Informational interviews are useful for many reasons. They can help you learn more about a position in your industry or about another industry in general. They can help you find a mentor as you grow in your field. And they can help you land a job offer in the future.
It’s always easier to get a person when you know them directly or someone in your circle knows them and can introduce them. But you can also cold message someone via LinkedIn or email and ask for one even if you don’t know them. If you do, when you reach out to them, “I highly recommend not asking for time right away,” says career coach Phoebe Gavin.
Here’s how he recommends developing that correspondence.
Generally speaking, “time is our most limited and scarce resource,” Gavin says. People who have been in the workforce for a while and have an established career are likely “juggling life responsibilities with important work,” he says. They are less likely to give their time to a stranger.
Instead of asking them for an informational interview right away, start with a much shorter question. Whether on LinkedIn or via email, send a message introducing yourself in a couple of sentences, “letting them know you’d be genuinely interested in their ideas,” she says, “and ask a clear, specific question related to the general topic of ideas that they could answer via email.”
If you ask them something simple and direct like what their favorite professional organization is, about a book that helped them in their career, or a podcast that helped them improve at their job, they are much more likely to respond.
That then “opens up a conversation,” she says.
Once you have followed their advice and joined the organization, read the book, or listened to the podcast, respond to their email and thank them for their help and response.
This time, include another question, and if you still want to have an informational interview, say something like, “If it’s easier, we could talk for 15 minutes,” Gavin says. “I’d be happy to jump on a call if that’s more convenient for you.” That way, you’re opening up the possibility of some time, but not asking for it outright.
“It doesn’t take much to get someone to the point where they think you’re worth their time,” she says, “but most people get to the point of saying, ‘Yeah, can I buy you coffee?’ which is scary,” because the person you’re talking to has no idea who you are and what that might mean.
One final tip for unsolicited emails or LinkedIn messages: Gavin recommends not using the phrase “get a look into your brain,” because it sounds transactional.
Those who receive her message feel “happy to receive warm compensation and feel like we’ve helped someone” build their career, she says. That’s motivating, but not if they feel like she’ll pester them with questions and then disappear.
Instead, she suggests trying to use phrases like “gain some of their unique knowledge,” “learn from their experience or expertise,” or “gain insight into their process.”
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