Uncover the Hidden Job Market with Informational Interviews

The hidden job market describes jobs that aren’t openly advertised or posted online. But it’s more than that. These days, it’s about getting to recruiters hiring managers early before jobs need to be posted or as soon as the listing goes live.

The earlier you get your resume in front of a decision maker the better you chance of securing an interview.

So how do you tap into the hidden job market?

You need to focus on building relationships to gain access to insider’s information about job appointments and companies.

The best way to get the ball rolling on building relationships is to conduct informational interviews.

This week’s guest post by Suha Iyengar deep-dives on what informational interviews are and how to set one up: 

How to prepare for an Informational Interview

How many people think that the first step in a job search process after figuring out the types of roles you are interested in, is responding to the job post online on LinkedIn or any other job-posting sites with a resume and a cover letter?

Did you know that most of the jobs are not even posted online? There has been extensive research done on this. Experts believe that almost 75-80 percent of the jobs can never be found online as they make up the ‘hidden job market’.

Wondering about how to land your dream job which might never be advertised?

There is something that will come to your rescue in this situation: informational interviews.

Now, if you are thinking what the heck is an informational interview and how can I set one up, know that you are not alone in this question. Here you’ll learn what an informational interview involves and how to set one up to ensure you get what you need out of one.

What is an informational interview? (Versus what it is NOT)

An informational interview is exactly what it sounds like – an interview to gather more information.

It’s an interview between a jobseeker and an employed professional doing that job, to learn about a potential career path or industry, or to learn more about their role in the company.

It should be an informal, conversation (like a coffee chat) that lasts for 15-30 minutes. The goal of a successful informational interview is to come out of a conversation with a clear idea of the industry, a particular job in that company, and with some idea about the culture of that company, and (if possible) also the team/division.

For a job seeker the benefits are huge:

• Preparing for job interviews (with insider information about the target company)

• Allowing research to be done on the company by asking targeted questions

• Increasing your visibility and network

• Being able to identify the skills important for the target role (and which to develop for that position)

• Being able to articulate your skills confidently to industry professionals

What an informational interview is NOT:

• A conversation to get a referral- keep in mind that this is (probably) the first time you are talking to them, do not ask for any big favours (referrals, positions open at their company, to check your resume etc.) in the first conversation

• An opportunity to talk about yourself. Make the conversation about them. You are there to learn more about their job and/or the target company/industry.

Inevitably the conversation will turn to you at some point, but keep it brief and use the time to be specific about your agenda of learning more about their role

Why should I care about informational interviews rather than focusing on online applications? (Which is my comfort zone)

Here’s why focusing solely on the online applications might hurt your job search:

1. Because you’ll be competing with hundreds of candidates, some of whom may have industry experience (the competition can be fierce).
2. Applying for jobs and not hearing back is not time well spent. Your applications vanish into the void, and you rarely get any feedback on how to improve them.

But in a job search, both informational interviews and job board searches can be conducted simultaneously, and it is part of a multichannel strategy to finding work.

Informational interviews provide an opportunity to understand the experiences of someone in the job AND it is driven by the questions YOU have.

• Understanding the industry inside-out: An informational interview is the best place to ask industry-specific questions directly to someone who works there. Someone with insider knowledge. It helps you understand the industry/job better than your “idea” of what it entails.

The more informational interviews you do, ultimately it will become a game changer when it comes to building your network, your self-confidence, communication skills, and knowledge of a particular industry. This knowledge will help you sound like a credible candidate when applying for jobs in that industry

• Stress-free conversation: An informational interview is an informal conversation compared to an actual job interview.

You are in control. You decide the direction of the conversation. It starts with basic introductions and quickly moves on to specific questions about their day-to-day activities on the job.

Since this is purely an exploratory conversation, the interviewee has little to no obligation or preparation. You want to make it easy for them by encouraging them to talk about themselves – people find it easy to talk about themselves

• Exclusive scoop: During the conversation, you might get access to some insider information that could set you apart from other job candidates. You could bring that up at a job interview or include some of the details of the conversation in your cover letter

• Building up your network: It has often been said by many experts “your net worth is your network.” Informational interviews are a great way to build your connections and make people aware that you are interested in what they do, and are curious to learn more about their career trajectory.

The time taken to build your network never goes to waste because you never know who could help you out in the future. If you make a good impression during your interviews and take genuine effort to maintain a professional relationship with your connections, you can potentially tap into the ‘hidden job market’ if your connections are willing to make valuable introductions 

How to find the right people and develop a consistent approach for informational interviewing?

Before figuring out the right people for your informational interviews, ask yourself these following questions:

1. What are my goals for these interviews? 

Every informational interview might have a different goal, but getting some clarity before going into the interview will help you get the most out of the conversation. Think of the following questions before setting up the next interview.

• Industry: Do I want to know more about the industry from a professional?
• Career trajectory: Do I want to know more about their career path?
• Role-specific: Am I more interested in their role at the target company or other roles?
• Company culture: Do I want to know what the company culture is like?
• Skills and Experiences: Am I curious about the skills needed for this role?

2. How to keep track of informational interviews? 

The simplest way to keep track is by having a Networking spreadsheet. It could have different columns such as:

Name

Job title

LinkedIn link

Email address

Company

Date contacted

Date of interview

Important notes

Keywords

take-home message

other people to talk to from their network

Follow-up date (by when should I next contact this person to say thank you or follow up) 

Keeping track of these conversations will come in really handy if you ever need to go back and ask them for referrals or any help once you’ve built a relationship with them.

3. Who do I feel comfortable talking to? 

When deciding on who to interview when you are just getting into informational interviewing, it’s easy to talk to people with whom you already have something in common.

For example: An alumnus from your university/lab who is now working as a data-scientist, a family friend who is working at your target company, or someone who studied the same subject a you now who works in a role you want to learn more about.

Contacting someone you already know is one of the most common ways to network and that way you know they are most likely to agree to talk to you. Once you have done a few interviews and are confident about going and talking to people you don’t know yet, the best place to start is LinkedIn.

Finding the right people to talk to:

Once you have your key questions outlined, gather an idea of which industry and target companies you want to research. You are now ready to talk to professionals who are working in your target industry and the best place to find them is LinkedIn.

The ideal scenario is to connect with someone at relevant companies and maintain that professional relationship, which could potentially give you a gateway into the “hidden” job-market at some point in the future.

Examples of people to reach out to might include (but not limited to):

• Works at your target company
• Has a career trajectory similar to yours, but is a few steps ahead of you
• Works at a company with a job-title you are interested in
• Has certifications/skills you are interested in pursuing
• Did an internship at your target company
• Works at your target company in the team you are interviewing with (or planning to apply to)
• Is an alumnus – you worked or studied at the same institution, giving you an easy introduction statement of what you have in common

In Summary:

• What are informational interviews and why are they important 

• Informational interviews are becoming a vital part of a successful job search strategy

• It gives a unique perspective on the type of role and the company you’re considering applying to 

• You gain a lot more out of them than applying to advertised positions alone 

• How to up your job search with informational interviews 

• Finding the right people to talk to on LinkedIn is the best way to conduct informational interviews

• Be clear with the end goal and frame questions in a way that makes it easy for the interviewee to answer them

About the Author:

Hello! I am Suhasini M Iyengar (Suha) Let me share a bit about myself and why I learnt so much about informational interviewing.