What Is an Informational Interview?

An informational interview is a deliberate, low-stakes conversation you initiate with someone whose career, company, or industry you want to understand better. It is not a job interview. You are not asking for a job. You are gathering intelligence, building a real relationship, and positioning yourself so that when an opportunity does arise — at their company or anywhere in their orbit — you are already a known quantity.

That reframe matters enormously. Most job seekers approach informational interviews with a vague sense of guilt, as if they are imposing. Flip it around: you are giving the other person a rare gift — a chance to talk about themselves, reflect on their path, and feel like an expert for 20 minutes. People almost always enjoy that. Your job is to structure the request so they say yes, then show up prepared enough that they walk away glad they did.

Job interview vs. informational interview

These two things sound similar. They are almost entirely different.

The stakes are different. The power dynamic is different. And critically, the success criteria are different. A job interview ends with a yes or a no. An informational interview almost never fails outright — the only way to lose is to waste someone's time or ask them for a job at the end.

Why informational interviews actually work

The psychology here is well-documented. When someone asks for your advice — not your help, not a favor, but your advice — you feel a subtle but powerful pull to engage. You feel competent. You feel generous. Social psychologists call this the "Ben Franklin effect": people who do you a small favor are more likely to do you a larger one, because their brain resolves the cognitive dissonance by deciding they must like you.

Informational interviews exploit this dynamic in the best possible way. You are not asking for a referral. You are asking for perspective. The referral often follows naturally, because the person now has a stake in your success.

There is also a structural reason they work: most jobs are never posted. Research consistently shows that somewhere between 70 and 85 percent of roles are filled through relationships before they ever appear on a job board. Informational interviews are your primary mechanism for entering that invisible market. When a hiring manager mentions to a colleague that they are about to open a role, the colleague who remembers your conversation three months ago will mention your name. That is the entire game.

Who to request one from

The most effective targets are not necessarily the most senior people. They are the people who have the most relevant knowledge and a plausible reason to remember you.

Former colleagues and classmates. These are the easiest conversations to get and often the most useful. A former intern, a classmate two years ahead of you, a colleague who changed industries — anyone who has made a move you are considering is valuable.

LinkedIn second-degree connections. Filter your second-degree network by company or job title. Look for people who share a common connection with you, attended the same university, or are from the same city. Any shared context makes the cold outreach warmer.

Alumni from your university. Alumni networks are chronically underused. Most people feel a genuine sense of obligation to help someone from their alma mater. University career offices often maintain alumni directories specifically for this purpose — use them.

Speakers at events you attended. If someone gave a talk you found genuinely interesting, that is your opening line. "I attended your session at [event] and your point about [specific thing] has stuck with me." Speakers expect follow-up; most rarely get it.

Authors of articles or posts you admired. Anyone who publishes publicly is signaling that they enjoy sharing their perspective. A thoughtful message referencing their work is one of the highest-quality openers available to you.

People who are recently in the role you want. They remember what the transition felt like. They are often more candid than veterans who have forgotten what it was like to be on the outside.

How to request one

The message that gets a response is short, specific, and makes the ask easy to say yes to. Here is the structure:

1. One sentence of context — who you are and why you are reaching out to them specifically (not generically)
2. One sentence of genuine flattery — something specific you noticed or read, not hollow praise
3. The explicit ask — "20 minutes" on a video call, positioned as learning from them, not asking for anything
4. An easy out — signal that you understand they are busy and a no is fine

Template — cold LinkedIn DM:

Hi [Name], I'm a product designer transitioning into UX research. I read your write-up on continuous discovery frameworks and found your point about session cadence genuinely useful — it changed how I think about frequency vs. depth. I'd love to ask you a few questions about your path into research if you have 20 minutes sometime in the next few weeks. Totally understand if your calendar is slammed.

Template — email to an alumnus:

Subject: [University] alum hoping to learn from your path into climate finance

Hi [Name], I'm [Your Name], a [Year] grad from [University] currently working in [current role]. I came across your profile through the alumni directory and noticed you made a move from traditional asset management into green infrastructure — which is exactly the direction I'm trying to understand better. Would you be open to a 20-minute call to share your perspective? I'm happy to work around your schedule entirely.

Notice what is not in either message: a resume, a request to be considered for anything, a list of your accomplishments. Those things come later, if at all, and only because the other person asks.

How to prepare

A poorly prepared informational interview is a waste of two people's time and will not result in a referral. A well-prepared one feels like a real conversation.

Research the person. Read their LinkedIn profile carefully. Note their career transitions — especially any that look non-obvious. Look for talks they have given, articles they have written, or companies they have worked at that you find interesting. Your goal is to be able to say something specific that signals you actually thought about them.

Research their company. Know the basics: what they do, roughly how large they are, any recent news (funding, leadership changes, product launches). You do not need to be an expert. You need to not be ignorant.

Prepare your 8–10 questions in advance. You will not ask all of them — good conversations are non-linear. But going in with a prepared list means you can let the conversation breathe without panicking when a topic runs dry.

The 15 best informational interview questions

About their career path

• "What drew you to this field originally, and how has your relationship with the work changed over time?"
• "Is there a decision you made — a role you took or passed on — that you think about as a turning point?"
• "What does your day-to-day actually look like, as opposed to what your job title might suggest?"

About the industry and company

• "What is a tension or debate inside your industry that most outsiders don't know about?"
• "How has your company changed in the last two to three years — culturally, structurally, strategically?"
• "What types of people seem to thrive here, and what types tend to struggle?"
• "Are there roles or functions in this space that you think are undervalued or underrated right now?"

About breaking into the field

• "What do people who are trying to get into this field most commonly get wrong?"
• "What signals do you actually look for when evaluating a candidate — things that aren't obvious from a resume?"
• "If you were starting over today with my background, what would your first three moves be?"

About advice for your specific situation

• "Here is roughly where I am and where I am trying to go — does this path make sense to you, or do you see a gap I'm missing?"
• "Is there a piece of conventional wisdom about this industry that you think is just wrong?"
• "What should I be reading or learning right now that most people in my position haven't found yet?"

The closing question — always ask this

• "Is there anyone else you'd suggest I speak with? Even one name would be incredibly helpful."

That last question is the compounding mechanism. One informational interview that yields two referrals, each of which yields two more, turns a cold outreach into a warm network in a matter of weeks.

How one conversation branches into many

The compounding effect is real and it accelerates fast. Two informational interviews a week — a sustainable cadence — means roughly 100 new conversations a year. Even if only one in ten yields a meaningful referral, that is ten warm introductions into companies that would otherwise see you only as a cold application.

During the conversation

Show up on time. Open with something brief and genuine — reference the article you mentioned in your note, or ask about something from their recent LinkedIn activity. Then get out of the way.

Follow the energy. If they go off on a tangent about something you didn't plan to ask about, follow them. The unplanned parts of these conversations are often where the most useful information lives. Your prepared questions are a safety net, not a script.

Take notes visibly. On a video call, tell them at the start: "I'm going to take a few notes as we talk, if that's okay." Almost everyone says yes, and it signals that you are taking this seriously. Jot down names they mention, books they recommend, and any phrases that feel quotable — you will use them in your thank-you note.

Listen more than you talk. A rough target: you should be speaking no more than 30 percent of the time. If you find yourself explaining your background at length, redirect.

Watch the clock. You asked for 20 minutes. At the 18-minute mark, say: "I'm conscious of the time I asked for — I want to be respectful. Is there anything else you'd suggest I think about, or anyone you'd recommend I speak with?" This gives them an out and surfaces the referral ask naturally.

What not to do

Do not pivot to asking for a job. This is the cardinal rule. If you end a 20-minute conversation with "so if anything opens up, I'd love to be considered" you have retroactively turned the whole thing into a covert job interview. The person will feel misled. You will not get a referral.

Do not be vague about what you want. "I'm just trying to figure out my next step" is not a useful framing. Have a point of view: "I'm trying to understand whether my background in B2B sales translates to solutions engineering, and what that transition actually looks like." Specific questions get specific answers.

Do not go over time without permission. Running long signals that you do not respect their schedule. It is one of the most damaging things you can do to an otherwise good impression.

Do not send a generic follow-up. "Thanks so much for your time!" is forgettable. Use something specific from the conversation.

After the conversation

Send a thank-you within 24 hours. Email is fine. It should be three to four sentences: what you appreciated about the conversation, one specific thing you are going to do based on something they said, and a note that you will keep them updated. Reference something concrete from the call — a book they mentioned, a point they made, a name they introduced. This is what distinguishes a memorable follow-up from a generic one.

Keep them updated on your progress. If you land a role — or even a follow-up conversation — let them know. People who helped you early want to know how things turned out. This closes the loop and keeps the relationship alive with almost no effort.

Give back when you can. If you come across an article relevant to something they mentioned, send it with one line of context. If you hear about an event in their space, forward it. Relationships that stay warm past the first conversation are ones where both people feel they are getting something from the exchange.

Tracking your informational interview pipeline

A job search without a system becomes a list of vague intentions. Build a simple spreadsheet with these columns:

• Name and LinkedIn URL
• Company and role
• How you found them (alumni network, second-degree, event, etc.)
• Date contacted
• Status — Pending / Scheduled / Completed / No response
• Date of conversation
• Key notes — two or three bullet points from the call
• Referrals given — names they suggested
• Follow-up sent — date of thank-you note
• Next action

Review this spreadsheet once a week. A good steady-state cadence is two informational interviews per week — roughly eight per month. That is achievable without burning you out or burning out your network.

When to follow up on unanswered requests: wait five business days, then send one brief follow-up. "Wanted to resurface this in case it got buried — completely understand if the timing doesn't work." If you hear nothing after that, move on. Most people who do not respond are not ignoring you out of hostility; they are just overwhelmed.

The mindset that makes this work

Informational interviews fail when job seekers treat them as a slightly more polite form of cold job application. They work when you treat them as genuine curiosity about another person's experience — because then they actually are.

Go in wanting to learn something. Be interested in the person, not just their title. Ask the questions you actually want answered. The best informational interviews feel like conversations between two people who find each other interesting. That is not a performance; it is what happens when you prepare well and let go of the outcome.

The goal of any single informational interview is not a job offer. It is a relationship, a referral, and a clearer picture of where you want to go. Do enough of them and the job offers follow.