I was just reading this article and this part stood out for me:
I am wondering if anyone here has ever gotten a job via informational interviews and coffee meetings. The rest of the suggestions I can see working, but an informational interview? A coffee meeting with someone you don’t already have a work relationship with… does this really work?
I guess I’m not even seeing how someone would take the time out to meet with you unless you already had a connection of some sort, and then that’s networking. In my mind an informational interview is when you cold call/email someone and get them to chat with you, and then you ask them general questions regarding the industry, or what you can do to add to your skills in order to be qualified for a certain position. I can’t imagine setting that up with someone unless, as I said before, we had some sort of prior connection.
Maybe I’m wrong and this really gets results. I know career specialists always suggest that as part of your job search plan and perhaps I’m missing out on a great thing. Somehow I’m not convinced. What’s the real life experience been with this for folks?
I have one kind of example - a guy who I was on a committee with was looking for a job, and called me up. I happened to be defining a job for another manager, and there was a perfect match.
But the main advantage is that no one does this. I doubt it would be too useful for a fast food job, and any reasonable high level job probably is associated with a company with some people who are active in the industry. Many people like to talk about what they do, and like to give advice. Informational interviews are a good way to play on this. Asking for a job puts some pressure on the person you are talking to, since there might not be one. Asking for information does not. It of course doesn’t make a job appear, but if you keep up the contact (not too frequently) and have good credentials, you may be on the top of the list when one does. Recruiting from the hiring side is time consuming and a real pain. If you can fill a job really quickly you get brownie points and extra time. Who wouldn’t go with someone they talked to instead of wading through 100 resumes?
I’m pretty visible in my field and no one ever calls me (except people I used to work with) but if someone did I would take some time out to chat and remember the person when I did have an opening.
As for me, the last time I switched jobs was 15 years ago, and I got my job because I told my neighbor I was fed up with my present one, he knew an HR guy at a good company, who worked with a Director who was looking for someone just like me. I also got an offer, in a sense, from a guy I know in the industry. He created a job for me - alas it was over a month after I had started in my new one.