Informational Interviews
The experience of preparing for the informational interviews was tricky. First, I had to find professionals in the public relations field that had the time to do the interviews with me. I looked through my LinkedIn contacts initially, but I did not see anyone I personally knew that was in the public relations profession. Then, I remembered I had a business connection with the customer service manager at my current job. She had further connections with public relations professionals in the corporate office that would greatly benefit my interview process. The next challenge I had to overcome was composing informational questions. I had to find a way to create questions that did not seem as though I conducted the interview to be hired by the professionals. Gershon warns job seekers like myself to conduct informational interviews that are a “one-way exchange of information that will be useful in orienting [me] towards a job’s demands or a company organization” (Gershon, 96). As advised by the “Getting Off the Screen and Into Networks” reading, I limited how instrumental I was going to be in the interviews. I did this by crafting questions that contained ambiguity about “what I wanted the professional to do for me” (Gershon, 96). In addition, when asking the professionals’ permission to conduct and record the interviews, I made sure not to refer to them as “informational interviews.” Gershon suggests that when a job seeker asks for informational interviews, that they should avoid using this term unless they have recently graduated from high school or college (Gershon, 96).
The experience of conducting the informational interview was a bit nerve wracking for me. This was because I had never done anything similar to an informational interview before. With this type of interview, I was in the role of asking the questions. According to Gershon, “The person granting the interview is supposed to be in control…” (Gershon, 97). Also, my nervousness stemmed from not knowing the professionals on a personal level prior to the interviews. I did not want the professionals to feel as though I was wasting their time, nor that I was purposely using the interview to earn a job with them. During all three interviews, I noticed many similarities in what the professionals were sharing with me. The most common way that the professionals meet and recruit new employees are through networking and referrals from people they know. This really opened my eyes to how important maintaining social capital is. Most likely, the future career I enter into will be through the networking I have done. The professionals agreed that the most successful future employees have good attendance, excellent work ethic, and dedication to what they do. In terms of mistakes that people wanting to work for these professionals do, include underestimating the expectations of the public relations profession, losing interest in the job, and being more concerned about themselves than the well-being of the business.
https://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2012/07/26/what-is-an-informational-interview-anyway
My Interview with Dave, Public Relations Specialist/Store Manager for Giant Grocery Store
My Interview with John, Hiring Manager/Image Consultant for Pro Finish Painting
