- Assignment Summary: An informational interview is a meeting with a working professional who can give you an inside view of an occupation, organization, and/or industry that is of interest to you. You will identify an appropriate interviewee; research their industry; schedule an interview; build a list of appropriate questions; conduct an interview and take notes; send a thank you note; and write a reflective report about what you learned and how it applies to your professional future.
- Assignment Details: The first 2-3 pages of your assignment, formatted as a memo to your professor and typed single-spaced, should include:
- (1) Your Professional Goals and the Purpose of the Interview (1 paragraph): Briefly describe your career interests and 2-3 career goals and then explain why this interviewee is relevant to those goals.
- (2) Biography of Interviewee (1-2 paragraphs): Sum up the interviewee’s professional biography, including his/her professional background, current title and responsibilities, organization, and a summary of the interviewee’s career journey, from beginning to date.
- (3) Industry Overview (2-3 paragraphs, based on research): Provide an overview of the industry including market size, types of careers in the industry, nature of work in the field, types of writing and communication skills required, and other skills needed. Incorporate information from both the interview and additional research you have done. Use 3-5 sources of information for this section and provide in-text citations using APA formatting. (You will also provide a list of references at the end of the paper.) A good place to start is the GMU Library BUS 303 InfoGuide: http://infoguides.gmu.edu/BUS303
- (4) Interview Summary (1-2 paragraphs): Provide a summary of your interview, focusing on the most valuable information that your interviewee provided. Do not include a complete transcript of your interviewee’s responses and do not use an “I asked…and she answered…” format. Instead, paraphrase the responses in a narrative format.
- (5) Reflection (2-3 paragraphs): This is the most important part of your memo. Synthesize 2-3 meaningful highlights or “takeaways” from the interview and reflect on their implications for your career.
- Next, include the following items as three separate pages at the end of your memo:
- (6) Interview Questions: A list of 10-12 questions you thoughtfully prepared prior to the interview,in the order that you intended to ask them. (It’s okay if you don’t end up asking them exactly as you planned—but it’s important to have a list.) You need to write the questions yourself; do not plagiarize a list of questions from the internet. Think about what you would really like to know from this person. One question you should definitely ask is, “What are employers in your industry looking for in new college graduates?”
