Part One    About Informational Interview

> From Wikipedia

An Informational Interview (also known as an Informational conversation) is a meeting in which a potential job seeker seeks advice on their career, the industry, and the corporate culture of a potential future workplace; while an employed professional learns about the job seeker and judges their professional potential and fit to the corporate culture, so building their candidate pool for future hires. 

In an informational interview, job seekers can be unemployed, or else employed and considering new options. They use the interview to gather information on the field and on specific companies where they might want to work. They can find employment leads, and expand their professional network. The employed professional from whom the potential candidate seeks advice and information also learns about a new potential colleague or hire and builds their own network through the conversation.

This differs from a job interview because the conversation is not about hiring and not about a specific job. The potential candidate asks general questions about the nature of the company or the industry, and the "insider" learns about the potential candidate's professional character at the same time. The information interview helps overcome a problem with most discussions in a recruiting/job-seeking process, where each side is hesitant to talk to the other because they are uncertain about whether they might be wasting their time with an unqualified candidate or unsuitable workplace. 

> From http://blog.sina.com.cn/

(Abridged)

1.为什么要做informational interview?

最简单直接的就是为了有 referral帮助自己pass 简历筛选的第一关，并且提供内部信息，为后面的面试做准备。

informatioanl interview可以说是了解一个行业，公司，特定职位甚至被采访者career path的最好途径，顾名思义，informatioanl interview的第一个词语是’information’, 也就是说了解到越多信息越好，而且是越多网上看不到的信息越好，所以要求之前做好功课，准备的问题as specific as possible; informatioanl interview的第二个词语是’interview’, inter-这个前缀说明了这是一个two way communication, 不仅是你在寻求信息，对方也在观察你，这也是自我展示的一个过程。不要以为这就是大家casual的聊天，要拿出自己最职业的一面，和相应得展示自己的认真负责的态度和精神，如果你穿着简单的牛仔裤没有梳头就这么简简单单得去了，那除非你面试的是IT公司或者start up, 否则肯定是悲剧的开始。

除了这些，我个人还觉得informatioanl interview也是了解你跟这个潜在工作机会是否合拍的最好方式。掌握了足够多的关于职业的信息的基础上，你还可以观察下被采访者的气质气场性格等等，公司的文化和特定职位的工作性质会潜移默化得影响着做这个工作的人的性格， 最典型的例子就是要求穿suit的banking/consulting和着装比较随意的IT, 或者要求踏实的R&D工作人员和擅长沟通的Sales。如果你觉得自己跟被采访者的气场相距甚远，那么要么你不适合这个职位，要么你不适合这个公司，就算拿到了工作机会，以后的工作也不会开心。

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2. 怎样做informatioanl interview？

这里可以分成好几个小问题，下面一一讲来：

2.1 怎样找到做informatioanl interview的potential candidate?

除了career fair上你收集到的名片，比较有效的就是学校的alumni database和linkedin, 芝大的database可以按照学系和学院搜索，信息也很全面，但缺点是很多alumni的邮箱还是@uchicago.edu, 这时就需要大家去linkedin上面搜索校友的名字和新的联系方式啦。linkedin有一种premium membership, 会保证每个月你发的InMail有足够的回复，而且学生有discount, 我个人在找工作的最后阶段用过2个月，感觉还算物有所值吧。

2.2 如何发出request?

最常见就是写邮件和cold call两种方式，这里不是很推荐cold call, 毕竟比较突兀，一部分人也会觉得不礼貌。邮件的写法应该google上也会有，先是介绍一下自己是如何得知被采访人的联系方式，然后介绍一下自己，这里可以写出自己的亮点，比如GPA很高的话，或者以前的相关实习／工作经验。最后就是希望能有机会informational interview, 这里有个小技巧，比如你可以写would u prefer coffee near your office or a phone conversation, please? 这里看似你给了他选择，实际你没有给他拒绝你的机会（这一招对于追妹子时候约妹子出来同样管用）当然最后要留下自己的联系方式和表示感谢。

写邮件其实最难的部分应该是题目，在对方不认识你的时候，他看到一封陌生邮件第一眼看到的就是题目，所以邮件的题目一定要勾起他的兴趣，如果有介绍人，一定要把介绍人的名字写出来，如果是校友，可以写上学校的名字。

发邮件的大忌是直接询问工作机会，要记住你只是想了解职业信息的，以免给对方太大压力而把对方吓跑。

我们中国人写英文邮件常常给人感觉不是很礼貌，记得以前在网上看到过一篇指导英文礼貌写法的文章，有兴趣的同学可以搜索看看。那么我个人的经验是，第一，多用询问婉转的语气和词语，比如could I have this opportunity? would you mind… ；第二，please这个词要放在一句话的最后面而不是最前面，大家可以体会一下下面这两句的感觉： please meet me at 10am (命令的语气）和meet me at 10am, please (恳求的语气）；第三，尽量少用第一人称’I’, 避免给人留下主观和自我的印象。

Part Two    Composition

Dear Mr. Smith,

I found your email address by my college best friend Sarah Jones. I am an architect graduated from OSU, have been working in P Company since 2012. Due to the fact that my family has prepared for moving  to New York, I want to find a new job there. 

Could I have this opportunity to talk with you? Would you prefer coffee near your office or a phone call, please?

Thank you very much in advance for your time and insight.

Sincerely,

Sophie Allen