respectful of his/her time. Refer to your list of prepared questions. Stay on track, but don't be afraid to let the conversation flow or ask follow-up questions. Keep notes during the interview. Do not stay one minute longer than the time you asked for. Before leaving, ask the person to suggest names of others who might be able to provide you with more information. Always ask permission to use your contact's name when approaching these new people.

Being prepared - questions to ask!

Prepare a list of your own questions for your information interview. Here are some sample questions to look at. Customize these for your own particular situation.

• On a typical day in this job, what do you do?
  
• What training or education is needed for this type of work?
  
• What personal qualities or abilities are important to being successful in this job?
  
• What part of this job do you find most satisfying? Most challenging?
  
• How did you get your job?
  
• How easy is it to get ahead or advance in this career if you want to?
  
• What entry level jobs are best for learning as much as possible?
  
• What are the salary ranges for jobs like this one?
  
• How do you see jobs like this changing in the future?
  
• Is there a demand for people in jobs like yours?
  
• What special advice would you give a person entering this field?
  
• What types of training do companies offer people in this job?
  
• What do I need to know and what experience do I need for this job?
  
• Which professional journals and organzations would help me learn more about this field?
  
• What do you think of the experience I've had so far in terms of entering this field?
  
• What problem areas are there in working in this field?
  
• If you could do things all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? Why? What would you change?
  
• With what you know about my education, skills, and experience, what other fields or jobs would you suggest I research further before I make a final decision?
  
• Who could you recommend that I should talk to next? When I call him/her, may I use your name?

Follow-Up!

Immediately following the interview, keep a record of what you learned and follow-up actions. Be sure to send a thank-you note within one week of the interview. Think about what you found out. Change your resume, your work search plan or even your work goal if necessary.