{"id":5581,"date":"2022-12-07T18:58:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T18:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/?p=5581"},"modified":"2022-12-07T20:30:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T20:30:56","slug":"conduct-and-reflect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/2022\/12\/07\/conduct-and-reflect\/","title":{"rendered":"Conducting and Reflecting upon an Informational Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/zoebrinner\/\" target=\"_blank\">By Zoe Brinner \u201923<\/a><br>CES Peer Advisor<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ve chosen an interviewee, scheduled an interview, and prepared your questions. You\u2019re almost ready for the interview!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As your interview approaches we recommend that you:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Send an email to confirm your interview 24\u201348 hours in advance.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Dress to impress \u2014 business casual is a good standard, but if that feels odd, dress to match the industry. Is your dream job in a suit-and-tie or a jeans-and-tee office?<\/li><li>Arrive 10 minutes early and get comfortable in the interview setting or hop into the zoom room a few minutes before the scheduled start to check that your technology is working.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>If meeting new people makes you feel anxious, that\u2019s okay! I generally consider myself outgoing, but hopping on zoom to have a conversation with a stranger definitely made me nervous.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The key is to set up the interview in a way that makes you feel good\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re at a cafe, you can order a comforting drink. If you\u2019re online, try sitting at your desk but with a blanket on your lap, or light a soothing aromatic candle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You should conduct yourself professionally, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t take care of yourself too. Afterall, this is <em>your<\/em> interview \u2014 you set the tone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you sit down together, introduce yourself, thank them for meeting with you, and restate what you hope to learn. Once you\u2019ve done this, you can make small talk, get to know each other more, or jump right into the questions \u2014 whichever feels best.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take notes during the interview on anything that you think is helpful \u2014 just because a comment stands out in the moment doesn\u2019t guarantee that you\u2019ll remember it later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end, thank them for their time and insight. You might also ask if you may stay in-touch, or request a referral to contact other professionals in their network.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterwards, send them a thank-you note. Not sure how? We have a stellar guide on our website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pugetsound.edu\/career-and-employment-services\/ces-students\/career-guides\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To show your gratitude for your interviewee, say more than \u201cthank you.\u201d Tell them exactly what you are thankful for. You might include these specific points to make your card more meaningful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Thank them for letting you interview them&nbsp;<\/li><li>Provide a specific piece of insight or advice that they gave which you found especially helpful<\/li><li>Describe what you have been doing differently (and better) because of them<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ve finished the interview and thanked the interviewee. You\u2019re almost done \u2014 but you\u2019re not done yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make sure that you get the most out of your interview, take 10\u201320 minutes to reflect or journal on what you\u2019ve learned and consider the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What did you learn? Did anything especially excite or shock you (good or bad)?<\/li><li>Did the interviewee\u2019s experience sound like one that you would like to have?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Is what you like\/dislike due to their job, company, lifestyle, or another factor?<\/li><li>Do you feel more or less interested in the job\/field than you did before the interview?<\/li><li>What are your next steps? How would you like to follow through with what you learned?&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you\u2019ve held one informational interview, you have a little more momentum toward your career\u2019s development! Not sure where to take it next? Visit CES in Howarth 101 and we&#8217;ll help you figure it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Image by <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sgossard\/\" target=\"_blank\">Savannah Gossard \u201924<\/a><br>\u00a9 2022 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pugetsound.edu\/career-and-employment-services-ces\" target=\"_blank\">Career and Employment Services<\/a>, University of Puget Sound<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Zoe Brinner \u201923CES Peer Advisor You\u2019ve chosen an interviewee, scheduled an interview, and prepared your questions. You\u2019re almost ready for the interview!&nbsp; As your interview approaches we recommend that you:&nbsp; Send an email to confirm your interview 24\u201348 hours in advance.&nbsp; Dress to impress \u2014 business casual is a good standard, but if that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":508,"featured_media":5569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13],"tags":[74,28],"class_list":["post-5581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice","category-student-post","tag-career-exploration","tag-informational-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/508"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5581"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5619,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581\/revisions\/5619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}