For starters, they force you think, reach out, & put your word out there.
For me that meant asking myself the following questions:
Who would I like to talk to? Who would I be excited to interview?
Is there a position that I'd like to know more about?
Is there a brand that I favor?
Who would have an interesting story or career path?
Is there an industry that I'd like to get insight on?
TIPS:
Be prepared to spend loads of time on Linked in if you are serious about getting connected.
It is one of the best tools I have found.
First, you need to find someone/something to guide you. Search by company, job titles, locations or industries. You can also search though who you are connected to (If they are a 2nd degree connection, you can ask your 1st degree connection to introduce you to them.)
Next, you need to choose your person(s). Choose multiple people start with 10 a week. Don't expect responses from anyone. Make a general note asking them if they would have time to chat with you. Tell a little about your self to make it personal. Include what you do/where you study or when you graduate. Tell them why you are interested in what they do. I'll say it again: tell them why. This increases the chances of a response. And when they respond, you feel flattered and feelings of joy, as if you've accomplished something.
PREPARATION:
Preparing for an informational interview is very important. You need to know about them before writing your questions. Look for conversation points that you can have with them. Look for things you have in common or experiences that you can talk freely about. Where are they from? Where did they go to school? These questions will give you a good sense about their interests and career path. It's ok to have some standard questions that you'll ask everyone. But as a general thumb, I think it is most beneficial to reshape all of your interviews based on the person you will be talking to.
DURING THE INTERVIEW:
Should you bring your labtop?
Should you pay for their coffee?
Should you take notes?
Should you look at your notebook every time you ask a question?
These were all of the things I wondered about. All interviews will be different, but you do have some choices to make that will impact the overall experience.
The best and most valuable interviews I had were without anything in front of me. If there was a notebook, I would keep it closed and only refer to it at the very end if there was a moment of science or when they asked "if there was anything else I wanted to cover."
I find that the best connections are made naturally through organic conversations. If you have done your research, you will not need to refer to your notebook to decide what to ask them. When the interview is over, that's when I hit up my notes, labtop, or whatever device there is to relay all of the information I heard in my head onto paper.
This method works well for me. I may be an audio learner or something.
If you are going to try and get the most information, I'd say bring your labtop and type away word for word. The personal connection will not be there, but hey, you'll have a lot of stuff to read later.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Not only are you learning about them. They are learning about you. Be prepared to be able to talk about yourself. Articulate what you do and how you got there. Think about where you see your self in the future. Think about your dream job and be able to bullet point the things in a job that are important to you. Seem like you have a direction. Talking about yourself in a professional way comes with practice. And then there's positioning yourself as an interesting person.
THANKING THEM:
Thanking them can be done in your own personal way. Just be personal about it.
Written notes are classic if you have their address. I sent courtney a hand written thank you card, especially because she sent me a whole box of Clif Bar products!
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| Clif Product Bonanza |
Bottom line: It's not busy work if they are valuable experiences.
My Interviews
I conducted 10 informational interviews with people from different industries and points in their careers. They all had something in common, that they liked what they did. I interviewed the following people:
1) Lisa Maulhardt, Managing Principal @ SY Partners, San Francisco, CA
2) Courtney Lynch, Brand Manafer, Clif Bar & Co. Emeryville, CA
3) Nick Holder, Paralegal Effico Law Group, San Jose CA
4) John Holland, Founder & Chief Experience Officer, Searchme Inc. Berkley, CA
5) Libby Kaiser, Fitness Instructor 24 Hour Fittness
6) Vanessa Reed, Event Coordinatot,Event Planning San Jose, CA
7) Chris Gilson, Director, MPT Student @ AAU
8) Apo Bordin, Social Media Intern, Trippin.com, San Francisco
9) Michael Dolan, Junior Copywriter, Coakley & Haggerty, San Jose, CA
10)Richard Heggem, VP Sales at Sales Analytics, Inc.
Best Advice:
"Find somewhere you already love. Or that you can learn to love" - Lisa
Top Quotes:
Encounters
One of the other ways to become comfortable talking is by approaching and talking to strangers. Connecting feels good to me. It spreads love and reminds you that every conversation is an opportunity to learn.
At first, this exercise reminded me of all of the interesting and boarder line crazy conversations with homeless people I've had here (in San Francisco). Those came naturally because I worked at Starbucks and lived in the Tenderloin. I knew I would have no trouble finding people to talk to, but to make it more interesting, I would focus on how I approached them and what their responses were like. As a planner, it's important to be able to talk to people from all walks of life. I don't know if the skill is ever something you can learn or practice. I think it's the kind situation where: you have it or you don't.
These were my most memorable encounters:
At first, this exercise reminded me of all of the interesting and boarder line crazy conversations with homeless people I've had here (in San Francisco). Those came naturally because I worked at Starbucks and lived in the Tenderloin. I knew I would have no trouble finding people to talk to, but to make it more interesting, I would focus on how I approached them and what their responses were like. As a planner, it's important to be able to talk to people from all walks of life. I don't know if the skill is ever something you can learn or practice. I think it's the kind situation where: you have it or you don't.
These were my most memorable encounters:
David, an extremely flexible male dancer.
The conversation was initiated through the means of a complement. "You have great flexibility" was the wording I used. "I bet that feels amazing!" We talked about the importance of stretching: for safety reasons & how great it feels to stretch. Many people come to the gym and pump up their muscles for an hour and then go home and forget to stretch. He said it took a lot of training to become as flexible as he was. David was super friendly and I felt very comfortable engaging in conversation with him. I had no fears about sending him a complement and I would not have done anything differently. I learned that he was a ballet dancer for 17 years and toured up and down the coast of California. We talked about the popular show "So You Think You Can Dance," and how wonderful it is to watch people dance. He preferred to watch a more traditional method of dance such as ballet, ballroom, or jazz as opposed to hip-hop of modern.
He said, "I'm kind sick of hip hop." That moved into a new conversation about dance theory and we agreed that that traditional dance has a deep rooted connection with the audience. We touched on the ancient qualities of dance and that it has been around for centuries. I thought it was interesting to hear his perspective when he said, "Traditional forms of dancing involve more communication. It's like the dancers are dancing for you. Some newer forms of dancing like 'break' or 'hip-hop' seems to fufill a sense of self. It seems like the dancers are dancing for themselves." He now teaches private dance lessons and works part time at Macys.
He said, "I'm kind sick of hip hop." That moved into a new conversation about dance theory and we agreed that that traditional dance has a deep rooted connection with the audience. We touched on the ancient qualities of dance and that it has been around for centuries. I thought it was interesting to hear his perspective when he said, "Traditional forms of dancing involve more communication. It's like the dancers are dancing for you. Some newer forms of dancing like 'break' or 'hip-hop' seems to fufill a sense of self. It seems like the dancers are dancing for themselves." He now teaches private dance lessons and works part time at Macys.
Kevin, a 13 yr old futuristic kid who is obsessed with video games
The next person is someone I already know, in fact, he is my 13 yr. old cousin. I engaged him in the new video game he is playing called Mine Craft. He is a modern day genius type kid who I know, will some day change the world. I learned about the premise of the game, which is similar to Civilization or Survival. You must build a home, build hunting tools, find chickens for food, etc. It’s a game about exploring and has lots of outlets for creative thinking and problem solving.
The next person is someone I already know, in fact, he is my 13 yr. old cousin. I engaged him in the new video game he is playing called Mine Craft. He is a modern day genius type kid who I know, will some day change the world. I learned about the premise of the game, which is similar to Civilization or Survival. You must build a home, build hunting tools, find chickens for food, etc. It’s a game about exploring and has lots of outlets for creative thinking and problem solving.
This
conversation was about taking time to learn about someone and their
passions. I was fascinated at the fact that these gamers are extremely
self taught experts! He resources you tube (research) and learns how
other players built their worlds. Now that I spent some time getting to
know what he is into, I hear constant updates on what’s going on in Mine Craft.
Thoughts
As an outcome of all of this engaging and interviewing process, I am more aware of how much/ how often I engage with people conversation. This extends to both strangers and people who are close to me.
Choosing the candidates almost became like a personal game.
It takes a little bit of extra energy to talk to someone you don’t know. It's kind of risky and compares to playing a potential game of catch. If you are the conversation initiator, you are the ball thrower. The recipient can do whatever they want with it the ball you throw. They might throw the ball back or they might just walk away.
There are a couple of different ways to engage in conversation with a stranger. I realized that I was most likely to use (1) complement, (2) question, and (3) expressing thanks.
There are several other ways to talk to strangers such as sharing an opinion/observation or pointing out a shared connection/ similarity.
I thought this assignment was fun and that the pleasure outweighed the risks of experimenting with your own comfort level. For the last note, I think your surroundings have an effect on this assignment. Somebody who is surrounded by public very often, might be more comfortable engaging in random conversations than someone who is alone most of the time. The people who were in my pool to choose from had to be integrated and accessible with my world. I knew that I would be engaging with someone from the bart, cal train, muni, school (inside), school (surrounding), the grocery store, the gym, or out at a party, or at some kind of a sale somewhere. The location will have an impact on your conversation and it's also good to consider the timing.
There are several other ways to talk to strangers such as sharing an opinion/observation or pointing out a shared connection/ similarity.
I thought this assignment was fun and that the pleasure outweighed the risks of experimenting with your own comfort level. For the last note, I think your surroundings have an effect on this assignment. Somebody who is surrounded by public very often, might be more comfortable engaging in random conversations than someone who is alone most of the time. The people who were in my pool to choose from had to be integrated and accessible with my world. I knew that I would be engaging with someone from the bart, cal train, muni, school (inside), school (surrounding), the grocery store, the gym, or out at a party, or at some kind of a sale somewhere. The location will have an impact on your conversation and it's also good to consider the timing.
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