Informational interviews can be a valuable way to advance your career. These are informal conversations with people in your company, industry or even outside your industry that help you learn about the role. They can give you a sense of where you want to go in your own career and may even open up job opportunities down the line.
âYou show up, you share your story, you ask about the background,â says Gorick Ng, a Harvard career counselor and creator of the âHow to Speakâ flashcard series for professional communication.
But how do you get an informational interview? It depends on how well you know the person you want to talk to. Hereâs how Ng recommends getting one, depending on your level of familiarity.
You can directly contact people you know
âFirst degree connections are people you already know,â says Ng. It could be someone you met in college or someone you met while out with friends. They are people you already know and talk to directly.
He recommends using the following blueprint to achieve this:
hello (Contact name). Itâs been a minute (the last time you saw or spoke to each other). I wish you success. Welcome (new achievements). Iâm currently looking for (make a career transition/advance in my field/etc.) and I see that you work at (My role is interesting). I would love to follow your lead. I am inspired by how you can find success in (field), and would be grateful if you had a few minutes in the coming days to show us how you did it. My availability is as follows.
The message is about reminding them how to get to know you (if itâs not the person you just talked to), tell them directly why youâre reaching out and explain âthatâs why Iâm contacting you and no one else,â says Ng.
You can ask friends together for an intro
Second-degree connections âare people you donât know directly but you know peopleâ who do, Ng said. âWhat you need to do is to reach the contact together.â Hereâs what you have to say:
hello (Contact name), we havenât spoken in a long time. I saw that you linked to (the person you want to have an informational interview with) and wondered if you might be close enough to him to make an introduction. Iâm looking for (making a career transition/advancing in the field/etc.) and wants to learn more about how he got there (industry / company). If you know him and are close enough, I will always be grateful if you could do this intro. Donât worry if I catch you at a bad time. Let me know one way.
Again, youâre reminding others of who you are (if they need it), youâre clear about why youâre reaching out and who you want to connect with, and youâre explaining why youâre reaching out to them, specifically. âYouâre making targeted requests seriously because youâve done your homework,â Ng said. Thatâs how you want to go out.
You can reach them through LinkedIn
Finally, a third-degree connection âis someone you donât know directly and you donât have a relationship with,â Ng said. You should do some background research and then find an email address or send a LinkedIn message.
Hereâs what Ng recommends:
hello,(Contact name). my name (your name) and like me (general, for example âstudying at the same universityâ / âstarting a career at the same companyâ). I am currently looking to transition to (new company/field) after working in (old company / field). Iâd love to follow your lead, especially as a friend (callback to commonality, eg âalumâ). Do you have a few minutes to chat? My availability is as follows. Looking forward to hearing from you.
You introduce yourself briefly. You show exactly what you and others have in common. And you explained that âIâm only contacting you and you and if you open it, I hope this is an opportunity for you to pay me back.â
When it comes to cold messaging, many young people especially can feel like they have nothing to offer this person in return. But the reality is that âflattery is free,â says Ng. âAnd people appreciate it. So the fact that you say âlook, I look up to you. I admire you. I like to follow in your footsteps can mean a lot to people who canât receive this message.'â
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