I was sure the 'informational interview' thing was a waste of time

A friend in Austin pushed me to set one up with a project manager at a company I liked, and I finally did it last week. I spent 30 minutes asking about her day-to-day work and the skills she actually uses. It gave me way clearer direction than any job description ever has. Has anyone else had a chat that actually changed their job search path?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota16014d ago

Honestly, "the real picture is a turn-off" is so true.

black.jordan14d ago

Yeah but isn't that the whole point of talking to someone actually doing the job? I mean, you gotta ask the right questions to get past the surface stuff. Ask them what a normal Tuesday looks like, or what part of the job makes them want to pull their hair out. That's how you find out if you can actually live with it. Otherwise you're just reading the shiny brochure version.

quinn60314d ago

My cousin did something similar but it backfired. She talked to a graphic designer who spent the whole time complaining about client budgets and tight deadlines. It made her rethink that career path entirely, which was useful but in a really depressing way. Those chats can show you the bad sides you never see in a job posting. Sometimes the real picture is a turn-off.