Coffee chat questions: what to ask, what to skip and how to follow up

A coffee chat is a short, informal conversation with someone whose work, company or career path you want to learn about, over coffee or on a video call. The best coffee chat questions ask about the other person's own experience and can't be answered by a quick search. Pick five or six from the lists below, put the one you most need answered near the top, and save a closing question about who else you should meet.

Villanova University's career office describes coffee chats as conversations to learn about companies you're interested in, understand what working there would be like, explore opportunities and build connections with recruiters and alumni (Villanova). The same format turns up inside companies, when a new hire meets colleagues, and among founders learning how an industry works. They are usually brief: UC Berkeley's career center says the closely related informational interview typically lasts 20 to 30 minutes (UC Berkeley). The questions you ask should change with your goal.

Before the chat: pick one goal

A student post on the University of Ottawa Telfer School's career blog suggests setting a specific objective for each chat and jotting down a few points beforehand (Telfer School of Management). "Find out whether product managers at payments companies value a finance background" is a goal. "Network" is too vague to steer the conversation. Villanova also suggests reading up on the company and the person's career history, so you don't spend the time on facts from their profile.

A worked example

This example is hypothetical. Maya is an accountant at a mid-sized firm who is thinking about moving into product management at a payments company. A former classmate introduces her to Leo, a product manager at a fintech, who agrees to a 20-minute video chat. Her goal is to learn whether her accounting background helps or is something she would need to work around.

She picks one opener, two questions about Leo's work, two about career moves and one closing question. The most important is "What do people who hire for your role look for that isn't in the job description?", because Leo can answer it from his own team's hiring. She asks it second, right after the opener.

Openers

Start with something easy that also tells you how to read the rest of the conversation.

• How did you end up in your current role?
• What's your team responsible for?
• What took most of your time last week?

Questions about their work

These usually produce the most useful answers. Ask about recent, specific things.

• What have you worked on recently that you're proud of? What made it hard?
• Who do you work with most closely, and what do they need from you?
• What surprised you about this job when you started?
• What do people new to this role tend to get wrong in their first few months?
• Which skills from your earlier jobs turned out to matter, and which didn't?

Questions for a career move

• If you were in my position, coming from [your background], what would you do first?
• What do people who hire for your role look for that isn't in the job description?
• Is there a common path into this job? Is it changing?
• What do you wish you'd known before you took this job?

Questions about the company or team

These matter most for recruiting coffee chats, when you might apply.

• How are priorities set on your team, and who decides?
• What do people who do well here do differently?
• What has changed at the company since you joined?
• What's the hardest part of working here?

Questions for a coffee chat at a new job

Internal coffee chats with colleagues are about learning how work moves around you.

• What does your team need from mine, and where does that usually break down?
• What do you wish people in my role understood about your work?
• What's coming up in the next few months that I should know about?
• Who else should I meet?

Questions for learning an industry

Founders, investors and people switching industries use coffee chats to learn how a business works. Tie each question to the person's own experience.

• Walk me through the last time your team bought a new tool or service. Who suggested it, and who approved it?
• What has changed in your work over the last two years, and why?
• What do outsiders usually misunderstand about this industry?

Informational interview questions and expert interview questions for an unfamiliar industry go deeper on this kind of conversation.

Closing questions

• Is there anything I should have asked but didn't?
• Who else would be good to talk to about this? May I mention your name?
• Would it be all right to follow up by email if I have a short question later?

The Telfer post suggests asking a wrap-up question 5 to 10 minutes before the agreed end, such as who you should talk to next, and then finishing on time.

Questions to skip or rewrite

Villanova advises against asking directly for a job or internship, asking about the person's compensation, or asking anything too personal or confidential.

Asking what their company does spends the time they gave you on facts you could have looked up. Asking for a referral in a first chat puts them in an awkward position. If the conversation goes well and you apply later, tell them, and let them offer to help.

Keep time and follow up

Arrive a few minutes early, or join the call a minute before the start. Keep track of the time without checking your phone, and end when you said you would. Telfer's post makes both points.

Afterward:

1. Send a short thank-you by the end of the day or the next day, and say how you'll follow up, such as letting them know how an introduction they suggested goes (Telfer).
2. Connect on LinkedIn (Villanova).
3. If you apply to their company, let them know and keep them updated through the process (Villanova).
4. If you follow their advice, tell them how it went a few weeks later. It's the easiest way to stay in touch.

Your next step

Write your goal in one sentence. Choose five or six questions above that serve it, put the most important one right after your opener, and write down the closing question you'll ask with about five minutes left.

If the person you need is outside your network, or you're a founder who needs several conversations with people in one kind of role this month, offering to pay for their time is a reasonable alternative to waiting for an introduction. Instant Expert can find people who match a description you write, such as "product managers at payments companies." You review who it finds, it sends your invitations, and you pay only for calls that get booked. The product professionals in financial technology directory page is one place to start, and can I pick your brain? covers how to word the request.