How to Land and Ace an Informational Interview

Find people to talk to:
This process works for informational interviewing and internship searches.
1. Talk to anyone who will listen. From friends, to relatives, to your next door neighbor; let people know about your career aspirations. You never know who you may know that can help you.
2. Cold call. I have done this in the past and although it may sound ridiculous it REALLY WORKS! Search the internet for top companies in your field; find someone in a position of power and just call! People love to talk about themselves. It gives them an ego boost and makes them feel important, so you are likely to get somewhere with them when you call.
3. Alumni Relations office. If you’re in college, it is a great idea to check with your school’s Alumni Relations office, as they will likely be able to connect you with alumni that work in your field of interest.

Before you call:
• Be Prepared. Do not waste your time and definitely do not waste the other person’s time. People in power tend to be extremely busy, so make the best use of their precious time. Compile a list of questions (approximately 10). Aside from the general questions, you also want to have a question or two that will show them you are smart and that you’ve thought about the industry. (Please feel free to respond to this blog post if you want ideas of questions you should ask. I’ve gone through this process so many times!) Finally, make sure you know his/her name and title BEFORE you call.
• Find a quite, structured place to make the call. Do not lie in bed or walk down the street when you are on the phone. You don’t want to sound distracted or unprofessional.

During the call:
• State your name and tell them that you are a student at school X and are interested in learning more about field X. You are wondering if they have 15 minutes (make sure you state an exact amount of time) to answer some questions you have about the industry. Unless they are in middle of something, most people will be happy to talk, especially if you sound confident and interested. (If they say they are busy, politely ask if you could call back at a different time.)
• Speak professionally.
• Listen attentively and respond accordingly. Ask a follow-up question to his/her comments every once in a while to show them that you are really listening and are ‘captivated’.
• Say thank you. At the end of the call, thank them for their time.

After the call:
• Send a thank you note, NOT an email. I am talking about a real, handwritten, tangible card that the person will receive via snail mail. My dad gave me this advice a while back and it really helps. Since most communication is done through the computer nowadays, people are genuinely surprised to receive a letter in the mail. Spend the few bucks, find a good ‘Thank You’ card, write a nice note and mail it out within 24 hours. Also, include a tidbit about something they mentioned during the call to make the letter more personal and to show that you listened and learned something.
• Stay in touch. This can be done via email. If the person seemed to enjoy speaking with you, send them an email every once in a while to keep them in the loop with your studies, job search, etc. You never know what it could lead to down the line.

To Intern or Not to Intern, That is the Question

Well if you want my advice I say, ‘TO INTERN!’ I can’t emphasize enough the value of a good internship. You think you know what career you want after you graduate, right? WRONG! I don’t care if you’ve taken every class and read every book on the topic, until and unless you’ve had an internship in your ‘field of interest’ you have no idea if it’s the right career for you. There is nothing like hands-on experience to truly understand and evaluate a prospective career.

If you’ve found a good internship, you will get to learn and experience firsthand the day-to-day ins and outs of the field; the real nitty-gritty, no holds barred exposure. You’ll sit in on meetings, try your hand at the various tasks, learn about the different personalities that gravitate toward that field, make great contacts, and most importantly, see if the industry is truly right for YOU. Furthermore, many companies require that you have internship experience before they’ll consider hiring you for a job. (Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that you get to put it on your resume!)
Common Misconceptions about Internships:

1. “I have to intern at a big, well-known, Fortune 500 company to get the exposure I’m looking for.” WRONG! In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I’ve interned at small and large companies and can tell you that more often than not, since big companies take on numerous interns at a time, not only are you more likely to get lost in the shuffle, you’ll probably end up doing more grunt work than real work. On the other hand, since smaller companies have fewer employees, they usually view interns as an extra set of hands and therefore are more than happy to let you help out with the ‘real work’.

2. “Internships are always full-time positions so I can only do one in the summer when I’m not in school.” Wrong again, at least most of the time! While some internships do require a full-time commitment, most companies are more flexible with the academic year schedule since they know that the interns are usually in school and because they’re not paying you (although some internships do pay!) As long as you can commit a certain number of hours per week you should have no problem securing an internship.

3. “Internships only involve drudgery.” I just graduated from college and I can tell you that a lot of my friends were opposed to internships because they felt this way. They thought the internship would only involve grunt work for them and ‘free labor’ for the company. If you do your research and you make it known to the company that although you aren’t opposed to doing some of the tedious work, first and foremost you are there to LEARN, you’ll be surprised at what an internship can really be like and what you will walk away with at the end of the term.

So remember, if you take the time to research and see what’s out there, speak up about your desires and needs (Be realistic! Absolutely NO divas allowed here; you’ll fail miserably), and work your butt off while interning, you’ll be on your way to a great learning experience and if you’re lucky, a possible job opportunity in the future. After all, it’s all about who you know, not what you know.

*Note: The opinions presented in this blog do not necessarily represent the views of oneTRUEzone.

Do Something

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing”
-Theordore Roosevelt

All of us find ourselves with a bias towards inaction. This affects different people to varying degrees, but it will always manifest itself somewhere. It is not only out of laziness that we are frozen, but also by the circumstances in front of our noses.
We may have too little information to make a reasoned choice, or we might feel foolish or headstrong to rush into a course of action without gathering all of the appropriate information on what exactly it is that we should do, whether it be speaking to the professionals, running analyses, or a million other things. There can be so much information that we get so overwhelmed. We can’t distinguish the signal from the noise, and are likely to change paths as the wind blows in a new direction.

However, all of these circumstances do not hide the fact that more often than not, doing nothing is the single WORST thing we can do. When we do nothing, we are simply hoping for the best, or not taking even the smallest of precautions; wishing away a problem instead of facing it head on or working to resolve it. By looking straight ahead and making choices, difficult as they may be, we are fighting paralysis and the bias towards inaction. Instead, we’re moving toward answers. It is infinitely easier to correct a wrong start than it is to get the ball rolling after a lot of time has passed, when it may simply be too late.

Inaction only encourages further inaction down the line.

No Regrets

http://cdixon.posterous.com/regret-minimization


This is a way of looking at the decisions that I have fallen back onto time and time again. Entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Chris Dixon puts it simply and clearly. The main point is that when you cannot decide between a set of actions, always choose the one that you won't regret.
The web comic xkcd illustrated a very similar result the following way:

http://xkcd.com/458/


It can be tempting to do nothing because of the fear of failure, lack of self confidence or a million other reasons that are more than reasonable at the time. However the real question is how will you view this decision later? Is it something you will be able to laugh off, or will it be something that you repeat over and over again in your head? The naughty corollary is of course to follow the course of action that will lead to a better story later on, but that’s a whole other point.

Careers don't grow anywhere and they're not handed out like mittens or cupcakes.

Careers don't grow anywhere and they're not handed out like mittens or cupcakes.
Careers are made by each of us. Forged in the flame of your passion to do something interesting and meaningful with your days.
That's why it annoys me when big brand companies call their job section "Careers."

"You get a decent career by taking risks and pursuing challenges. Going with the flow gives you a mediocre career – and who wants that?"
- Danilo Campos

This idea is simply not stressed enough. No one can hand you your career on a silver platter such that all you need to do is pick it up and enjoy it. The only thing you can be offered is a job; it is your responsibility to make sure that a job leads to a career that you can not only be proud of, but leaves you feeling rewarded and satisfied.
This means you need to have a plan that is concrete and actionable, not simply a dream. You have to set large goals, broken down into smaller ones with a timeframe attached to each piece, in case you get caught up in between and lose sight of your priorities. Without careful planning we become firefighters trying to put out every small emergency, without creating a strong plan for our futures.

So don't go with the flow! Stop! Evaluate! Just like the unexamined life is not worth living, the unexamined career is not worth having.