Easy Career Research: Informational Interviews and Observing

Excerpt from Key Life Area: Career guide

If you are unsure about the direction you want to take in your career, but have an idea as to what field or fields you may be interested in, there are two approaches you can take to help decide more about what type of work you might wish to pursue: informational interviews and observing. 

Informational Interviews 

Informational interviews, which are just like they sound, are an effective way to meet professionals who are doing the work that you want to do, and find out about them and their job. 

You can learn what these individuals’ responsibilities are, what their typical workdays are like, what their backgrounds are, and other related information.

With the knowledge you gain from interviewing professionals, you can use much better judgment and make a more informed decision on a career path. 

How to set up and conduct an informational interview: 

1.     Find professionals (search for more than one for more objectivity) in your area that are in a career position in which you may like to eventually find yourself. 

2.     Call or e-mail them, introduce yourself, offer your background, and ask them if they might be willing to meet with you (or talk over the phone) for twenty minutes to share information about the work that they do. 

3.     In the interviews, ask questions which will have a direct impact on your decision-making process for how you will choose your career track. Especially consider asking about each individual’s work and educational background, and how they got to the positions that they are in now.

4.     Always follow up with a thank you letter or e-mail. 

Observing 

If you are at the point in your career-searching process where you are more positive about the area in which you would like to work, but have little experience in that particular type of environment, then a helpful way to actually familiarize yourself with that kind of setting is through going there and observing the routines and actions of people at work. 

Many companies and organizations are amenable to allowing you to actually come to their place of work and simply spend time observing what they do, given that you present yourself as someone who is interested in possibly pursuing work in their field. 

You can set up an observation opportunity as you would an informational interview. Make sure to be aware of restrictions they may give you for reasons of potential liability. 

For more free information, go to the Key Life Area: Career guide on this website.