Your professors mentioned informational interviews but you’re not sure why they’re helpful and how to do them? Keep on reading cause I’ll share my top 5 reasons you should do an informational interview as a college student.
Comment below what your major is! I would love to hear!
A Little Bit About Informational Interviews In College
I haven’t heard of them either before I went to that networking event and took a Business Bootcamp class in my freshman year.
Informational interviews are basically “interviews” where you ask the person about their job and what they like and dislike about it. It’s also a great opportunity to network and connect to possible job opportunities!
At first, I really didn’t want to do it (I’m an introvert haha), but then it was actually really interesting and helpful! I have also heard of people getting internships from interviews like this, so it’s a super-strong networking tip!
Related: 10 Tips for a Successful Online Interview
1. Get An Insight Into A Career
Conducting informational interviews are great ways to learn more about certain careers. Maybe you’re interested in going into marketing but not sure what area you’d like to do most. What better way to figure it out than talking to people in different marketing areas or companies!
Informational interviews are also great if you don’t know what career you want to get into. You can interview people with different degrees and job titles to see which one sounds most appealing to you.
2. Network, Network, Network!
Another one of the best reasons to do informational interviews is for networking. Communicating with someone working for a company is a great way to get potential recommendations if you apply for internships or graduate jobs in the same company.
Also, you can connect with them on LinkedIn, and stay in contact. Maybe you can reach out to them every few months and ask how they are doing, maybe send a thank you card after your interview. That way you leave a positive impression and they are more likely to recommend you in the future.
Related Post: 10 Simple Networking Tips For Students
3. Internship Opportunities
Speaking about networking in job opportunities, an informational interview can also improve your chances in getting an internship. Especially competitive internships at Google or Facebook can be hard to get, but if you have talked to people in the team about the career and they have a connection with you, you are more likely to get the role!
4. Get Feedback
Another great reason you should do an informational interview (or several) is to get feedback. Now with this I mean getting feedback on your resume, CV, cover letter for an internship at the same company, or even just feedback whether they see you succeed in the role or not.
After you asked your questions, you can hint at your own CV or resume, or whatever you’d like them to look at for you, and ask if they could give you some feedback on it. If you do this politely while appreciating their time for you, they are likely to say you’re welcome to email it to them and they will respond to it when they get a chance.
I love this aspect of informational interviews, and it’s a great resource for feedback!
Related Post: 10 Tips For Business Majors To Boost Your Career
5. Mentoring
The last reason you should conduct informational interviews is the advice you can get from them; almost like a mentoring role. If you’re interested in an internship at the company or you are looking to apply for a graduate role, having someone you kind of know to ask questions can be so helpful!
For example, if you’re not sure about the dresscode, it can be less awkward to ask the person you have done the informational interview with, since they already have a connection to you, rather than the boss of the company.
Or maybe you have a question about the company culture or how something works. Having someone to turn to is a great asset, and I love informational interviews for that!
Those were my 5 reasons to conduct informational interviews in college!
I hope they helped you in your decision whether or not you want to do informational interviews in college! I can definitely recommend them. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or hit me up on my Instagram @myclickjournal.
Until soon,
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