Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about what to ask in informational interviews.
Speaker 1: It is great to meet with people and learn more
Speaker 1: about their fields or companies, but certain questions can be
Speaker 1: more helpful with this time than others. Today's tip, like
Speaker 1: another this week, comes from Ashley Stall's book You Turn,
Speaker 1: Get Unstuck, Discover your Direction, and Design your dream career.
Speaker 1: Ashley is a career coach who helps people figure out
Speaker 1: what they want to be doing in life. When people
Speaker 1: are trying to move companies or fields, career guides often
Speaker 1: suggest setting up informational interviews. People agree to meet with
Speaker 1: folks to talk about what they've learned or what people
Speaker 1: should know. It is not an interview for a job.
Speaker 1: It's just a way to get helpful information. It is
Speaker 1: a wise idea to take advantage of these if people
Speaker 1: are willing to do them, but if you don't think
Speaker 1: it through, the conversations can be awkward and sometimes people
Speaker 1: wind up doing a lot of these interviews and just
Speaker 1: need some guidance somewhere to get started in any conversation.
Speaker 1: So Ashley suggests two questions. First, do you have any
Speaker 1: suggestions for how I can stand out as a candidate?
Speaker 1: And second, do you have any suggestions on companies I
Speaker 1: should look into that are perhaps not on my radar.
Speaker 1: These questions are both helpful for a few reasons. Neither
Speaker 1: are particularly demanding, which is good. Aggressive informational interviews tend
Speaker 1: to make people shy off from doing them. But as
Speaker 1: for the particular is the first question how to stand
Speaker 1: out as a candidate is helpful for the obvious reason
Speaker 1: that it tends to inspire people to offer to pass
Speaker 1: around your resume if they like you. That is a
Speaker 1: very good way to stand out as a candidate. But
Speaker 1: even if it doesn't inspire that, it will inspire the
Speaker 1: person to talk about little things that they think matter
Speaker 1: in their field. Most likely, anyone applying for jobs is
Speaker 1: reasonably skilled and credentialed. It is often little things that
Speaker 1: help in terms of getting in. The second question about
Speaker 1: lesser known companies tends to inspire people to connect you
Speaker 1: to their friends at other companies. It gets the person
Speaker 1: thinking about the whole landscape of their field and opportunities
Speaker 1: that might not be so immediately obvious. This is a
Speaker 1: good thing, because again, everyone knows about the big name stuff.
Speaker 1: This question gets a person to say, oh, yeah, I
Speaker 1: got an email this morning about this small tech company
Speaker 1: that's really scaling up their marketing division. These questions both
Speaker 1: aren't asking directly for favors. Long time listeners know that
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of Dorry Clark's adage no asks for
Speaker 1: a year. Networking for the long haul means not asking
Speaker 1: people to expend political capital for you when they don't
Speaker 1: really know you. It can feel draining for people in
Speaker 1: positions of power, but asking for suggestions on how to
Speaker 1: stand out and suggestions for where else to look allows
Speaker 1: people to share their expertise and advice in a very
Speaker 1: non demanding way. These questions also allow people to be
Speaker 1: helpful in other ways if they want to be helpful,
Speaker 1: but there's not as much pressure, and I find that
Speaker 1: this often encourages people to do more, which in the
Speaker 1: long run is what you want. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcast. At i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.