Information Interviews
An information interview is simply a meeting you schedule with a professional to gain information about a specific job, an industry, a career path or all of these. An information interview is not a job interview, but is a way for you to go on a fact-finding mission merely to gain knowledge. An employer may not grant a job interview because openings do not exist, but most of them will grant an information interview.
It’s never too early to start and you can’t do too many information interviews. Ultimately, information interviews are an excellent way to meet people in the professional world and to start your own network.
Why do them?
- To get valuable information. It’s a good way to check what you’ve read, heard and think.
- To learn about a particular organization and industry, how you might fit in and about the problems or needs of the employer. This information will help you direct your qualifications toward the needs of the organization and industry.
- To gain interview experience and confidence by discussing yourself and your career interests with professionals.
- To enlarge your circle of contacts in the field. It is often whom you know or meet that helps get you an internship or job. It’s never too early to establish contacts.
- To ask for other referrals (for example: Can you suggest some other people that I might talk to about careers in this field?).
Whom do you call?
Look for those who:- Share a common academic major or interest, enthusiasm or involvement in some activity or lifestyle that appeals to you or
- Work in a setting you like or
- Work in career areas you’re interested in or
- Work in specific jobs in specific organizations.
How do you find them?
- Ask friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, former employers, anyone you know for an interview or for a referral.
- Contact faculty, the Journalism Placement Office, other university offices. Call community service agencies and trade and professional organizations.
- Scan the Yellow Pages and articles in newspapers, magazines and journals. Attend meetings (local, state, regional) for professional associations in your field(s) of interest.
Preparation for the interview
Remember, people are generally interested in talking about what they do and how they do it. But, don’t waste their time or yours. Be prepared! Know your interests, skills, values and, if possible, how they relate to the career field represented by the persons you’re interviewing.Take a pad and a couple of pens. It’s smart to take notes, but don’t take notes as if you’re in a lecture. The interview should feel like a conversation.
Read about the career area and the place where the person you’ll be interviewing works. Have a list of questions in mind. Don’t ask a question that you could have easily answered from another source. Libraries, public relation officers, personnel directors, chambers of commerce, and occupational organizations and associations are sources that provide information. Most media organizations and companies have information online. If they don’t have a Web site and if you can’t find printed materials in the library, call and ask the organizations if they will send you literature (for example, annual reports and promotional brochures). Use the following list of questions to help in formulating your own.
Sample questions for your information interview
- Tell me how you got started in this field. What was your education? What educational background or related experience might be helpful in entering this field?
- What are the daily duties of the job? What are the working conditions? What skills/abilities are used in this work?
- What are your toughest problems? What problems does the organization as a whole have? What is being done to solve these problems?
- How many hours is your typical work week? How much flexibility do you have in terms of dress, work hours and vacations?
- What do you find most rewarding about your job besides the salary?
- What salary level would a new person start with? What are the fringe benefits? Are there other forms of compensation?
- Where do you see yourself in a few years? What are your long-term goals?
- Is there much turnover? How do employees move from position to position? What is your company’s policy about promotions from within? What happened to the person(s) who last held this position? Do you know how many have held this job in the last five years? How are employees evaluated?
- What trends do you see for this industry in the next three to five years? What kind of future do you see for (name of organization)? How much of your business is tied to circumstances beyond your control such as the economy, government spending, weather, etc.?
- How well-suited is my background for this field? (You should have a resumé with you. This would be a good time to ask the person to take a look at it.) When the time comes, how would I go about finding a job in this field? What experience, paid or volunteer, would you recommend? What can I do to make my resumé more effective?
- What other career areas do you feel are related to your work?
- What are the most important factors used to hire people in this work (education, past experience, personality, special skills). Who makes the hiring decisions for your department? Who supervises the boss? When I am ready to apply for a job, whom should I contact?
- How do people find out about your jobs? Are they advertised in the newspaper, by word-of-mouth, by the human resources office?
- Can you name a relevant trade journal or magazine you would recommend I read regularly? What professional organizations might have information about this career area?
- Based on our conversation today, what other types of people should I talk to? Can you name a few of these people? May I have permission to use your name when I contact them?
- Do you have any other advice for me?
Arranging the information interview
- Phone or write to ask for an appointment.
- Introduce yourself by saying “I’m a (name your year) majoring in journalism at Indiana University.” If you have a personal or professional referral, use it. For example, professor Jane Smith in the School of Journalism suggested I call you.
- Explain your request to schedule an appointment for gathering information about his/her career. If questioned, make it clear that you are not seeking a job, but doing career research to help you make better decisions. If the person you want to meet with is unavailable for an extended period, ask the receptionist if there is someone else you might speak to. Or, you may choose to wait until the person is available.
- Schedule a 20 to 30 minute appointment in person or by phone at the person’s convenience.
- An in-person interview appointment is best because you get to see the facility, experience the atmosphere, observe the employee dress code and personal conduct and possibly meet people other than the one you’re interviewing. Do not let your phone call to schedule the appointment turn into the interview. Be sure and ask for directions and parking information. However, if the location is too far away or the person you want to interview insists on a phone appointment, then do it. You can still get answers to many questions.
- Letter requests for appointments are most effective if followed up by a telephone call to confirm an appointment time.
Tips for the interview
- Do not exceed your time, but be prepared to stay longer if the contact wants to talk longer.
- Dress as if it were an actual job interview. First impressions are important.
- Get to your appointment a few minutes early and be courteous to everyone that you meet, including security people, secretaries and anyone you happen to encounter.
- Take the initiative in the interview. The interview is in your court. You ask the questions, you interview the person. Ask open-ended questions that promote a discussion and cannot be answered with one word responses.
Follow up
- Evaluate your experience. How well did you do in scheduling and conducting the information interview? Were you well prepared? Did you get the information you wanted? What information do you still lack? Do you need to interview more people to get more than one viewpoint or additional information? (For example, if you interviewed a senior-level person, how different is his/her experience from that of an entry-level person? If you interviewed someone at a large organization, should you try to interview someone at a similar, but smaller organization?) What do you need to do next?
- Follow up with a thank you note. Thank the person(s) for her/his time and interest and cite your conclusions resulting from the interview. If appropriate, you may decide to follow up now or later with a resumé and an application letter or form.
- Record the information that you obtained: names, comments and new referrals for future reference.
- Make appointments to interview the referrals.
