Developing an Agenda for Your Information/referral Interview

Summary:
You've completed the job, industry and company research. Now it's time to prepare a list of questions which are appropriate for the particular person you are interviewing so you can set an agenda and manage your meeting.

Overview

Develop Key Questions

Manage the Interview

Related Links

Related Content


Overview

In this article, I'll show how the questions you select for a particular contact person can help set the agenda for your interview so it successfully produces the job and referral information you need for your career marketing campaign.

Develop Key Questions

Use your research findings (see Preparing for Information/referral Interviews) and your career goal (see How You Can Use Key Success Factors to Build Your Resume) to decide on the purpose of your interview. Be sure you understand exactly what you want to accomplish with your interview. What information do you need from this particular contact person?

Prepare a list of questions which are appropriate for the individual you are interviewing. Those will help you establish the interview's agenda and manage the meeting (which I discuss in the next section).

You might want to start developing your questions by first thinking of the broad categories you want to cover. Here are some category examples:

• Objective information about the person and the company
  
  
• Reflective questions about events in the particular business or field
  
  
• Interpretative questions about the field's problems and trends and their implications
  
  
• Advice questions about your career marketing campaign
  
  

Begin to develop your questions by asking yourself this core question: Was there something mentioned in the occupational information you collected during your research that you didn't fully understand? Try to focus on further information you need that is essential to your career goal.

I'm offering the sample questions below to get you thinking. You need to develop your questions around your personal situation and the above core question. Your interview will be more effective if you ask your own questions.

Your information/referral interview is a conversation. You do not want to read a list of questions as you would from a script, but, without preparing a list of questions beforehand, your interview could lose focus and fail to provide the information you need.

Here are some sample questions for each of the above categories:

• Objective information about the person and the company
  
  
  1. What do you do in your position?
     
     
  2. How did you get started in your career?
     
     
  3. What do you hope to accomplish in your position?
     
     
  4. What professional associations do you belong to?
     
     
  5. How have these associations helped you in your career development?
     
     
  6. What is the organizational structure within your company?
     
     
  7. Who answers to you?
     
     
  8. How is your department organized?
     
     
• Reflective questions about events in the particular business or field
  
  
  1. What have been the contributing factors that have helped your company develop a strong financial position?
     
     
  2. What makes a company successful in your industry?
     
     
  3. In your industry, what are the qualities that make people successful?
     
     
  4. Where do you see your industry heading?
     
     
• Interpretative questions about the field's problems and trends and their implications
  
  
  1. What trends do you see emerging for your industry?
     
     
  2. What problems do you see your industry encountering in the future?
     
     
  3. What kinds of actions are companies taking to solve those problems?
     
     
  4. How are these changes affecting your job?
     
     
• Advice questions about your career marketing campaign
  
  
  1. With my skills and background, what kinds of problems do you see me working on within your industry?
     
     
  2. What obstacles might I expect in obtaining a job within your industry and how could I overcome them?
     
     
  3. If you were in my shoes, what would you suggest I do first, second, and third and for what reasons?
     
     
  4. In what way could my presentation be strengthened?

Manage the Interview

Networking is not just idle chit-chat. When you arrange an information/referral interview, it's your responsibility to have an agenda for your comments and questions. You have to help the other person to help you. It's ineffective and unfair to expect him to do all the work.

Keep in mind these potential reasons for conducting your information/referral interview:

• Explore careers and clarify your career goal;
  
  
• Discover employment opportunities that are not advertised;
  
  
• Expand your professional network;
  
  
• Build confidence for your job interviews;
  
  
• Access the most up-to-date career information; and
  
  
• Identify your professional strengths and weaknesses.
  
  

The whole idea behind an information/referral interview is to help you shine as you conduct your job and company research and gain referrals to other professionals. You can make an impression by effectively managing the interview.

Whenever possible, meet your contact at his or her place of business. There are three main reasons for this:

1. When a contact is on his own "turf," he's likely to feel more relaxed. He'll likely think better and come up with better ideas. His surroundings provide him with cues that help him remember key points that will be useful for you.
   
   
2. When your contact doesn't have to travel anywhere to meet you, you are likely to get more of his time.
   
   
3. When your contact is in his own office, he has his business resources available immediately. His Rolodex or business card file may be full of information just waiting to jump into your lap. The closer you are to those resources the better.
   
   

Here are some tips I find helpful in managing an information/referral interview:

• Show up early. Plan to arrive 10 minutes early for your interview.
  
  
• Dress in professional business attire.
  
  
• Make sure to have the necessary materials. Bring copies of your resume (distribute upon request only!). You can always send your resume as a follow-up, if it is appropriate.
  
  
• Bring the name, title, phone number or other information about your contact person for reference in case you need that information.
  
  
• Come prepared to take notes or record the conversation.
  
  
• Make sure you have a list of questions you want to ask as well as other topics to discuss.
  
  
• Start the meeting with a brief but enthusiastic introduction. Mention that you'll keep track of the time, and make sure you do that. Ask permission to take notes or record the conversation. Thank your contact person for taking the time to see you and assure him you do not expect him to know of appropriate jobs at this time. Make it clear that you are gathering information and advice about your career and career marketing campaign.
  
  
• Mention briefly your job objective and areas of strength. Illustrate a key strength with a solid accomplishment. This should take no more than a minute.
  
  
• Be prepared to initiate and keep the conversation going. Stay on track but allow for spontaneous discussion as you ask six to eight questions about the contact's job, company and industry. Share something about yourself, but do not dominate the interview. Your contact person should be talking 80 percent of the time.
  
  
• Demonstrate interest, listen attentively, show enthusiasm and express appreciation. Be aware of your non-verbal cues.
  
  
• Be sure to ask your contact person for advise about how to overcome specific obstacles that he believes you may face in finding the career or specific job you want.
  
  
• Allow yourself ample time for feedback and advice about your career marketing campaign.
  
  
• Ask for one or two referrals generally toward the end of your meeting when you are sure you have established rapport with your contact person. Ask, "Who could give me more information about...?"
  
  
• Ask permission to use his name when contacting these new contacts.
  
  
• Offer to call him back in a few days to obtain the referral information, if he needs some time to think about your request for referrals. Make sure he understands that you will not be asking these referrals for a job -- just further information for your career and job research.
  
  
• Thank your contact person again for his time and tell him that you'll keep him informed about your progress. Also say, "Please keep me in mind in case you hear of anything that would fit my career goal."
  
  

Note the need to be organized. Only by carefully selecting your questions and organizing an agenda before your information/referral interview will you be able to obtain the information you need within the time limit you have set for your meeting.

Bookmark this article to: