Informational interviewing with Steve Dalton

informational interviews are now seen as the key tool in the modern job search in C ed careers spoke to Steve Dalton author of the two-hour job search to find out why welcome to NC L careers Steve in your book the two-hour job search you argue kind of paradoxically that the best way to job search is not actually to apply for jobs but to spend your time networking and asking for informational interviews and I want to unpack this but first of all tell us what is an informational interview an informational interview is a conversation with a professional who works in your desired area someone who has the job currently that you would one day like it's unlike an actual job interview where the interviewer manages the agenda the crucial difference with an informational interview is that the job seeker or the junior person in that conversation runs the agenda so it's critical for the job seeker to be prepared with an agenda that encourages the corporate contact to open up systematically to talk about themselves for in a pleasant fashion for twenty to thirty minutes and why does this would people enjoy talking about themselves they don't enjoy listening about others so if you reach out to somebody and ask them to talk about their experience they're more likely to say yes then if you reach out to them and ask if they're willing to listen to you talk about yourself so it's the best most efficient way to get people's attention in the fields that you're seeking to enter what do people get out of an informational interview why would a job hunter want to do one the key benefits of an informational interview first and foremost are going to be the network that you're developing you're establishing likability with trusted professionals in that space this allows your job search efforts once they actually commence later to be much more productive because it's not just your own single set of eyes and ears that's working you have multiple sets of eyes and ears that are looking out for you so in a set in essence you are managing your own job search team by building this fleet of advocates before you even need them a second benefit of informational meetings is insider knowledge you have a better understanding of the types of projects that job entails the types of people that succeed within a particular organization the types of problems that keep them up at night this information will make you a very credible candidate not just with that particular employer but with their peers where you'd be doing a very similar job at a slightly different employer very quickly you can establish credibility if you can list the types of projects you would expect to do in a particular role or that if you demonstrate an understanding of what concerns they're facing right now how do you actually carry out one of these informational interviews is there a kind of framework or particular questions that you need to ask so I teach my job seekers who are about to embark on an informational interview a process called the tiara framework it's a questioning algorithm that frames the interviewer as an expert at the start of the conversation and systematically converts them to become a mentor by the end of it by asking questions in a particular order that's going to maximize the chance that that stranger becomes an advocate by the end of the conversation tiara is an acronym it stands for trends insights advice resources and assignments trend questions are open-ended questions that establish some conversational rapport about the state of the company right now very big picture questions insights get a little bit more personal so rather than asking a professional in that space to comment on the industry in general I want them to speak about their personal successes in particular this Prime's you were contacted think creatively before you get to advice questions where you ask for empathy remember what it's like to be me now what would you do this is a quick way to build likability and start shifting the relationship towards a mentorship one the resources this is where you ask your contact what research they do in a given day or given week to stay current on their industry demonstrates sincerity of an arrest on your part the final topic assignments helps you build up that mental toolbox that the types of work you'd actually do if you were hired for this position before you do an informational interview what kind of research do you need to do look at the company's website and that sounds cliched but it's there's a very critical piece of information on the website that I want them to check not information about the boring details the organizational structure but the headlines most companies will put their positive headlines on their front page the news that they're excited to talk about it's critical that a job seeker knows the good news of a company because they don't want to be caught by surprise how interested could a job seeker be if we just launched a product this week it's all over our website and the job seeker doesn't know it on the flip side the final factor that I would recommend always checking before an informational interview would be googling headlines about the company this helps you cover your flanks about negative news about the company so if they've had a product failure or a plant closure or any other sort of mixed news it indicates to you what topics you'd want to avoid because you want this informational meeting to be fun for the person you're speaking to you don't want to grill them they're only going to refer you on to their colleagues if you're pleasant to speak to so you've met with the contact you've had the you've had the informational meeting what happens next it's critical to send a thank-you note within a couple of days after you do an informational meeting this person will never get a raise we'll never get a bonus we'll never see their stock price appreciate because they brought you into the organization the only reason they're helping you is out of the goodness of their heart doing you a favor it feels good to help people in need so it's important to acknowledge that favor and how would you recommend following up off to that my recommendation is after you have a successful informational meeting with a contact set yourself a recurring monthly reminder not an Excel Excel is great at a lot of things but it's a terrible calendar make sure you're using Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar something that's built for calendaring functions set a recurring monthly reminder to follow up on that particular conversation when you check in the first time recap a piece advice they gave you in that initial conversation talk about give a sentence about why you've benefited from that advice and then ask for further advice this uses something called the Ben Franklin effect which is a brilliant concept identified by Ben Franklin back in the 1700s it's a classic not many people know but basically people like you better if you ask them for favors and you don't pay them off don't try to repay them because then it looks like a trends action instead ask them for further mentorship it's a much more effective way to go finally Steve what would you say is the most important thing that you need to take away from an informational interview if I had one fact that I could get out of an informational interview finally got one question my question would be what keeps you up at night about your job what is stressing you out right now if you know the answer to that question any cover letter that you write for that company will be very easy to write any interview you will do very well because very quickly you can demonstrate empathy you can appreciate the problems that they're facing right now and as you talk to several people who do that same job you will have a menu of circumstances that are keeping people in this field up at night which makes you a very credible candidate you're not just reciprocating information you saw on the internet you have what's called a second level insight it's not a basic research fact but it's something that's real that's coming from someone in the know so that I think is the critical piece of information you can walk away from an informational interview with Steve thank you very much

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Length: 7min 55sec (475 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 12 2016