Just recently, a friend of mine asked if I knew the best way to ask someone for an interview when they might not have been looking to hire someone?
The following is my response which I believe will be helpful to many of our readers…
Hate to tell you but there are no fail-safe ways to ask someone for an interview when they might not be looking to hire someone. As a matter of professionalism, I do not recommend anyone asking for an interview bluntly, per se.
Place yourself in the shoes of the recipient: would you want such unsolicited requests directed to you? Probably not. But there is a way to get around the situation without sounding pushy or overly aggressive. In this capacity, let’s change the focus around and NOT ask for an interview but request for an informational discussion. True, pretty much the same thing but the purpose of an informational discussion is to develop networking ties AND ignite insight into a company’s philosophy and needs. With this approach, your goal is to discover issues within the industry or company which you can resolve.
No longer is your question considered a liability and an attack, it is now considered a means to correct… where the value you offer can be taken advantage of by a company looking to improve their bottom line. Your goal is to highlight value and instant contribution you offer and, often, will lead to the creation of a position or contact to fellow peers who could benefit from your expertise.
I’ve written a good number of books dealing with career management and discuss informational interviews (heck, if you know any colleges needing a great career management portfolio textbook and/or instructor resource guide, let me know and if you know the career director, even better!). Anyway, I am going to highlight one of the pages (the book and other material can be found at educationcs.com) and use the copy to help guide my friend’s question regarding informational interviews:
…. You might be asking, “What exactly are informational interviews?” And you might also be thinking, just from the sound of it, that informational interviews are going to take way, way too much time to research and conduct.
It’s certainly true that informational interviews will take time and work. Be assured, informational interviews reap benefits relative to the cost, stress, and, yes, even time, which are all important concerns and issues in any job search campaign. Truth be known, informational interviews offer benefits at a low cost and could be the most efficient way to locate and secure a career.
For example, informational interviews will:
* Help you learn about careers within the industry
* Can be used to gauge company culture and if you fit in
* Help develop life-long networks
* Give insight into the non-advertised job market
* Give insight for scheduled interviews
* Develop rapport and referrals
Informational interviews give you a leg up against other candidates AND can be used as an indicator when evaluating career matches. For the record, informational requests are not to be used as a mechanism to ask for a job or a formal interview. This is not the time or the place to be an aggressive job seeker. If you think about it, that takes pressure off you and the person you holding a discussion with, so now you can do some serious learning. You know about the benefits, let’s look at your next step.
We’ll go over the final part of this question in the next submission as we delve into possible informational interview questions.
Danny Huffman, MA, CEIP, CPCC, CPRW
educationcs.com
[email protected]
