Informational Interviews, Part III: How to Conduct an Informational Interview

By: Kandice Thorn

The past few weeks, we have been discussing informational interviewing.  As mentioned in these posts (see Part I and Part II), informational interviews are an incredibly useful and efficient networking tool.  In the previous weeks, we discussed myths associated with informational interviewing and how to set up an informational interview.  This week, we will discuss how to conduct the actual interview.

Informational Interviews, Part II: Setting Up an Informational Interview

By: Kandice Thorn

Last week's post, Informational Interviews, Part I: Myth Busting, debunked some common misconceptions about informational interviewing.  This week, we will discuss how to land an informational interview, including targeting people you would like to interview and setting up the interview.

Informational Interviews, Part I: Myth Busting

By: Kandice Thorn

Networking is arguably the most important thing you can do in your job search, and informational interviewing is an often overlooked, but extremely useful networking tool.

What is an informational interview?  An informational interview is an interview set up for the purpose of information gathering.  You are the interviewer, and the objective is to learn from your interviewee about the job market or about practice in a particular area of law, industry, or practice setting.

The one-on-one nature of informational interviewing has several advantages over forms of networking that involve large groups of people:

• the absence of  distractions provides an ideal setting in which to make a meaningful connection with someone;
• you have the time and opportunity to make a positive impression on the person with whom you are interviewing; and 
• you can learn quite a bit about the field/job market you are seeking to enter.

In short, informational interviewing gives you a lot of networking bang for your buck.  This blog post will respond to some myths about informational interviewing.  Next week, I will discuss how to go about setting up an informational interview and the following week I will discuss how to conduct the interview itself.