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Career Resources  Guide to the Informational Interview
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Guide to the Informational Interview PDF Version
What is informational interviewing?
How can it help me choose a career?
How do I set up an informational interview?
How do I prepare for the interview? See also 50 Questions You Ought to Ask
How do I conduct the interview?
How should I follow up?
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What is informational interviewing?
Informational interviewing provides an opportunity to gather information that will help you make decisions about your career goals. It is not a job interview. It's a process to tap the expertise of Johns Hopkins alumni about a job, career field, or organization that interests you.
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How can it help me choose a career?
Informational interviewing provides a way for you to:
- Test your expectations of a career field with the real world experience of an industry professional
- Get an insider's perpective on future trends, growth potential, and the unique challenges to maintaining a healthy work/life balance in a given career
- Get advice on your job search strategy and how you can be most effective
- Focus your options
- Obtain referrals to additional contacts for more information and advice
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How do I set up an informational interview?
- Telephone
- E-mail (particularly a virtual introduction from someone who knows the individual you want to meet)
- Referral (a more formal version of the above)
- Letter
- Drop-in (least preferable)
- Be considerate! Interviewees have busy schedules-be respectful in accommodating them.
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How do I prepare for the interview?
1. Do your homework. Learn about the organization through its website, annual reports, the Internet, and the individual you are interviewing.
2. Learn more about the career in general including trends, current issues, etc. (Note: The Department of Labor's website and Occupational Outlook Handbook and are excellent sources.)
3. Read 50 Questions You Ought to Ask.
4. Prepare a 30-second "elevator speech" that states clearly:
- Who you are
- What connection you share with the interviewee
- Why you would like to tap the individual's unique expertise
- What you are requesting of the individual
5. Use the Informational Interview Contact Log to help manage your contacts
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How do I conduct the interview?
- Reiterate your reasons for meeting with this person
- Relax. Remember, this isn't a job interview
- Ask open-ended questions that show you have done your homework
- Take notes
- DON'T ASK FOR A JOB
- Get the names of others to contact
- Honor the time that the interviewee has scheduled
- Use the Contact Log to record important details from your interviews
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How should I follow up?
- Send a thank you letter via mail or email. See sample
- Evaluate the information you received
- Keep good notes to use later. Include dates, names, addresses, etc.
- Use and maintain the Contact Log for your files
- Contact appropriate individuals when you begin your job search
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The Guide to the Informational Interview is adapted in part from John Lucht's The New Rites of Passage at $100,000+ (Viceroy Press, 1998) and F.J. Hecklinger and B.M. Black's Training for Life, 7th edition (Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1996).
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