From Fear to Fearless: How Informational Interviews Empower You to Learn About New Career Options

Welcome to my series dedicated to helping you find your ideal job using my 5-Step Career Design Framework. This is the framework I used to go from stuck and frustrated in an unfulfilling legal career to feeling clear, confident, and fulfilled as an executive coach. You can download the Career Design Guide?here. You can go to Part 1 of the series?here.

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Most job seekers approach the job search with a sense of anxiety and dread because they feel like they are stepping into the unknown. They wonder if they are pursuing the right job or not.

Is this right for me? Will I like the day-to-day work? Will I like my colleagues? Will I like my boss? What if it is as toxic or unfulfilling as my last job??

In this article, I want to introduce you to Step 3 of my 5-Step Career Design framework.

Step 3: Learn

Step 3 Learn helps you learn about the pros and cons of the roles and companies that you are interested in before you take the job.

The Job Search Starts with Research

To solve this problem, you want to approach the job search with a research mindset. As an ambitious professional looking for the right role, it is your responsibility to do your due diligence first. You do not want to end up in a role that is not right for you.

In addition, the research process will help you build relationships with people in these organizations who can help you land a role that may never be advertised online.

But what does this research process look like?

Most people are familiar with informational interviews. Informational interviews are a great tool to help you gather the insider information you need to learn about the role and company and to build relationships with the right people who can help you eventually land a job at that company. But few people use them effectively.

Avoid These Four Common Informational Interview Mistakes

?1. Don’t assume you have to sound like the perfect candidate

?A common assumption or fear is that you have to know what you want or sound like the perfect candidate before you approach people. Let go of this assumption. It comes from a perfectionist mindset. Remember you are there to learn about a new role, not to ask for a job. The best thing you can do is come prepared with good questions. You don’t have to have all the answers.

2. Don’t be vague with your network

?I had a client tell me had been doing a lot of networking but it wasn’t working. I asked him to describe his process. He said, “Well, I tell them I’m looking for a new job and I’m open to anything.”

?When you are vague about what you want it is hard for others to know how to help you. Are you looking for a sales role, operations, or account management? You want to go into these conversations with some specific asks based on who you are talking to.

3. Don’t ask for a job, ask for information

I had a client share that nothing came out of his meetings. I asked him what he meant by that, and he said, “They weren’t hiring but they would keep me in mind.”

The informational interview is a way for you to learn about a new role and the company. You don’t know if you want to work there yet, and you don’t want to put this person you just met in an awkward situation by asking if they are hiring. Your goal is to determine if you would like to work there or not. After a successful meeting, you should walk away feeling more informed about the role.

?4. Don’t be transactional, build the relationship

These meetings should be the first of many ideally. Now you won’t keep in touch with everyone equally. As you meet people, there might be some worth keeping in touch with and others where it does not make sense. But your initial conversation should uncover ways you can continue to keep in touch.

Informational Interview Framework

?Now that you know what not to do, let’s focus on how to have an effective informational interview.

How do you make the ask?

During my career change research process, I was reaching out to a wide variety of people, some were mutual contacts, and some were complete strangers.

My goal was to make it easy for them to say yes to my request for a meeting. Here is an example of a message I would send via email or LinkedIn,

“Hi John,

?I hope your day is going well. I came across your profile and your experience at IMG stood out to me.

I’m researching new career options and I’m very interested in learning more about your work in sports marketing.

I have a few specific questions about your experience and career path. It would be invaluable to get your advice and insight into this industry. Would you be open to having a 20-minute phone call at your convenience in the next few weeks?

I assume you are very busy so thank you for considering this request.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Mo”

This message worked well for a few reasons:

-??????State your objective: I made it clear why I was reaching out. I was asking for information.

-??????Be specific: Make a clear request. I only wanted to ask a few questions.

-??????Keep it short: Don’t overwhelm them with too much information. Do not send them a 5-paragraph email or your resume unless it makes sense based on the context.?

-??????Make it easy for them to say yes: Ask for a small commitment on their part. Let them know that you only want 20-minutes of their time. Don’t push for lunch or a coffee unless you know them well enough or they offer.

Other messages included mentioning our mutual contact or other specific details that would make the person more likely to say yes to the meeting.

How to Structure the Meeting

Since you asked for the meeting, you want to be ready to lead the meeting with a clear agenda and set of questions. You want to make a good impression by showing up prepared.

Begin the meeting by building rapport. Thank them for their time, ask them how their day is going, and since you only have 20-minutes let them know you want to be respectful of their time and jump right into the questions.

You will tailor the questions to your specific situation but here are some good questions to ask to learn about the role and the company:

-??????An easy way to warm someone up and get them talking is to ask them about their career story.

o??How did you get into this line of work?

o??What attracted you to this role/company?

-??????Ask questions about the role.

o??What do you enjoy about your day to day work?

o??What do you find challenging?

o??What surprised you about the role?

-??????Ask about the company.

o??What do you enjoy about your company?

o??How would you describe the people and culture?

In the end, thank them again, let them know how helpful this was, and ask if you can stay in touch as you continue to learn about this career path. A great way to end the conversation and grow your network is to say something like, “This was so helpful. Could you recommend anyone else in your network that I should speak with to learn more about these types of roles?”

One way to stay in touch with this new person is to follow up and let them know you applied something you learned from that conversation. For example, if they mentioned a book, read the book and let them know what you thought of it. If they introduced you to someone and you met with that person, let them know how the conversation went.

After each meeting, write down what you learned about the role and organization and how you think it aligns or does not align with what you want to do based on the reflection exercises you did in step 1 of the Career Design Framework.

The informational interview will be one of the best ways for you to learn about new roles, grow your network, clarify what you want to do next, and overcome your fear of the unknown.

To learn more about my informational interview strategy and the best questions to ask to get the insider information you need to make the right decision?download the 5-Step Career Design Guide.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mo Chanmugham, Esq., ACC is a former entertainment lawyer turned executive career coach and the founder of?MGC Coaching. He helps ambitious, purpose-driven professionals who are feeling stuck gain the clarity and confidence they need to find better jobs and become better leaders.