Thinking of scheduling an “Informational Interview”? Be careful what you wish for…

Looking to be spoon-fed? It won't end well.

Angela Lane and Sergey Gorbatov, PhD.

You worked hard to get the meeting. You might even think it went well.  But to the leader whose time you took, you came across as unimpressive.  

Congratulations.  

That’s significantly worse than not getting the meeting at all.

The Meeting We're Talking About

It has a name: the “informational interview”. Someone, usually earlier in their career, asks someone more senior for time. Not for a job. Not for a decision. Just for insight on a role, a function, a path they are considering. The person giving the time is doing a favour. Nothing more, nothing less.

Why People Chase It

The career-minded are right to chase these opportunities. SHRM's research, drawn from an analysis of over 14 million job applications, puts employee referrals at more than 30 per cent of all hires, and referred candidates convert at rates job board applicants can only envy. The advantage is being known. 

We write about this in our book, “Move Up or Move On”.  You need to connect with others to make yourself and your work known.  

So the instinct to ask for the meeting is sound. 

But here is the part worth remembering: getting the meeting is the easy half. But ensuring it works FOR you isn’t.  

3 Ways to Kill Your Credibility in 30 Minutes.  Or Less. 

• Unprepared. We’ve both hosted employees who arrived clueless. They didn't know anything about the people they asked to meet with. They hadn't researched our roles and had no agenda. They miss details that even the simplest LinkedIn research would have confirmed.  It signals arrogance, as if their time is worth more than ours.  

It is ideal when senior leaders make themselves available to help the careers of those who are more junior.  It is a way to give back.  But it isn’t mandatory.  Don’t make a leader regret they cleared their calendar for you. 

• Unaccountable. The next “informational killer” is when the employee comes to the meeting and makes their problem the leader's. Don't put the monkey on the leader's back. The senior leader probably advanced their own career by taking accountability for it. So do the same. A good informational interview is a thought partnership: here is where I am, here is what I have considered, here is what I am unsure of. Demonstrate that you have thought through what you can before taking their time.

Our main reason for saying this is out of respect for the leader giving their time.  And seriously, wouldn’t you also want to profile as knowledgeable, resourceful and informed?  Just saying! 

• Ungrateful. The leader gives the employee their time, their network, and their hard-earned advice. Then? Silence. No 'thank you.' No updates. No acknowledgement that the advice was useful.  Or even registered.  

We have so many stories.  

Expecting To Be Spoon-fed? It won't end well.

The Cost Is Not What You Think

None of these three frequently observed markers of a bad “informational” will end anyone's career. But, within organizations, senior circles are smaller than you think. The same person who took my time and failed to follow up on the suggestions I made, is the same person who will apply for a role in my team.  Or whose name will appear in a talent review.  Trust us.  More than once we’ve simply said, 

“I met with John, but I was … unimpressed.”

We have both agreed to requests for informational interviews.  More than we can count. The ones we remember, years later, were the ones where the person asking for the meeting had clearly thought about why they were sitting across from us. Who brought a real question, not a request to be handed a plan. Who followed up, sometimes just to say thank you, sometimes to say what they did with what we shared.  

What Do You Do With This?

Most leaders, the good ones at least, are happy to grant informational interviews. More than that, most leaders are happy to help. And in concrete ways: recommend a book, share a way of thinking, provide an introduction, and so on. And even more. For example, to meet again.  

So don’t screw it up! 

If you are seeking an informational interview, the answer is not complicated. Know why this person, specifically. Bring your own thinking, not just your problem. Close the loop, every time.  

For us, unprepared, unaccountable and ungrateful add up to one thing … unimpressive.  It’s as simple as that.  

So before you ask for an informational interview, remember.  Be careful what you wish for. Because being granted the meeting was never the hard part.

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, and not associated organizations and institutions.