Information Interviewing – What Career Do You Want To Consider? (Part 1/5)

Post Date: March 10th, 2015

Have you thought about changing careers, but not sure where to start? Learning more about different fields can be both interesting in helping you learn more about how organizations work as a whole, and a great way to expand your network.

This month we’ll approach ‘information interviewing’ from the standpoint of you having an interest in potentially pursing this new field, interviewing someone who’s in your field of interest to learn more about it and see whether it’s something you do or don’t want to continue to explore.

To begin the process, spend some time learning about the field. Read magazines, books, professional newsletters, articles in the newspaper, surf the internet and so forth. Having a baseline education of the field before you contact someone for their time, can help you to best leverage your time, connect with the person with whom you’re speaking and ask more informed questions.

Spend some time this week reading information that’s readily available. In addition, find 3 people with whom you can talk who are already in this chosen profession. If you don’t know anybody off hand, whose names are showing up in articles? Can you find websites with their contact information? Are these friends of friends? Are they in your social network (ie LinkedIn)?

Next week we’ll work on determining which questions you’d like to ask during the information interview.

To your success,

Gwyneth Anne

408.246.7427