Coaching practices for How Do You Professionally Ask About Going Back to Your Old Job
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How Do You Professionally Ask About Going Back to Your Old Job, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’ve got the conversation booked but I’m staring at a blank page of questions, worried I’ll waste their time asking things I could’ve Googled
- I want to message someone in a field I’m curious about, but I freeze on what to even say
- The conversation goes great and then it just...
- Someone asks "so what are you looking for?" and I ramble out something vague and apologetic
- Someone gave me real time and good advice, and weeks go by where I never circle back to tell them I actually used it
Practices that may help
- Prepare questions you genuinely don’t know the answer to
Ask about the unwritten realities of the role — the things no job posting reveals.
Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network - Request the conversation the right way
A short, specific, no-pressure request gets far more responses than a vague networking ask.
Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network - Close every informational interview with one forward step
End by asking: "Is there someone else you think I should talk to?"
Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network - Practise your story before you need it
Have a clear, genuine two-minute narrative about who you are and where you’re headed.
Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network - Send a meaningful thank-you note
Write a follow-up that references something specific and reports back on how you used their advice.
Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network - Reactivate dormant ties
Reach out to people you’ve lost touch with — they carry bridging value and low social cost.
The Strength of Weak Ties - Repair a poor response
When you respond badly to good news, circle back and give the engaged response you missed.
Active-Constructive Responding, Made Practical - Build and work a target list of roles and organisations
Replace passive job board browsing with active research into specific organisations you want to understand.
Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network - Ask: “Would I choose this today if I were starting fresh?”
Evaluate your current situation as if you were encountering it for the first time, without sunk costs.
Status Quo Bias — Why We Stick with the Default - Listen for what isn’t in the job description
Focus on the texture of day-to-day work, not the official narrative.
Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network
Related concerns
- Alternative To Providing Individuals References During Job Application
Replace passive job board browsing with active research into specific organisations you want to understand.
Build and work a target list of roles and organisations
- Career Conversation Request
A short, specific, no-pressure request gets far more responses than a vague networking ask.
Request the conversation the right way
- Career Research Conversations
An informational interview is a low-stakes conversation with someone in a role or field you’re curious about — you ask questions, they share experience, and no job is on the table. Richard Bolles’s What Color Is Your Parachute? popularised this as a career research tool; the evidence is largely observational and practitioner, but it consistently shows that direct conversation with insiders produces better career decisions and unexpected referrals.
- Does Indeed Tell You If You Didnt Get A Job
Focus on the texture of day-to-day work, not the official narrative.
Listen for what isn’t in the job description
- How To Answer The Interview Question Why I Am Not Working At My Previous Job
Have a clear, genuine two-minute narrative about who you are and where you’re headed.
Practise your story before you need it
- How To Do An Informational Interview
An informational interview is a low-stakes conversation with someone in a role or field you’re curious about — you ask questions, they share experience, and no job is on the table. Richard Bolles’s What Color Is Your Parachute? popularised this as a career research tool; the evidence is largely observational and practitioner, but it consistently shows that direct conversation with insiders produces better career decisions and unexpected referrals.
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