Have you ever had one of these? Why? Was it all you hoped?
I have to admit that in my 10 year HR career I’ve only arranged 4 of these and requested only 1 in my career. Still, ask a college career counselor or HR professional what you should do in order to get inside of an organization for more info and they’ll tell you to request an informational interview. I’ve even been guilty of this myself.
The truth is, the informational interview by literal definition gets you nothing except in the building and in front of someone, likely someone in HR. However, the goal of informational interviews is a little more ambitious: Get in front of a decision-maker who will be so impressed with your interest in the company, your determination to get in, your rich employment history or skill set and your knowledge of the company, that they will want to hire you forthwith.
Unfortunately, the 5 that I was directly involved with were not successful. The four jobseekers who asked me to set up the interviews were not invited back for real interviews and none were hired on the spot.
Here’s the deal. Informational interviews do not work unless you do the following:
- Do the research! Don’t show up looking for actual information. The point of this exercise is to show the interviewer how deeply, madly, truly you love his/her company. The only way to do this is to be able to speak intelligently about the company and its products or services.
- Prep an elevator pitch. These interviews will likely be no longer than 25-30 minutes. That seems like a lot of time, but not when you don’t know how long the interviewer will spend talking about himself/herself, or just how late he/she will be. To be prepared, you should know what bits of your resume you really want to get in front of the interviewer. Bring two copies of your resume. Make sure that what you highlight (not literally) is actually relevant to the job you’re interested in. And more importantly, make sure that the skills or experience you highlight are the skills the hiring manager/interviewer thinks is relevant (Read the job description if there is a specific job you’re interested in).
- Don’t be too obvious. No one’s stupid. They know that you are there to try to get a toe-hold into the company. They know that you are not there to make light conversation about what it’s like to work there or to pick their brains about where the industry is headed. Asking fluffy questions will not only bore and annoy your interviewer, but also waste your opportunity to get the information you want. Ask questions that make it clear that you know most of what you want to know (because you are interested in the company and an excellent researcher to boot), but there are things you weren’t able to find out from a public source. You might ask about growth plans, career paths, upcoming vacancies, skill sets and experience the comapny needs more than others.
- Ask for a real interview. Yes, I know its obvious. Most people play the game too long and leave without asking for the real interview. They know you’re there for it, so ask for it. I hope it’s just as just as obvious that you should only ask if you think the informational interview went well.
- Follow Up. Ask for a business card so you can email or mail them a thank you note with a gentle reminder of their promise of a real interview.
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