Coaching practices for How to Do an Informational Interview

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Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• The conversation goes great and then it just...
• 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
• Someone gave me real time and good advice, and weeks go by where I never circle back to tell them I actually used it
• When I talk to people in the field they give me the polished official version, and I walk away no clearer on what the day-to-day actually feels like

Practices that may help

1. Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network
   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.
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. Share advice with permission (ask–offer–ask)
   Ask what they know, offer information with consent, then ask what they make of it.
   Motivational Interviewing, Made Practical
9. 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
10. Motivational Interviewing, Made Practical
    Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative conversation style that strengthens a person’s own motivation for change by drawing out their reasons rather than supplying them. Meta-analyses find small-to-moderate effects across health behaviors — modest on average, but reliably better than confrontational or advice-giving styles, which can backfire.

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