When we think of "interviewing" we often think of employers interviewing candidates for a particular job. But there is another form of interviewing which can be very useful in your career planning and that is information interviewing. 


What is information interviewing?
Information interviewing is when you speak to individuals who work in a field that you are interested in and you then interview them about the job and their day to day working life. It can be a great addition to desk-based research about particular careers and help you to gain a much more detailed and realistic picture of what it’s like to actually work in these industries.

Do the necessary preparation
So you just ask vague questions about the job, right? Wrong!  It’s really important to spend some time reflecting on what you really want to know. Vague questions can often produce vague answers which aren't very helpful. For career exploration to be worthwhile and useful, it's important to ask specific questions to discover which career direction will suit you best. Take some time to reflect on what is important to you in your career or your career values.  Since these are the aspects of work which are the most valuable to you it is key that you discover to what extent you will find those aspects in this particular job or sector.

Translate reflections into questions
Imagine you have discovered that ‘variety’ is an important career value for you. You could ask the professional you are information interviewing ‘Is this job varied?’, however, you may end up just getting a one-word answer of ‘Yes’ or maybe ‘No’.  Instead, if you were to ask ‘In what ways is this job varied?’ you are much more likely to get far more detail that will help you to decide if this industry or role suits you.

Target the right people
Once you have designed your set of questions you need to start asking them! But where do you start?  Think about which roles or industries you are attracted to and then do some research to find individuals who work in those settings.  LinkedIn can be a valuable tool to identify possibly interviewees as well as reflecting on your wider network of friends of family and family of friends. Ideally, you may also want to interview more than one individual from the same career area, such as two different lawyers or three different business analysts, as multiple perspectives will help enrich your understanding of the wider sector, rather than just rely on one person’s experience. As well as speaking to some very experienced professionals, you may also find it helpful to speak to someone at a similar level of experience as yourself, such as someone who is an entry-level role, so you can get a greater appreciation of what your first role might be like in the sector.

Face to face or virtual?
Ideally, you will be able to arrange a face to face meeting to conduct your information interviewing as this can also be a valuable networking opportunity. Nevertheless, if a face to face meeting isn’t possible don’t let that stop you arranging virtual information interviews.  A telephone or a Skype video call can also be very helpful and if nothing else even emailing your specific questions to a relevant professional, whom might be too busy for an actual meeting, can also be a great career learning opportunity and demonstrates your interest and commitment in their sector which is positive for future applications.

Evaluate your answers
Once you’ve completed your information interviews make sure you genuinely evaluate the responses that you received.  Did they confirm your expectations of the sector or surprise you in some way?  Whether you find yourself increasingly excited about your preferred career or increasingly unsure that it is such a great fit, after all, use your information interviewing to inform your career planning going forward.

Last modified: Wednesday, 2 December 2020, 1:49 PM