Informational Interviews

What Are Informational Interviews?

Information interviewing is a process by which people who are making career decisions can gather information and establish contacts in specific career fields directly from experienced professionals.

Why Conduct Informational Interviews?

To get valuable information for your job hunting and career planning.
To learn about a particular organization, how you might fit in, and what problems or needs the employer has. Knowing these things will help you develop your qualifications towards the needs of the organization.
To enlarge your circle of expert contacts in the area. REMEMBER, IT IS WHO YOU KNOW (OR GET TO KNOW) THAT OFTEN GETS YOU A JOB. It's never too early to establish contacts.
To learn about yourself and about possible career options appropriate for you.

Who to Contact
Identifying who to talk to is often an obstacle. Look for those who:

Work in settings you like and jobs that you would like to pursue.
Work in career areas in which you are interested.

Where to Find These People

Ask friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, former employers.
Contact faculty, the CSC and UMBC alumni.
Call community service agencies, trade, and
professional organizations.
Scan the Yellow Pages, articles in newspapers, magazines,
and journals
Attend meetings for professional associations in your career
interest fields.

How to Arrange the Interview

Telephone, email, or write to explain your request and obtain an appointment.
Introduce yourself using a personal referral, if possible.
Explain your request to schedule an appointment for gathering information about their career. Indicate clearly that you are not seeking a job from them but merely conducting career research which will help you make better decisions.
Schedule a 30 to 60 minute appointment at their convenience.
If your intent is to make a personal interview appointment, do not let your phone call turn into the actual interview. Be sure and ask for directions and parking information.
Written requests for appointments are most effective if followed up by a telephone inquiry to confirm an appointment time.

How to Prepare

Know your own interests, skills, values, and how they relate to the career field represented by the person you're interviewing.
Read about the career area and the organization in which the person you'll be interviewing is working.
Know exactly what kind of information you want, by having a list of questions in mind.
First, check out materials in the Career Library (MP 212), use FOCUS 2, the Vault Career Library or meet with a counselor.
Check out this list of Questions for you to consider before or ask during the Informational Interview.

Tips for Handling the Informational Interview

Dress as if it were an actual job interview.
First impressions are always important.
Get to your appointment a few minutes early
and be courteous to everyone that you meet.
Take the initiative in conducting the interview.
You ask the questions, you interview the employer.
Ask open-ended questions which promote a discussion
Once inside the organization, look around. What kind of working environment is there? Dress style, communication patterns, sense of humor, etc. Is this a place where you would want to work?
Do not exceed your requested time, but be prepared to stay longer in case the contact indicates a willingness to talk longer.

Follow-Up

Evaluate your experience. How did you manage in scheduling and conducting the information interview? How sufficiently did you prepare? Did you get the information you sought? What information do you still lack? Do you need to interview more people in order to get more than one viewpoint?
Follow-up with a thank you note. (see page 21 of our Career Development Guide for more information) You may decide to follow-up now or later with a resume and an application letter or form.
Record the information that you obtained for future references.
Make appointments to interview the referrals.

For a sample informational interview request letter, check out page 21 of our Career Development Guide, which you can download here or stop by our center to pick up a copy.