Reply to PSA: don't ask your friends or contacts to take informational interviews

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I work at a nonprofit organzation and stopped doing informational interviews after my first few months on the job. Every student in North America (and plenty in Europe) will happily take some of your time and it will NEVER lead to a job (in part because for most of my career, I was not in a hiring role.) Now half the federal government is emailing to find time for a coffee.

I sympathize, really and truly I do. But it's not a great use of either of our time. Now I have to avoid clicking on LinkedIn messages, since they apparently tell the sender that you opened the message, which seems to persuade some young people that they should send yet ANOTHER message.

I'll also say that I don't think it makes sense for a student or new graduate to be asking me for early career advice. I mean, I wrote my first cover letters on a typewriter; these kids are going to have to outcompete AI! And now that I'm in management, it's quite different from anything that an entry-level staffer would be doing. I would suggest targeting people in their 20s or early 30s - they will have more flexibility and be able to give a better perspective on their role and the field, etc.

I'm suprised that so many PPs make time for informational interviews. I don't know about your workload, but my inbox and to-do list is endless. It is not a sign of good time management if you have endless time to speak to total strangers who are hoping for a Cinderella story. As a FT WOHM I have to be relentlessly practical about how I budget my own bandwidth.[/quote]

OP - I'm guessing these people can take time because they HAVE time. I am in meetings from 9.30-10am until 6.30 or 7, at which point if I'm lucky I get 2h with my kids then have to get back online and work until usually 11.30.

I'll gladly take an informational if it's with someone who I think might be a fit for something I may have at any point in the remotely near future, but I dont appreciate being asked to do it just for the sake (this is usually the case) of someone else wanting to look helpful to their contact and making it my problem.

That's why I'm saying, if you want someone you know to do an informational for you, make it possible for them to decline with grace. Maybe they have a bunch of time and they like doing it but maybe like me they're an exhausted exec and parent trying desperately to keep their head above water and it's a bridge too far. [/quote]

Ugh normal professionals can find 30 Mn. It’s part of being in a professional community [/quote]

People at different points in their professional lives and family lives will be able to find the time for different amounts and types of "being in a professional community." Just because someone wants to talk to you doesn't mean you're obligated to do it, and it doesn't even mean it's going to be useful to them. [/quote]

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