How to impress

What if you lose your job today and need a new job a week later? can you do it?

What if you just want to provide some advice for difficult career decisions? Is there anyone who can ask?

Or, what if you want to make a major career change, such as changing industries? Can anyone call for help?

The secret to solving all these challenges is the same: information interviews.

Information interviews: what they are and how they work

You may have heard employment buzzwords such as internet or mentoring, but have you heard the term information interview? Information interviews may be the difference between a booming career and a career deadlock, but not everyone is familiar with how these types of interviews work.

At a high level, here is how the information interview works:

1. You have found someone who does the job you are interested in
2. Invite them out for coffee or let them chat over the phone
3. Ask key questions about the job and collect inside information
4. Then, use the knowledge you have learned to make an informed decision about your career

Isn’t it simple? It is-as long as you understand the rules:

• This has nothing to do with work. You are not actively trying to obtain a new position through the information interview.
• You are here to learn. The purpose of this type of interview is to understand what the other person did, how they did it, and whether they liked or disliked their work.
• You listen, they said. The other person can talk, but you will guide the conversation with insightful questions that are important to both of you.

In other words, information interviews will definitely bring more job opportunities in the future, but the premise is that you conduct them in the right way and ask the right questions to the right people.

Let us show you how to master this powerful job search tool.

How to request an information interview (and who to ask!)

One of the biggest obstacles to getting an informative interview is knowing how to ask and whom to ask. Informational interviews are only useful when your goal is that you can see your role, an area you may be interested in, or someone you might want to hire on your team in the future.

Otherwise, it will eventually become a coffee and question-and-answer with no real purpose. Although this is good, it is not exactly the goal of the practice.

However, before you send out any invitations, make sure you know exactly who you need to interview. Here are some tips to help narrow the scope:

• Know right type The person to ask. This may be someone who is already in your network of contacts in a particular field, company, or job you are interested in. Or, it may be a cold call (or cold email) from which you made the request.
• No one?look at yours Network contact On LinkedIn or any other social media sites. In terms of establishing working connections, these sites may be a gold mine. You may even have established a connection with someone in your ideal role or field.
• Can’t find the right person? Don’t let it stop you. Contacts in similar areas may help determine the right person to contact the coffee chat email. It’s okay to reach out.
• Or, just search and identify some people you might want to conduct exploratory interviews. You can use social networking platforms or a simple Google search to do this. You will be surprised how many people are willing to take a phone call or take a coffee break to talk to you about their work.

Once you have identified the person or people you want to ask, all you have to do is send a friendly but concise email request to contact the person you are meeting with.

You are free to make these requests, but the wording of the email may be very simple:

“Hi Brad! My name is Ann and Kelly Smith suggests that I talk to you because I am interested in learning more about your field or role. If you are willing to accept it, I would be happy to get some information from you about this Role or field suggestions. In the next two weeks, do you have time to meet for coffee so that I can learn more about your company and position or field?”

If you’re not sure what to say, there’s even Verbatim email script This can help. The hard work is basically done for you.

You may strike out a few times, it doesn’t matter. As long as you keep in contact with the right people, you will succeed in the end.

How to ask the right information interview questions

Once you get the “yes” of the information interview, you need to spend time Prepare for interview, First compile a list of the correct questions to ask. This step is essential if you want to learn more about a position or company.

When starting the information interview process, it’s important to remember one goal: to learn more about what the other person did and how they felt about it. These tips can help you ask the right type of question:

• Omit any questions for which you can get answers via a quick Google search. The Internet is a large amount of information about company benefits, salary information, career development trajectory, and other hard facts, so these are excluded.
• Ask the types of questions that require personal answers. Asking about the person’s career path is the career path they took to obtain the current position, or asking about special certifications or education they are pursuing that might make them unique.
• Make sure your question is open ended. Try not to ask yes or no questions, even in follow-up actions. Doing so will quickly hinder the conversation.
• Adjust your questions to focus on their experience in the industry or role. The goal is to make them Tell you themselves And their path to the character you care about.

These types of open-ended, well-worded questions will make the person you interview happy with you.they are This also shows that you respect the experience and expertise of others, which is important if you also want to build a network relationship.

Here are some examples that you can use to help you formulate your own questions:

Example 1:

• good question: “I noticed on your LinkedIn that your focus in this industry is <插入一个特殊的利基或项目>. This seems to be a unique opportunity in this field.How did you find the pursuit<特殊项目或利基>Of chance? This sounds like something I want to pursue in the future. “
• Not so good question: “You are where I want to enter<插入公司的特殊利基或领域>Work. Can you help me find a job in your company? “

Example 2:

• good question: “What measures have you taken to realize your current income potential? Do you have any advice for those of us who have just entered the field?”
• Not a good question: “How much did you make?”

Example 3:

• good question: “What are the more difficult challenges or obstacles you face in this role?”
• Not a good question: “Where do you hate this job?”

Did you notice the slight difference? Good questions are open-ended and curious. The not-so-good questions are sharp, closed questions. They can make the person you interview very uncomfortable-and put your interview at risk of going downhill.

Big mistakes to avoid in an information interview

Knowing who to ask for help—and what to ask—is just two small parts of the information interview puzzle. A successful information interview is an art, and it shouldn’t involve much more than it does.

If you want to successfully master the art of information interviews, you should make every effort to avoid big (and very common) mistakes. These include:

1. Be late-or too early

If you are seeking work- or career-related skills from your interviewee, then they are likely to be a busy professional with a lot of things to do. This means that you should make every effort to avoid taking other people’s time for granted.

Don’t be late for the meeting—it’s obvious—but also avoid arriving early, especially if you are meeting at their workplace. Don’t make it more than five minutes earlier, or you may put them in a dangerous situation (or embarrass yourself by breaking into a meeting you were not invited to).

2. Find a job

Although you may wish to get a job from this person.In fact, what they do may even be yours Ideal career, But you need to avoid seeking job opportunities at all costs. If you made the initial email in the right way, then you have made it clear that you will not ask for anything other than the time and insight of this person. So, when you meet in person, don’t flip the script to them.

If you act professionally and make a good impression, job opportunities may grow organically from your interactions.but you Not there job interview, So don’t expect your interaction to bring a job. If there is? great. If not, you still get a lot of value from their time and insight.

3. Lead the conversation

If you are nervous or have awkward pauses, you may want to try to fill the silence with constant chatter. Or, you may feel the need to provide comments after answering each question. Don’t do that. Ask and actively listen.

Remember, the purpose of this informative interview is to learn about what you can do from another professional who works for the job or company you want to do. In this interview, you should spend about 90% of your time on the listening side-not the talking side. If you find that you say more than you hear, you are on the wrong path.

4. Ask for an introduction

You may target the interviewee because they have good connections in the industry you want to work in. They may know the CEO of a certain company, or they may have a friend or acquaintance who works in recruitment at a large company. This is all good, but don’t imply that you are looking for introductions to these key people.

Continue to talk about the interviewee-not the people they know. Whatever you do, avoid asking anyone on their contact list, their current company, their previous company, or anyone in their inner circle. You ask to meet with them to discuss their experiences and roles—rather than meeting the other party who might be more beneficial to you.

5. Skip thank you

One of the biggest mistakes people make is skipping formal thanks after an information interview. Remember, the people you meet will take time out of their busy schedule to try to help you. Sacrifices like this require proper thanks.

Send a card, email or other form of written communication to thank them for their time. Show them that you appreciate their help and advice, and do so as soon as possible after the meeting.this Show your professionalism and give them the best impression possible-this will come in handy if there are opportunities for you that might be suitable for you in the future.

A final information interview technique

Although it is important to keep the right questions in mind and avoid making big mistakes when conducting an information interview, you should also try not to overthink. The goal of this process is to allow you to learn and grow at the same time online-instead of following every sentence, every behavior and interaction in the book. One person is under too much pressure.

However, if you relax, participate, and most importantly listen, then you are more likely to get the information you need and get new network contacts. However, if you are too busy focusing on what to ask next or how to express the problem in the right way, then you run the risk of missing important information or advice-which is the opposite of what you want to achieve.