Interviewing Guide

SUNY Westchester Community College  Career Services Interview Guidelines 2017-2019 29 INFORMATIONALINTERVIEWING One of the best sources for gathering information about what's happening in an occupation or an industry is to talk to people working in the field. This process is called informational or research interviewing. An informational interviewis an interviewthat you initiate - youask thequestions. The purpose is to obtain information, not to get a job. GOODREASONSTOCONDUCTINFORMATIONAL INTEVIEWS: to explore careers and clarify your career goal to discover employment opportunities that are not advertised to expand your professional network to build confidence for future job interviews to access themost up-to-date career information to identify your professional strengths andweaknesses Listedbeloware STEPSTOFOLLOWTOCONDUCTANINFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW 1. Identify theOccupationor Industry YouWish to LearnAbout Assess your own interests, abilities, values, and skills, and evaluate labor conditions and trends to identify the best fields to research. 2. Prepare for the Interview Readall youcanabout the fieldprior to the interview. Decidewhat additional informationyouwould like to obtain about the occupation/industry. Prepare a list of questions that youwould like to have answered. 3. IdentifyPeople to Interview There are severalways to find someone to interview.  Let everybodyknowthat youare interested in findingemployment in thisparticular field. Someone may know a person in that field and will be able to refer you. This includes friends, relatives, professors, counselors, andco-workers  AskyourCareer Services counselor toconnect you to alumni in the field  Identify the type of company/organization that you would like to work for. Find out the person/people that actually do what you are interested in and "cold call" them. This may be scary and intimidating at first but this yields great results. You simply introduce yourself, "Hello. My name is ______ and I am currently attending Westchester Community College. I'm thinkingaboutgoingintoyour fieldofworkandIwouldreallyappreciate it if I couldtalktoyouvery briefly about what it is you do and what suggestions you might have for someone like me who is thinkingaboutpursuing this career.Would it bepossible tomeetwithyou formaybe 15minutes at your convenience?"