Top Tips to Nail Your Next Informational Interview

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Do you have an upcoming informational interview?

But just don’t feel ready for it yet?

Then you’re in luck!

I’ve got some tips that will help you make a wonderful impression that will help turn the person you’re sitting in front of into an advocate or a professional friend, and possibly somebody who will:

• Look out for jobs for you
• Pass your CV along
• Make recommendations about who to contact, or:
• Refer you to other jobs

Because this is ultimately what you want to get from an informational interview.

However, you need to set the meeting up in the right way AND create the right impression.

So here are the 5 big tips that will help you make the most of your meeting.

5 Top Informational Interview Tips

Tip #1: Make a great first impression

This is all about making a great first impression, because people do make very quick judgments.

Unlike the person in the image below, you want to create a great first impression by looking like the person who’s actually in the role that you want.

Now, this isn’t just about vanity. We are very visual creatures – if we see something, we believe it so.

So you want the person who is sitting in front of you to be able to picture you in that  role, so they can easily pitch you for that role.

This is critically important because everybody has a confirmation bias.

We form a quick first impression and then we look for ways to affirm that impression in the way that we assess information about people.

So if you don’t look the part, the person in front of you has to think harder and be constantly evaluating your fit for the role. They’ll be constantly assessing whether what you say is actually true, rather than just accepting that it is.

Tip #2: Have a great mindset for the Informational Interview

This tip is all about having a great mindset for this meeting.

Here’s a picture of a woman in a spacesuit:

The reason I’m showing you this is because she’s actually doing a power pose – with her hands on her hips.

Now, doing a power pose changes your physiology.

It makes you become more confident.

So, do a power pose with your hands on your hips for 2 minutes before you go into the meeting.

What the pose does is decreases your cortisol and increases your testosterone.

Your cortisol is a stress-inducing hormone, and your testosterone increases your courage.

So, if you do this, you’ll instantly feel more confident going into this meeting.

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Tip #3: How to overcome impostor syndrome

This tip is all about getting over imposter syndrome.

Most of us suffer from this. It’s when we think that somehow the person that we’re meeting will discover that we’re not worthy of being in that meeting.

Honestly, this isn’t an easy thing to get over.

And I know that this has been so crippling for some people, it’s actually stopped them from reaching out to ask to meet somebody in the first place.

So, if it’s of any help at all, I hope it helps to know that this is perfectly normal.

Everybody struggles – and in fact, if you don’t struggle a little, you may have a bigger problem.

But it may help to think it like this. The informational interview is about the other person feeling comfortable enough to relax and offer you great information.

So, try and take the focus off you in the informational interview.

You want to focus on making the other person feel more comfortable.

Tip #4: You need to be all ears.

The interview isn’t about you.

The interview is about the person that you’re meeting.

So, you need to spend most of your time asking great questions and being curious about that person. Then they’ll think that you’re a great person, and a good listener!

If you talk too much at the start of a meeting about yourself, the person that you’re sitting in front of will actually wonder why they’re sitting in front of you, and tune out.

via GIPHY

People like people who they think like them and value them.

Remember, it’s understanding the other person. That’s the point of the informational interview.

We like people who believe in us.

We like people who make us feel special.

The way that you make people feel special is by actively listening to them.

And of course, if you do most of the listening and less of the talking, you’re going to get some really great information from that person.

That information can help you in a pitch that you might want to put to them further on down the track.

It might give you things that you can follow up with after the informational interview to keep the relationship going on.

It will help you understand what’s relevant to bring into that meeting in terms of information that you provide about yourself.

For some really great questions to ask in your informational interview, read my blog on informational interview questions here.

Tip #5: Timing your pitch

This is really important!

It isn’t the place for you to talk about yourself.

It’s the place for building rapport with the person that you’re going to meet.

If you’re launching your pitch at the start of this meeting, you’ll put them off.

So, in the elevator or wherever you’re walking to, to go to that meeting with that person, don’t recite your career history.

If you’ve made the right impression on that person, you’ll get the chance to talk about yourself at the end of the meeting.

When that person naturally says, “So why are you here, tell me about yourself”.

via GIPHY

And if you’ve asked the right questions, you can bring in information that’s relevant for them to hear because you’ve been doing a lot of the listening.

I hope you found these informational interview tips to be insanely useful!

These tips come directly from my Straight to Shortlist Challenge.

They have been tested time and time again to help my clients nail the informational interviews and turn those informational interviews into something bigger.

So, if you want to get 5 meetings with 5 employers in 5 weeks, then join the challenge!

Here’s the video where I’ve talked about the 5 informational interview tips:

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Karalyn is the Founder of InterviewIQ and chief champion for all her clients. Get personal coaching to make 2023 your most successful year yet. Check out our job search booster services here>>Give me smarter ways to find a job .