Coaching practices for Informational Interview Follow Up
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Informational Interview Follow Up, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- The conversation goes great and then it just...
- Someone gave me real time and good advice, and weeks go by where I never circle back to tell them I actually used it
- 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
- I’ll have a genuinely good conversation with someone and then just… never follow up, and the connection quietly evaporates
Practices that may help
- 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 - 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 - 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 - 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. - 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 - Follow up every meaningful interaction
Send a specific, timely follow-up after every conversation that matters.
Never Eat Alone: Building a Real Network - Close with "What was most useful for you?"
The closing question turns the conversation into a learning that sticks — and teaches you what is actually valuable.
The Coaching Habit: Seven Questions to Be More Coach-Like - 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 - Close feedback by checking understanding, not agreement
Ask "What did you take from that?" rather than "Do you agree?"
The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead - 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
- Informational Interviews Career Research That Builds Your Network After A Loss
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.
- Thank You Note After Informational Interview
Write a follow-up that references something specific and reports back on how you used their advice.
Send a meaningful thank-you note
- 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
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