Identify an expert to interview

  • Due Mar 8, 2020 by 11:59pm
  • Points 4
  • Submitting a file upload
  • File Types pdf, docx, and doc

alumni videos.png

Some of the many UW alumni who have returned to speak with students

 

An informational interview is a structured conversation with an expert in a particular career field that you'd like to learn more about.  It is not the same as a job interview, where you try to convince a decision-maker to hire you -- instead, you're just trying to learn about a career path in general.  In this assignment you will identify someone to conduct an informational interview with -- an employer, alumni member, or other individual in a career related to the career community that you are interested in.

Read this first

Complete these steps

1. Research alumni in your career community.  To start with a direction for your research, within the career community you are considering, choose two different organizations that you might like to work for.  Then do a directed search of contacts within those organizations:

  • Do a LinkedIn search to find all UW-Madison alumni who work at those organizations
  • Do a BadgerBridge search to find all UW-Madison alumni who work at those organizations

2. Reflect on your search results.  What kinds of jobs do these people hold? What did they major in when they were at UW-Madison?  What locations do they live in?  Are there any people who work at these organization who majored in your same current (or intended) major?

3. Narrow down to three possible interviewee candidates.  Based on the results of your initial search above, now think about what kind of specific job or organization you'd like to learn about in your informational interview.  Then think about various people around campus -- or connected with our campus alumni network, even from your searches above -- who might have the knowledge and insight that you're looking for.  Come up with a specific list of at least three possible interviewees based on these criteria.  For each interviewee, list their name, their affiliation (what organization they belong to), their title (their role or job at that organization), and their contact information (email, LinkedIn address, or phone number).   

Please note: You are not permitted to conduct your informational interview with a friend or family member. For this assignment, we want you to use someone a bit more distant in your social network than your immediate family or close friends.  However, conducting the interview with one of your professors, instructors, TAs, or advisers would be fine.  

4. Identify a willing interviewee.  Now contact each of your three possible interviewee candidates, one by one, to ask them if they would be willing to speak to you.  All you need is one person to interview for this assignment (but you may want to conduct further interviews on your own for extra credit).  You may contact your prospective interviewees in person or by phone, but it is often easiest to send a formal email.  Here's an example:

Hello, my name is ____________. I am a University of Wisconsin-Madison student and I was referred to you by ______________. I am investigating career opportunities and trying to make some good decisions. I thought you might be able to answer a few questions I have about the ___________ industry.  Would you have 20-30 minutes sometime in the next two weeks to talk with me so I can find out more about how someone with my background, education, and skills can fit into this field?  Thank you very much for your consideration.  

5. Research your interviewee.  Once you have found someone to interview, dig deeper into what they do and where they do it.  Do some research on their organization, their role, and their own job history.  (Visit their LinkedIn site if they have one.)  Write up what you discover in a brief "interviewee dossier" (one page of text or less) that you can refer to while you're conducting the interview.  

6. Turn it in. Upload your list of three potential interviewees and your final interviewee dossier as a single Word or PDF file to Canvas to receive credit for this assignment.

Notes on this assignment

Examples

Below is a sample email that SuccessWorks recommends for outreach to alumni.  More information on what questions to ask or how to follow up is available at https://successworks.wisc.edu/networking/#reach-out 

Dear Ms. ABC,

My name is Badger Bucky and I am a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison pursuing a major in Economics. I recently came across your name on the Badger Bridge alumni directory and was excited to see that you work in Equity Research at Fidelity Investments. I am emailing you to see if you would be willing to meet with me briefly (about 30 minutes) to discuss your experiences in the field. It would be wonderful to gain your perspective on the industry and learn about day-to-day activities of a research analyst with your firm.

Thank you very much for your consideration of this email, and I hope we can set up a time to speak next week when it is convenient for you. I may be reached at 608.262.3921 or bbadger@wisc.edu.

Best regards,
Bucky Badger

For further reading

1583729999 03/08/2020 11:59pm