If you’re a nurse who’s spent time in the healthcare job market, you know all about job interviews. But did you know that there’s another type of interview that can be a powerful tool for career development and professional advancement? Don’t fret if you’ve never heard of the concept of the informational interview because it’s easy to learn and implement if you’d like to find a new way to build your professional network and expand your career potential.
What is an Informational Interview?
An informational interview is an informal conversation with another professional whose work, position, experience, or industry interests you. Think of it as a form of deep networking, where you get the opportunity to pick someone’s brain and learn as much as you can from their experience, all the while making a potentially valuable professional connection.
During this type of question-and-answer session between you and a chosen contact, your goal is to leave the conversation with increased clarity about the topics you’re researching. In the course of an informational interview, you can accomplish many things, including, but not limited to:
- Research a particular career path, position, or industry
- Screen a potential employer for details about their company’s goals, culture, or other aspects you’d like to understand
- Prepare for future job interviews
- Learn about the day-to-day of a particular position
- Sharpen your skills in asking questions and getting to know other professionals
- Expand your network of colleagues
- Understand what steps to take in pursuit of a potential career path
- Gain experience describing your accomplishments, goals, skills, knowledge, and expertise
- Recognize your strengths and weaknesses for roles that are of interest to you
There are no hard and fast rules about informational interviews, but you must value your interviewee’s time by keeping the meeting focused and brief. It’s also wise to send a thank you note afterward, preferably something hand-written rather than an email.
Who Would You Want to Interview?
Now that you understand what an informational interview is and its purpose, how do you figure out who to approach for such a meeting? Here are a few scenarios:
- You’re a nurse with a BSN with ten years of experience in critical care and the ED. You’ve been thinking about getting your MSN but don’t want to make the wrong choice. You reach out to various masters-prepared nurses and interview them about their careers, how they feel about their choices, and what they wish they’d known before they went to grad school.
- As a family nurse practitioner, you’re curious about what it’s like to specialize in mental health. You could get your post-master psychiatric mental health certificate, so you request informational interviews with three different psych NPs who work in various clinical settings.
- You think you’d like to move away from bedside nursing and get into research or informatics. Informational interviews with nurses holding these types of positions could help you determine whether those areas are truly a good fit for you.
- You’ve been fascinated by what you hear about functional medicine but don’t know enough about this emerging specialty. You spend time on LinkedIn and find two people who work in functional medicine, including a staff nurse in another state and the hiring manager at a local functional medicine office. After a Zoom call with the nurse, you arrange to meet with the hiring manager to learn more about the practice, what they look for in nurse candidates, and how their business is growing.
No matter what you’re interested in, there’s someone out there who would love to talk with you about what they do. One of the magic things about informational interviews is that even though you’re not directly asking for a job per se, sometimes meeting someone at just the right time can lead to opportunities you may not have known about otherwise.
How Do You Request an Informational Interview?
Requesting an informational interview can be as simple as sending an email. However, most people receive hundreds of emails, and it’s easy for your message to get lost in the shuffle or the spam filter. If willing, consider going “old school” and sending a signed letter. How many letters does anyone receive anymore, especially from someone interested in what they do? If you want to get noticed, move beyond email. And if you’re curious what to say, use this template as a guide:
Subject: George Diamond, RN —informational interview request
Dear Ms. Ferdinand,
My name is George Diamond, and for the last nine years, I’ve served as a staff RN in the emergency department, ICU, and telemetry unit. I am now interested in pursuing a career as an acute care adult gerontological nurse practitioner, but I would like to know more about this area of nursing practice before making the commitment to graduate school.
Your LinkedIn profile shows that your RN history is quite similar to mine and that you’ve been an acute care AGNP for more than a decade. If you would be willing, I’d be honored to treat you to coffee, breakfast, or lunch to ask specific questions about your career. I’m sure you’re very busy, so if it’s more convenient to talk on the phone for 15 to 20 minutes, I’d also be happy to do that instead.
I appreciate your considering sharing your experiences with me, and I look forward to speaking with you.
Sincerely,
George Diamond, RN
Informational interviews aren’t rocket science and don’t need to be complicated. Many healthcare professionals love to help others, and if you show authentic curiosity about someone and what they do, this kind of conversation can be incredibly enlightening and empowering.
Remember to show appreciation and curiosity, be professional and courteous, never ask for a job, and keep an open mind as you meet with your interviewees. You never know. An informational interview could lead to a great professional connection, a new friend, or an opportunity you never thought of. You have nothing to lose by asking and everything to gain.
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