I’ll never forget the time in my early 20′s when I went on a journey of career exploration and fully leveraged the power of informational interviewing.

I had been working at Levi Strauss & Co in the advertising department. I wasn’t quite sure that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my work life. I came up with 5 different career paths that I might enjoy. Since I wasn’t sure what these different jobs might entail or require (or which I would like best), I elected to undertake a series of informational interviews with people actually doing those jobs.

Informational interviewing was the BEST thing I could have done at the time, and I had a blast doing it. I connected with great new people and learned what I needed to know to help me make a very important career decision. As a result of what I learned, I broadened my career path and took a job in brand management with Maybelline Cosmetics in Memphis, TN. There I met CEO Gary Mulloy who became a key figure in the next 20 years of my career.

Informational interviewing quite literally changed the course of my life.

What is an informational interview?

An informational interview is not a job interview. Rather, it’s an interview with an individual working in a career you would like to learn more about.

You’re attempting to discover what the person’s job is like, what they do, what responsibilities they have, and what it’s like to work in their job at their company.

An informational interview involves talking with people who are currently working in the field to gain a better understanding of an occupation or industry — and to build a network of contacts in that field.

While the pressure is significantly less in an informational interview than a formal interview, you still must bring your “A” game.

• Check out this well-written article about the 3 Rules for Effectively Informational Interviewing by Lisa Adams, founder of Fresh Air Careers.
  

How to get an informational interview

Chris Harvey is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the US Army who just landed a new job as project manager for Sikorsky Aircraft. She and I met at the 2009 Business Women’s Conference in Hartford, CT and quickly became networking buddies. When she landed her new job, I wanted to interview her for my next book covering the role of business  networking in the job search process.

She told me that “networking can get you informational interviews.” That peaked my interest and I probed more. She shared with me her approach to getting quality informational interviews. Here are a few of her gems and jewels:

1. Don’t cold call, but rather leverage a personal connection to get you an informational interview with someone currently in a job or company that you are curious about.
2. Disarm them. Let them know that your motivation is simply to learn and to gain new information. You are not asking for a job.
3. Ask the person if they would be willing to have a cup of coffee with you or a telephone call;
4. When you meet up, you drive the conversation.
5. Ask questions like a journalist. Take notes. Demonstrate that what they are sharing with you is important to you.
6. Listen more than talk. Remember you are there to gather information, not to sell yourself.
7. Ask them if they would recommend anyone else you should speak to regarding this career path.
8. And, of course, thank them (in person at the meeting and in writing afterward).

Chris also reminded me that every informational interview is potentially a real interview, so it is best to be prepared. But keep your motivation and agenda in mind to ensure that you walk away with more information that you came in with.

With whom should you have an informational interview?

Since you are in the informational gathering stage, it is best to meet with people actually doing the jobs. Don’t go straight to the top and request an informational interview with the President/CEO. You are not ready for that. You don’t want to blow a major opportunity with a key decision maker.

You want to find someone who is actually doing the work that you might like to do. They are less likely to be in the hiring position, but that doesn’t matter. You are just gathering information and making new connections.

• Warning: avoid interviewing with people who are totally unhappy in their jobs. They are less likely to give you quality, balanced information that you are seeking in your informational interviews.

What kind of questions should you ask?

This is where you must come prepared. Again, think like a journalist. What questions would you ask if you had to write a column/story following your meeting. Know what you want to learn.

• I found this article on the About.com web site that lists 40 open-ended questions that you could ask. http://jobsearch.about.com/od/infointerviews/a/infointervquest.htm

Business librarian extraordinaire Jennifer Keohane emphasized the importance of asking the type questions that you can’t find the answers to on the Internet.

“Don’t waste your questions with stuff you can easily find on line. Rather, use this opportunity to get a glimpse into the future. Ask crystal ball kind of questions such as What are the trends? What’s direction are things going in? How is your role changing? “ Informational interviewing is a great opportunity to get the off-the-record kind of information. A flavor of the company culture, etc.”

What to bring to your informational interview

Your best professional self, a notepad and pen, a long list of questions that you really want to know the answers to and your business card with full contact information.

You can have your updated resume with you, but do not present your resume UNLESS they ask for it. Remember, this is not a job interview; this is an informational interview.

• is your resume outdated, old and tired? Contact Bree Gurin to get your resume upgraded to compete with today’s marketplace for talent.

You should also be prepared to quickly summarize who you are and what you are looking for. No clever elevator pitches – just a top line of where you are and what you might want to do in the future.

Please don’t tell your whole life story and don’t dominate the conversation with your career success stories. Again, you are here to gain useful information from them, not to sell yourself.

Remember to ask the Ultimate Question

Nancy Anton is the author of the soon-to-be-released book “Why You Really Didn’t Get That Job.” She recently told me a moving story that I felt was important to include when speaking about networking and informational interviewing.

A few years back Nancy was exploring new career possibilities. As part of her journey, Nancy was networking her heart out . She also had been doing tons of informational interviewing in order to learn more about different companies and career paths she might want to consider.

At the end of one informational interview, Nancy asked the all important question:

“What can I do for you?”

Nancy told him that she was on the “information highway” and had been meeting with tons of people recently. If there was anything she could look out for or help out with, she would be willing to do so. She was very grateful for his time and openness in sharing his experience, knowledge and perspective during their informational interview.

To her surprise the gentleman told her that his son had recently had a near-death experience and was saved by a man who had been a stranger at the time. He asked Nancy if she would network with this man to help him find a job. With delight, Nancy said “yes.” They exchanged telephone numbers and emails and arranged for a networking introduction.

Lastly, stay in touch

You know I am a stickler for networking follow-up. Everyone you meet can add value to your circle of influence if you make the effort to stay connected by staying in touch periodically. This key message was reinforced today at lunch with business librarian Jennifer Keohane who shared her frustration when she grants informational interviews to others.

“When you spend an hour with someone in an informational interview, sharing what you know, it would be nice if they let you know it goes for them. Otherwise, you start to question whether or not you’ve been helpful at all. Should you continue to give informational interviews or not?”

Put yourself in the advisor’s role. They too want to be helpful and know that they’ve been helpful. Let them know both by your thanks and also with your updates. Jennifer finds that Linkedin is particularly useful for these kinds of periodic updates (note: direct messages to these advisors are best, vs. networking activity updates on your Linkedin profile)

Practice both sides

You will need experience in both asking for and granting informational interviews over the course of your professional life. By doing so, you will experience the true value of the informational interview. We can all help each other by sharing the good, bad and ugly of our chosen career paths and current jobs.

The next time you get a request to do an informational interview, say YES. And I encourage you to reach out to someone this week to request an informational interview process. We all must stay vigilant about career management. You never know when you’ll need to or want to re-invent your career. Informational interviewing can play an important role in your future career direction. Make time for it.

When was the last time you received a thoughtful, well crafted, personalized thank you note or letter from a client, vendor, job candidate or networking contact?

When was the last time that you sent one yourself?

If you are like most busy professionals, you are lucky to get a quick email message acknowledging the meeting or conversation.

The speed and cost effectiveness of email correspondence feeds our need for instant gratification and immediate communication. But this is not always the best business move (or career move) you can make.

The reality is that connecting with high level people requires a more thoughtful approach. Quick communication with email and texting doesn’t always produce the results that you need to be successful.

It’s time to put some more effort and quality into your business correspondence.

• Imagine this scenario happening to you…. (click here)

I always love to share success stories of in-transition business professionals who land great new jobs. It’s the same feeling of hope and excitement that I feel when I drive by a house with a sign that boldly states SOLD!  There is movement and opportunity out there.

The art of selling yourself

When you are looking for a new job or trying to land a new client, you are definitely selling yourself. Your chances of success increase exponentially when you embrace the three fundamental beliefs of successful selling.

1. You must believe in yourself;
2. You must believe in what you are selling and what have to offer;
3. You must believe that someone out there needs what you are selling and have to offer.

Please enjoy the following success story and lessons learned from Janis Jerman, a business leader whom I met at a networking meeting hosted by Executive Talent Services (ETS) where I spoke about the importance of networking follow-up.

Janis stood out then as a motivated business leader and as you will read in her surprising story, she continues to stand out in both her professional, confident approach, her generosity and her inherent leadership qualities.

p.s. I love Janis’ idea of drafting your own personal perfect job description as a way of really knowing what you are looking for.

* * *

Defying the Odds by Janis Jerman

My job search success defied many of the statistics regularly drilled into job-seekers. Statistics tell us that 60-80% of jobs are filled through networking and not through posted jobs. Yet, I found my new job through an online posting and had no connections to the company or current or former employees.

I applied and began the interview process knowing only what I could glean from the company’s web site. My experience was positive, short (47 days from application to start date) and successful but don’t use my experience as an excuse for you to reduce your networking or rely solely on job boards.

Networking is Critical

Networking is a critical and necessary part of your job search that compliments your use of other appropriate job search resources. What is an “appropriate” resource depends on your job level, experience, and geographic availability. Be creative and think outside of the big mainstream job boards.

Use networking to research companies and industries and develop a target list. Check those companies’ web sites; monitor the industry association’s career and event pages for job and networking opportunities; subscribe to industry and recruiter’s e-newsletters; write an article for an industry publication. Keep your name out there and keep your skills up to date.

Be A Good Scout – Be Prepared

When you land an interview, remember that you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. Be confident, be prepared with questions, and focus your responses on how you can help the company solve a problem and what experiences you have had that support that contention.

As you are researching the company, including reading the job description (this is an important and sometimes under-valued part of the research process), and as you are participating in the interview process, listen for clues to the company’s issues or concerns. You can tailor your cover letter and interview responses to those issues or concerns.

Use the thank you letter as an opportunity to propose a solution to a problem identified during the interview. Offering a solution or explaining how you can solve a problem will show the interviewer that you heard her concerns and that you have the experience and know-how to help the company. It takes your candidacy out of the theoretical and into the practical. It also allows the hiring manager to envision you in the position.

My Keys to Success

I think that the keys for me in making this process successful, especially since I did not have connections or much research data on the company or its people, were:

1. Knowing exactly what I am best suited for and identifying what that looks like on paper (write your own perfect job description so that you can recognize it when you see it). The job description included many of the technical skills and leadership skills that I wrote into my perfect job description. When I saw the job posting it spoke to me.
2. In my cover letter, identifying specific successful tasks/projects from other positions to match up to each qualification identified in the job description. I was able to show them successful examples of the tasks that they wanted performed. I focused my letter on those items of interest to them and did not confuse them with other wonderful and successful projects that I am proud of but that do not specifically respond to the job posting. I saved some of those other proud accomplishments for discussion in the interview.
3. Being able to tie together my varied experiences and show how that path across different careers and industries led me to this point.
4. Attaching a brief proposal to my first thank you letter. I identified two issues specifically identified by the CEO, considered how they were related (even though they were not identified as being related during the interview), and suggested a three-step action plan to resolve those issues.
5. Thinking about the interview, reviewing my notes, and developing action plans as if I had been offered the job and then making a list of applicable questions that I followed up with a few days after the interview. This kept me fresh in their minds and showed them that I was thoughtful and serious about solving problems for them. It also gave me more information and an opportunity to advance the conversation further in the second interview. I engaged in substantive conversations via e-mail in between interviews.
6. Being clear with myself and the company as to expectations and work style. I asked specific questions about the transition and how we would work and communicate with one another.
7. Constantly giving them an opportunity to envision me in the position. I asked questions that assumed I was in the position and sought feedback on how subordinates would respond to certain actions, what the executive team expected based on certain of my skills and traits, etc.
8. Focusing on building a rapport with the senior executives. As a family business, it is personal to them. They need to trust, respect, and be comfortable with their first-ever COO.

Envision Yourself at Your Best

The job search can take its toll. Always remember that is a temporary circumstance, it is not who you are. Do the hard homework – critically explore your strengths and interests, draft your own personal perfect job description, identify target companies and industries, be able to promote yourself positively and productively, find ways to stay current in your profession, be specific and purposeful in your “asks” to networking contacts, offer to give back.

Maintain good motivation and attitude by envisioning yourself in positive moments – be they past or future successes. Always remember that you are a strong, valuable, professional person and direct that energy to your networking and job prospect contacts.

Always say Thank You

When you land that perfect job, immediately notify and thank the people who were part of it. That means personal phone calls to the most immediate colleagues, family, and friends; individual personal e-mails to the next tier; and a group e-mail to the next tier of similarly situated folks (i.e. one group e-mail to the soccer team; another to the book group, etc).

Share your news, recognize the role that they played, and thank them for their support. Reach out to everyone who touched you in your job search process, even if you think you got less from them than you would have liked.

Keep the connection current and strong. You may need their product or service in your new job; they may become a client or vendor; they may be a networking connection that you can introduce to someone else in the job search; or they may become your neighbor.

I met the most amazing, gracious, fun, and interesting people in my job search. Many of them are friends and colleagues for life. I am so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and colleagues.

Thank you!

Janis Jerman

About Janis C. Jerman is a visionary executive with a pragmatic approach to organizational development and effectiveness. She is the new Chief Operating Officer at Employee Family Protection, a national company based in Glastonbury, Connecticut. EFP provides voluntary employee benefit education and enrollment services. Learn more about Janis Jerman at Linkedin.com