Informational Interviewing

for College Students

By Katharine Hansen

Author

“A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market”

 

You're a college student embarking on a career path. Talking to people in that field just makes sense. Yet most students never do. You trust your professors, textbooks, or romantic notions about professions gleaned from TV or movies. Consider supplementing that secondhand knowledge with informational interviewing -- the ultimate networking technique for college students.

“One of the most positive things students get from conducting informational interviews with people in the fields they are interested in is seeing what the career is like from someone actually doing the job, not just reading about it in some article,” says Robert Ashodian, who conducted several informational interviews before graduating and landing a job in human resources in Tampa, Florida.

Informational interviewing is exactly what it sounds like -- interviewing designed to yield the information you need to choose a career path, learn how to break in, and find out if you have what it takes to succeed. It's a highly focused conversation with someone in your career field who can provide you with key information you need to launch your career, often including a critique of your resume.

“I'm big on encouraging students to use the very underutilized strategy: of informational interviewing,” says Peter Vogt, president of Career Planning Resources, Eden Prairie , Minnesota . “It's interesting because many students view informational interviewing/networking as bothering people or, worse, ‘sucking up' to them. One student I spoke to referred to it as ‘cheesy,' and said she and her friends did it only as ‘a last resort.' In the reality of the world of work, of course, networking and informational interviewing go on constantly, and most jobs are landed through these informal channels.”

Because they are exploratory, informational interviews are particularly effective for college students, who can use them to illuminate their career path in several ways, as discussed by students and recent graduates of Stetson University , DeLand , Florida :

· You can learn about the realities of the work world and what to expect. Michelle Abrisch, a Stetson MBA graduate, dreamed in college of owning her own business and conducted informational interviews with entrepreneurs. “The experience was eye-opening to say the least,” Abrisch says. “Until interviewing the folks I talked to, I had an almost romantic notion of being in business for one's self. After our discussions, I had a better picture of the trials and tribulations, heartaches and triumphs involved.” Based on what she learned, Abrisch chose to learn the ropes from the corporate world before venturing into her own enterprise.

· You may discover opportunities that are available in a given field, including jobs and career paths you may not have thought of or known existed. Management major JP Politano notes that before he conducted one of his informational interviews he was completely unsure of what kind of job he wanted. “Speaking with my interviewee made me realize that many of my points of view, experiences, and desires pointed me to a field like consulting, but I had never known it until we talked. It was as if I was introduced for the first time to something that I had been seeking for years, but was unsure of what it was,” Politano says.

· Your dream career can be affirmed and turn out to be everything you thought it would be. Although one of Stetson senior Trinity Hundredmark's three attorney interviewees offered a jaded view of the law profession, the interviewing process showed her law was the right choice for her. “Since my interviewees were all of different ages and genders, I got a grasp of the feelings each

The above is an excerpt from The Last Job Search Guide You'll Ever Need: How to Find and Get the Job or Internship of Your Dreams, which is available for sale for $19.85 in our bookstore or $27.00 at Amazon.com but for free to those who subscriber to our free career newsletter. This hot new book contains job search secrets of the most experienced, most knowledgeable and most respected career experts. Learn career planning, job hunting tools and tactics, interviewing, cover letter and resume writing (lots of samples!), networking, and how to find an internship. Written by 149 career experts. To receive a free copy, subscribe to our free career newsletter.

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