Informational interview: what it is and how to ask for one

An informational interview is a short conversation, usually 20 to 30 minutes, with someone who does work you want to understand. You ask about their job, how they got into it and how their field works. You do not ask them for a job. UC Berkeley's career center describes it as an informal conversation that is not a job interview and is not meant to find openings.

Two groups commonly use informational interviews. People exploring a career use them to test a field before committing to it. Founders, product managers and investors use the same format to learn how an unfamiliar industry works before they build or buy something. The steps are the same for both: choose the right person, ask for a small amount of time, prepare, listen, and follow up.

Here is a hypothetical example. Priya is a software engineer thinking about moving into logistics software. She has read job postings, but she cannot tell what a warehouse operations manager actually worries about in a normal week. A 25-minute conversation with someone who runs a warehouse will answer that faster than another dozen postings.

Choose who to ask

Pick someone who does the work you are curious about now, or did it recently. Kansas State University's career center suggests interviewing someone in a position you would like to hold someday, in the kind of organization you are considering. Recent, hands-on experience usually matters more than seniority. A shift supervisor who ran receiving last year may remember more useful detail than a vice president who last did the job a decade ago.

Start with people you can reach through someone you know: former colleagues, classmates, alumni groups and friends of friends. K-State suggests asking family, friends and faculty for names when you are stuck. If nobody in your network fits, a direct message to a stranger is fine as long as it is short and specific.

How to ask for an informational interview

A good request answers five things in a few sentences: who you are, why you picked this person, what you want to learn, how much time you need and that you are not asking for a job. K-State recommends saying plainly that you are seeking information about their field, not a position, and naming the person who referred you if there is one.

Here is a template you can adapt:

Subject: 20 minutes on your work in warehouse operations?

Hi Dana,

I'm a software engineer exploring a move into logistics software. Your profile says you have run inbound operations at a regional distribution center for four years, and I'd like to understand what that job involves day to day.

Would you be open to a 20-minute call in the next two weeks? I'm not asking about job openings. I want to learn how the work runs before I decide where to focus. Sam Lee suggested I get in touch.

I can work around your schedule. Thanks for considering it.

Priya

Keep the ask small and make scheduling easy. If you hear nothing after a week or so, one polite follow-up is reasonable. After that, move on to someone else.

Prepare before the call

Read the person's public profile and their company's website so you do not spend their time on facts you could have looked up. Then write down the three things you most need to learn. For Priya, those might be: what goes wrong most often on an inbound shift, which software the team actually uses, and who decides when to change it.

Bring more questions than you will use and mark the ones that matter most. The informational interview questions guide has a question bank organized by what you are trying to learn.

Run the conversation

Open by thanking them, restating why you asked and confirming how much time they have. Then keep to that time.

Ask about recent, specific events. "Walk me through the last time a truck showed up with the wrong order" gets more useful detail than "What are the challenges in your job?" Our customer interview questions guide explains why a recent example beats a general opinion, and the same idea applies here.

Listen more than you talk. K-State's advice is to let the conversation flow and not worry so much about finishing your list that you forget to listen. Near the end, ask who else you should talk to and whether you can mention their name when you get in touch.

Follow up

Send a thank-you note within a day. K-State suggests mentioning a specific piece of advice that helped and what you plan to do next. If you later act on that advice, a short update months later is a good way to keep in touch.

When the free route stalls

Informational interviews run on goodwill, and people in demand get more requests than they can accept. For career exploration, patience and warm introductions usually work. If you need to hear from a particular kind of person on a deadline, for example a founder who needs to speak with three warehouse managers before choosing what to build, offering to pay for their time is a reasonable alternative.

On Instant Expert, you describe the experience you need, such as operations professionals in warehousing. It finds people whose work matches, you review them, it sends the invitations and you pay for each call that gets booked. If you go that route, the paid research invitation guide covers how to explain the purpose and payment clearly.