Hello, it's me, Iris.
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Thanks for popping by, and welcome!
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Say hello in the comments.
Anyways, in this week's video,
I'm going to share, step-by-step,
how to set up and have an informational interview.
But before I do that, you know what to do,
please like this video if you like it
and subscribe to my channel.
It will mean the world to me, and it would really help me
to grow my YouTube channel.
So thank you for that and let's get started.
All right, so first things first: let me start
by explaining what an informational interview is
and why they're so important.
An informational interview is an informal meeting
with the main goal of learning more about the desired
career path, company, or industry.
So it's a conversation with someone who works
at a company that you'd like to work for
or in an industry that you'd like to work in.
With the main goal of understanding more about
what it's like to do their job,
what it's like to work at that company or in that industry,
what people they work with,
what skills, experience, and knowledge is valued
or necessary, and if you would be a good fit for it.
Now if you've watched some of my previous videos,
you'll probably have noticed that I keep on banging on
about these informational interviews.
That's for a variety of reasons,
number one is that it's really hard to know
if you're going to like a job or a company.
It's something that I hear a lot from people
that I work with.
They say, "Well, what if I take the job,
"but I don't like it or I don't like the culture
"of the company or I don't like the people I work with?"
Informational interviews give you a chance
to fill those gaps, to get a better understanding
of the company, of the job, and to take away
that guess work.
Two, informational interviews can give you really valuable
insight into things you'd otherwise would never have known.
It can help you to connect the dots.
So let's say for example, you know you want to do something
with innovation, customer research, and apps,
but you've got absolutely no clue
which job would tie all those things together.
So what you do is you go on LinkedIn and find some people
who have the word innovation in their job title.
Do a bit of research, you reach out to them,
and through those informational interviews with them,
you learn that a job in a marketing strategy team
at a small tech startup will combine all of those things.
That's something that you would've never learnt
or found out from doing desk research
or inner reflection, self reflection.
Number three, informational interviews
can help you find a job, it can help you land a job
at a company that you'd love to work for.
Now I've said this before, companies prefer to hire people
they already know, or through referrals.
So informational interviews can be super valuable
and helpful in getting to know the right people
to help you find the job.
If you are wondering, okay, how do I do that?
Make sure you watch this video
in which I explain the steps, I explain how to network
to land your next job.
The final reason why informational interviews
are so important is because they can help you to
prepare for a job application or a job interview.
If you speak with people who do a similar role
or you speak with a hiring manager,
you have an informational meeting with them,
then you can learn more about what it takes
to succeed in that role
and you can use that to your advantage
when you apply for a role or when you have that
job interview.
Okay, now you know what an informational interview is,
and why they are so important,
let me talk you through the steps to set one up
and have one.
Step number one, research.
Those of you who like making lists, eat your heart out
because that's the first step.
Before you do anything, have a think about
the companies that you'd love to work for,
or the types of roles or jobs that you're interested in,
or maybe even the sector, industry, or the subject matters
that you're drawn to.
Write that down.
Then, hop onto LinkedIn, and find people who either
work at those companies that you've written down,
or who do the kind of roles or jobs that you've written down
or who work in the field, industry, or subject matter
that you are interested in.
Check out their profiles and pick the three to five people
that stand out for you.
The people that you'd most like to connect with,
the people that you'd genuinely like to have a
conversation with.
Then ask yourself,
what would I love to learn from this person?
What would I like to find out?
What would I love to ask them?
Write down four to five questions.
Here are some examples.
All right, now you've done step one, research,
it's time to move onto step two, connect.
Okay, so it's time to reach out to them,
you could this directly on LinkedIn,
but a lot of people don't check
their LinkedIn mailbox regularly.
So it might be better
and smarter to send them an email directly.
If you don't have their email address,
you can use an email finder service like hunter.io,
or snov.io, to find their email address.
Now you wanna keep your message short,
roughly two to three paragraphs.
And in that message, you obviously quickly want to
introduce yourself, explain then why you want to speak
with them, and not someone else,
and finally, ask for 20 to 30 minutes of their time,
if they would be willing to have a 20 to 30 minute
chat with you.
Your tone of voice should depend on the person
that you're reaching out to,
the company that they work for, and the industry
that they work in.
So for example, if someone works for a bank
or a reputable private equity firm,
your tone of voice is probably going to be
a little bit different to someone who works in an upcoming,
young, food startup.
Now I've created a little Swipe file
with some examples messages that you could send out
when reaching out for an informational interview,
and I'll share the link for that in the description below
this video, so make sure you check that out.
Now there's a good chance that they won't get back
to your initial email, please don't take that personally,
and don't let it stop you.
Just make sure you follow up, send a gentle
and kind follow-up message, roughly a week after you send
that initial email and then if they still don't respond,
send another one a week later,
and then finally, if they still don't respond to that one,
again, a week later.
So once you've followed up twice on your initial message,
and they've still not responded,
then it's time to move on
and find someone else to speak with.
Okay, so you have received a response, yay,
now it's time for step number three, which is prepare.
It's essential that you prepare
for an informational interview,
because it can get a little bit awkward
if you show up and you don't know anything about them,
or the company that they work or the industry
that they work in.
So start by doing a bit of desk research,
learn more about them.
How long have they been in their current role?
How long have they worked at the company that they're
currently working for?
What did they do prior to that?
Have they shared anything interesting on LinkedIn lately
or elsewhere?
What kind of things are they into?
What kind of things are they supporting?
Any causes that they might be supporting,
that they're passionate about.
Try to understand and get to know them
a little bit better.
Then do a bit of desk research on the company
that they work for and the industry that they work in.
So what has the company shared on LinkedIn recently
for example?
Has it been in the news lately?
Has it received any press coverage?
What trends or developments are shaping or disrupting
the industry at the moment?
Now you don't need to become an expert about the company
or the industry that they work in,
but it's good practise to have a basic understanding
of what's happening in the field that they're working in.
The next thing you want to do is take a look
at those questions that you've written down already,
you should've written down four to five questions
that you'd like to ask them.
Now add an extra four or five questions
because they might have a bit of extra time,
and you don't wanna be unprepared and don't know
what else to ask if they do give you their time.
All right, so now you've prepared
for the informational interview,
then we move onto step number four,
have the meeting.
All right, so the time has come,
it's time to have the meeting.
There are a few things that you should do,
number one, I almost feel like it's needless to say,
but I'm gonna say it anyhow, be on time.
It's really disrespectful to show up late
when you've asked for their time,
so be on time, don't be late, just don't do it.
Number two is take the lead.
You've requested this meeting so it's your job
and your responsibility to take the lead.
Start off by showing your gratitude and appreciation
for their time, saying something along the lines of
"Thank you so much for meeting with me,
I really appreciate it" goes a long way.
Then, briefly explain why you want to speak with them,
and what you're hoping to get out of this conversation.
You could something along the lines of,
Then start by asking your first question.
Number three, stick to the time.
After roughly 20 minutes, say something along the lines of,
This shows you respect their time
and very subtly puts the ball in their court.
If they have a busy day and they need to get on with it,
then they might say, "Yeah, sure, one final question
"is fine."
But, if they have a bit more time,
they might say, "Oh, it's okay, feel free to ask
"a few more questions, I've got another 10 minutes."
It's a nice little trick to get a bit of extra time
without imposing it on them.
Number four, always ask for a connection.
You always, always, always, want to make sure
you finish an informational meeting
by asking if they know someone else that you should
be speaking with.
They might someone who is in a position to hire,
and it would be so beneficial if they would introduce you
to them, so always ask for another connection.
All right, moving onto the final step of the process.
Step five, follow up.
This is just as important as the actual meeting itself,
if not more important.
But a lot of people fail to follow up properly,
and instead of building a relationship for the longer term,
they let this informational interview
be just a one-off thing.
Within 24 hours of having the meeting,
send a thank you note. Send a message to, again,
thank them for their time and their willingness
to chat with you, and follow up on anything
that you said you'd do.
So for example, if you said that you would connect them
with someone, just tell them,
"Look, I'm quickly gonna reach out to that person,
"I'll connect the two of you as soon as I hear back
"from them."
Then sometime between one to four weeks later,
get in touch with them again, and if you can,
help them.
So for example, maybe during the informational interview,
they've shared that they're working on a project
where they are helping women of colour succeed
in a corporate world, and two weeks after you meet them,
you see that someone on LinkedIn shares
an article about this.
So what you could do is you share this with them
and you say something along the lines of,
"I saw this on LinkedIn, thought of you,
"thought you might find it helpful."
Then again, two to four weeks later,
reach out to them.
If they have introduced you to someone within
their network, and you've had the meeting with that person,
tell them how helpful that introduction has been.
Or for example, share what piece of advice
that they have shared has been most helpful to you.
And if you can help them, even better.
Even if it's just something on the lines
of sharing a podcast or sharing a link to a book
or an article that you've read.
And that's the idea, that's how you build
a long term relationship.
You keep on reconnecting with them and keep on being
helpful to them and sharing stuff that they might be
interested in.
All right, there you have it, the five steps
to set up and have an informational interview.
I really hope this was helpful.
As always, if you're watching it up until here,
you must've liked it, so please leave a like,
thank you for watching and I'll see you again next week.