Hi, I'm Jenny Rae, the Managing Director of Management Consulted, and today I'm talking
about informational interviews.
This is one of my favorite topics because I've found that it's normal for people to
wing informational interviews.
By the way, that's not a good strategy!
What I'm going to talk about today are 5 keys to highlighting a good strategy coming into
and also executing an informational interview so that you can get the most out of it in
the networking process.
So, I'll get started.
First of all, there are 3 things that you need to think about when you're planning for
the informational interview.
The first is that you want to come with a strategy.
It's really essential that when you're opening up the interview you have an agenda.
You have a plan for the interview, and a common one that I recommend people use is something
like this: You would say, "I'm really looking forward to talking to you today.
I have a plan or a structure that we can follow.
If the conversation goes outside of that, I'm totally fine, but in general what I'd
really like to hear about is your experience at the company that you're working at, I'd
like to tell you a little bit about my background, and I'd also like to highlight a few key questions
that
I've got about my strategy for the application process.
If you lay out a structure like that, not only does it
let somebody know you are planned and prepared
for the call - which is impressive - but it also
lets them know that you are going to ask them
questions at the end that otherwise could be awkward to ask if you're just having a
natural chat and at the end you're going to ask them for something.
You're preparing them for that, which may be easier to bring it up later.
The second thing that's important to do is to do everything you can on your own.
W
You want to have your resume edited, your cover
letter ready, you have to have your application
process all filled out, you want to have your firms selected, you want to have your offices
selected - you want to have every part of your plan already organized before you go
into the conversation with them so that you can ask them questions that don't just bring
you up to speed but actually put you one head above the other people who are applying.
You want to make sure you are asking advanced questions, and tailored questions - not just
basic
questions like "tell me about your company" or "tell me what it's like to be there."
I'm going to talk a little bit more about being specific later.
The third thing you really want to keep in mind is the follow-up.
It's really critical that you follow up with someone by email 24 hours later.
It's a sign of respect and it's also a sign that you are organized, which are both important
for them to see.
When you follow up with the email, you want to include a couple of key things.
First, thank them for their time and give a quick recap of what you talked about, and
most importantly include any next steps - especially if they offered to do something for you, like
review your resume or like go through the process of referring you inside the firm.
Make sure you have that in place.
And then finally, end up with an expectation of "I'll follow up with you in X number of
days or weeks" so that you'll let them know that it's not only on them that you're managing
your own process and you keep them accountable to actually do what they have offered to do.
It's just a very clear and concise way to recap what you've done and make sure that
what they've promised will actually happen.
Then, once you're inside the informational interview, it's important to understand that
there are a few key things that are really essential to do.
The first is that you want to make sure you are asking for specific advice.
I touched on this really briefly earlier, but being specific is super critical.
You want to make sure that in particular that there are 2 things that you ask about.
First is office selection.
You can talk to 3 different people and you should still ask this question.
Ask them what their preferences for offices are,
why they chose the office that they're in, and let them know what your preferences are,
and ask them to give you advice.
If they know a specific office is very competitive and one that is less competitive and you're
equally happy to work in them, you can adjust your strategy when you're applying to the
firm.
The second thing that is also beneficial to ask them always is the timing of your application.
Again, let them know what you're plan is, but let them tell you if now when you're talking
to them isn't a good time but maybe a couple months later down the road will be a good
time.
So make sure that you're always asking specific questions and that those 2 are always fair
game.
In addition to asking specific questions, you want to ask them for specific advice.
While I'm talkinga bout this, you want to ask them for at least 1 of 2 things: a review
of your resume, so they can take a look and give you pointers on what you can do better.
Like I said before, this is not for a very ugly resume that they are going to make totally
better.
You want them to say, "wow, this is a great resume - here are 2 or 3 ideas that I'd have
to tweak it" as opposed to "this resume is terrible and totally needs to be redone."
So make sure that you have it looked at by someone like Management Consulted, or a peer
group of friends that are warm contacts before you actually go through this process.
Then the final thing that is helpful to know and helpful to ask specific advice for is
a referral.
So when you're going through the process, you want to feel like somebody at the end
of this is ready to advocate for you and that they have everything they need to do that.
So make sure that you go ahead and ask them, "would you be comfortable referring me, either
inside a team review or inside your process for the firm electronically?"
Make sure that you understand that they may say no, or "I'm not comfortable" and leave
the door open to have a conversation about what you could still do to make them comfortable
in the process.
So the key just of this is be specific, but in particular you want to ask for specific
help and you want to ask specific questions.
If you follow these 5 steps - if you come with a plan and execute that plan effectively
- then you can expect you're going to have tremendous informational interviews when someone
goes from being a warm contact or even a cold contact and they become your raging fan, an
advocate for you inside the firm - there's nothing in the consulting process that's more
valuable than that.
If you've got questions about networking, make sure that you check out our website at
managementconsulted.com.