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By now, hopefully you have had at least one person respond to your request for an informational interview. Today, we're going to go over how to hand an informational call once one is scheduled.

There are three parts to having a successful information interview:

1. The Preparation
2. The Discussion
3. The Followup

The Preparation

Before you're call it is very important that you prepare externally and internally.

To prepare externally make sure you do research about the company that your contact works for.

• Read through the main pages of their website
• Search the company name in Google News
• Try to think through what the company's SWOT analysis

To prepare internally, you need to think about your answers to the following three questions

1. Tell me about yourself
2. Why do you want to work for this organization
3. Why do you want to work in this industry and/or role?

Now, since this is just an informational interview, the person you're talking to probably won't ever explicitly ask these questions but have answers prepared will help you introduce yourself and communicate why you reached out to your contact in the first place.

The Discussion

During your phone call, there will be three phases

1. Small Talk
2. Questions and Answers
3. Next steps

During the small talk phase of the call, you are trying to build a connection. Here are a few good go-to questions to kick off the call with:

• How is your day going so far? (good for giving you an idea for their demeanor and current energy level)
• What projects are you currently working on? (demonstrates that you have an interest in the line of work)
• Can you tell me about your background and how you came to work for X company? (a good way to find a common connection with the person)

By asking these questions, you should be trying to find things in common with the person so that you can have a conversation. Are they from the same hometown? Do you both have labrador retrievers? Do you both watch the same TV show? Root for the same football team? It doesn't matter what the connection is but try to find something that connects the two of you and spend a few minutes talking about that shared interest.

After about 5 minutes of small talk (the actual time will vary based on how talkative the person is and how close of a connection you are able to find) it will be time to move onto the Q&A section of the call.

You can say something along the lines of, "Sammy, thank you again so much for your time. I did prepare some questions for you, so I'm hoping I could ask you those now."

During the Q&A section of the call, there are a few types of questions that you want to get off in the time that you have left: trends, insights, advice, and resources.

Here are a few questions from each of those categories that you can ask! You should only be asking one question from each category in the same call:

Trends

• What trends are most impacting your business right now?
• How has your business changed most since you started?
• How do you think your business will change most dramatically in the next several years?

Insights

• What surprises you most about your job/your employer?
• What's the best lesson you've learned on the job?
• What's been your most valuable experience at your employer so far, and why?

Advice

• What can I be doing right now to prepare myself for a career in this field?
• What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you were my age or in my position?
• If you were me, what would you be doing right now to maximize your chance of breaking into this industry or role?

Resources

• What resources should I be sure to look into next?
• What next steps would you recommend for someone in my situation?

Once you get through those questions, you should be nearing up on time. The wrap-up can look something like this:

It looks like our time is up, but thank you so much for your time today - you've given me a lot to think about, and it sounds like you're working for a great organization.

I'm going to take a few days to process all of the information you've shared. If, on reflection, it seems like you organization and I may make a good mutual fit, is it OK if I reach back out to you to get your recommendations for how best to proceed from here?

The Followup

After your phone call it is very important to send a thank you. The email should include a few key points:

1. Thanking them again
2. Give a recap of advice they gave you
3. A quick summary of the great things you got out of the conversation
4. Ask them for a few further suggestions

Here's an example thank you email:

SUBJECT: Thanks again

Dear Colleen,

Thank you again for speaking with me the other day. I found your insights incredibly helpful, particularly on the increasing importance of micro-segmentation in the marketing space.

Also, per your advice, I have ordered Brand Week and Ad Age to get a better sense for current trends in marketing and advertising. I'm now feeling much more able to converse knowledgeably about the challenges and opportunities facing ad agencies these days.

Do you have any additional suggestions or recommendations that you think ma prove helpful? Any further guidance would be greatly appreciated, but if nothing comes to mind, I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress!

Very best,

Andy

And there you have it! You've completed your first informational interview circuit!

Right now you might be asking yourself why we're making you do informational interviews or why they matter. It's a fair thought!

Informational interviews are important because they find you find personal advocates at companies. Personal advocates will take an interest in your journey and try to help you along. Awesome personal advocates will even introduce you to recruiters, fast-track your resume, or if they have the power, hire you themselves.

Now - it's important to realize that not everyone you talk to will be an advocate but that's okay!

Good luck on your upcoming informational interviews!! If you don't have any scheduled yet, send some followups or send out a new batch of request emails.