A life science careers blog for early career researchers
This blog aims to inspire early career researchers exploring different career options. We provide interview-based profiles of life scientists working in diverse science-related careers and articles on a broad range of career-related topics, with new content added on a regular basis.
Informational interviews: 5 tips for effective career conversations
“Informational interviews” are one of the best tools to get insights into different career areas. They are informal 15-30 minute conversations with individuals working in a career area that interests you. The aim is to learn more about the career area, particularly to get first hand and up-to-date information that can help you better understand whether the career is for you, and how to get your first role in that field. However, as the following video, “The Informational Interview and how to do it well” from the Stanford Design Lab’s Online Course – Designing Your Career, explains – an informational interview isn’t a job interview, and should not be about directly finding a job.
Designing Your Career: The Informational Interview – a video from the Stanford Design Lab / Stanford Online Course Designing Your Career. You can learn more about the course in a recent science magazine article about a book “Designing your Life”, based on the course.
How to get started
Simply being curious about those around you and chatting to people informally about their careers can be a great start – particularly if you are in the early stages of career exploration and are not sure what career areas interest you.
However, more directed and structured interviews will help you to get the detailed information that will help you make a final decision – and help you break into the new career area. These can take place in person (e.g. at a conference), by telephone or by video call.
It can feel quite intimidating to contact someone out of the blue to ask if you can interview them about their career. However – particularly if you have something in common, for example, a mutual friend, a common interest or shared experience – people are generally quite happy to help and have a short chat. Alumni networks can be a good place to find people from a range of careers with whom you have something in common, and many institutions offer some mechanism to connect current staff and alumni with each other. This may be via a alumni directory and/or social media. LinkedIN is another powerful tool to find potential interviewees – some of whom may already be in your network.
“In my experience EMBL alumni are always happy to interact with and support EMBL fellows and staff. The EMBL Alumni Directory can be accessed by all staff across EMBL’s six sites. It can be used to identify people working in different career areas, or specific organizations, cities, countries or even according to expertise. Alumni have been very responsive when contacted via this channel” Mehrnoosh Rayner, Head of Alumni Relations, EMBL
We’ve collected 5 key pieces of advice – from books, relevant articles, and our own personal experience – to help you schedule, prepare and carry out these interviews. Additional resources to help you implement these tips can also be found at the bottom of the article.
Our top 5 tips
Leverage events & networks to identify people to talk to.
LinkedIN and alumni networks may help you find good people to interview.
Delegate and exhibitor lists for conferences & events you will attend are also a great resource – a coffee break is a great time for such meetings.
Show you appreciate the time the person is giving you.
Be specific, polite and concise when you contact someone. Be specific about what you are asking for – including both the specific request (would they have time for a 20 minute call) and topics (specific areas your questions relate to).
If you meet for coffee, offer to pay; and always send a thank you email.
Prepare well* so you can ask relevant questions and make a good impression .
Think about what is important for you in your career
Do background research on the person & career area
Prepare & prioritize specific questions* that 1) address your queries about the career area 2) show you have done your research 3) focus on your interviewee and 4) are open-ended.
Lead a structured interview*. Think about how to structure the interview to help you keep on time e.g. by asking related questions together. You should start with an recap of who you are, and why you wanted to meet the interviewee – and end on-time, with a thank you.
* Additional resources to help with these points are included in the resources below
Relevant resources
*Resources relevant for specific tips
Prepare well so you can ask relevant questions and make a good impression.
Think about what is important for you in your career: do you need a role with a high level of autonomy – then one of your questions should be how much autonomy your interviewee has in their role.
background research on the person & career area
On the person you are interviewing: LinkedIn or other online profiles
On the career area
Career profiles of other people in that area, including career profiles on this site
Career talks from people in that area – for those in EMBL, you can find a library of previous talks on the intranet.
General sources of information about the career areas. Sources include:
Note: your questions shouldn’t ask something that is clear from their LinkedIn profile, or from 5 minutes spent reading google results for your interviewee / the career area.
Lead a structured interview. One possible structure, suggested by John Lees in his book “how to get a job you love” is REVEAL:
Recap: Start the interview explaining who are you, and why you wanted to talk to them. Mention if you are aiming to talk to multiple people.
Explore – ask your questions about the career area.
Vision – ask questions about the future of the sector, and longer term career prospects.
Entry routes- ask how the person got their first role, what the usual route is and whether there are also non-conventional routes in.
Action – ask their advice on your next steps. This can be a good point to ask for feedback on your CV.
Links *if* you mentioned that you will be talking to multiple people, refer back to that point, and ask if they can recommend anyone to speak to.
Alternatively/additionally, you can ask about useful resources, such as professional bodies or online courses, that might be helpful as you prepare to apply.
Related resources available to all:
EMBL Careers Blog article on using LinkedIn for careers research
EMBL Alumni Directory – searchable directory of EMBL alumni, including a contact form to send a short message (n.b. you have to be in the EMBL network or connected via VPN to access this)
The EMBL Fellows' Career Service incorporates the EMBL Interdisciplinary Postdoc (EIPOD) career development programme. EI3POD and EIPOD4 have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreements 664726 (2015-2020) and 847543 (2019-present) respectively.
