Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Informational Interviews-A Valuable Job-Search Strategy by Jill Hinrichs


Informational interviews are my favorite job-search strategy to help advance one’s career. This type of interview provides a rare opportunity to gain invaluable, up-to-date knowledge about a specific business or industry from an “insider,” as well as build a new network connection. Informational Interviewing is a job-search strategy that puts you in the interviewer’s seat. You are reaching out to high-value contacts and asking for their time to ask questions about their company, job or industry.

I encourage you to find opportunities in your current job-search situation to reach out to new contacts and have these conversations. It is also a great way to gain experience talking to industry professionals to improve your interview skills.

Who to connect with about your career interests
Focus on targeting the following high-value connections for informational interviews:

  • Job titles one, two and three levels above your target job title. These individuals can introduce you to the decision maker or they might be in a position to make hiring decisions themselves.
  • Your job title and similar. These people can give you the inside scoop on challenges within this position so you can best understand how to market yourself.
  • One level beneath your job title. This is a good way to learn about how the organization promotes and provides growth opportunities for employees.
  • Titles that interact with your job title. Focusing on these individuals can help you understand
    the goals of the departments that interact with your target job title and how to promote your communication skills in a relevant way.
  • Staffing consultants/head hunters.
  • Corporate recruiters.

How to make the connection
Once you have targeted people you feel comfortable approaching, you’ll need to contact them to see if they are interested in having a brief meeting or phone call. If someone refuses or ignores you at this stage, move on and try someone else. If a person is receptive, set up a meeting.

These meetings are not about asking for job leads; the point is to learn something and make a connection. Think about informational interviews as a way to build a relationship, expand your network and learn inside information about a company, job title or industry.

Wait for the right time. The other person is doing you a favor, so it should be about what’s convenient for the connection, not you. Follow their lead as to timing, in person or by phone, location and how long the meeting should last. People who are successful at something (the reason you’re approaching them) are often pressed for time, so be respectful. Ask how much time the person has. It’s safe to assume that a 20-minute phone call or a 30-minute meeting is a reasonable request.

Finally, it is your responsibility to set the agenda for this meeting and thus make the most of it. If a person accepts your informational interview invitation, make sure you come prepared.

Before the meeting, do your homework. Try to find out about the person you’re meeting. What’s going on in his company or industry? Do a Google search and set up a Google news alert so you don’t miss big developments.

Also, know what you want. Prepare questions that forward the conversation as well as generate the information you are seeking. Here are some examples:

  • What do you like most about what you do, and what would you change if you could?
  • What have been your greatest moments and biggest challenges?
  • How do people break into this field? How did you get started in the field?
  • What is your typical day like?
  • What emerging trends do you see affecting your job or industry in the next five years?
  • Are there any professional or trade associations I should connect with?
  • What do you read — in print and online — to keep up with developments in your field?
  • What skills and abilities will I need to be successful in this line of work?
  • Do you have three people you would feel comfortable introducing me to so I can continue to expand my network and conduct more informational interviews?

Show the person that you’ve done your homework by preparing questions that specifically relate to her career path. Here’s an example: “I read in a trade magazine article that you started this business when you were just 24. How did you do it? What lessons did you learn?”

When and how to follow up
After the meeting, make sure to follow up with a thank-you email and a thank-you card within 24 hours. If you said you’d send an article, contact someone or do something, make sure to do what you said you would and communicate your follow up. If you want to continue the relationship, figure out how to stay in touch. Ask if they are willing to connect on social media. If there was no connection, move on.

Initiating conversations with high-value contacts is an essential job-search strategy in today’s competitive landscape. More companies rely on word of mouth referrals and internal recommendations to make hiring decisions. Use informational interview requests to find five internal connections at each of your target companies to start strategically networking your way into your future career.


Jill Hinrichs is a certified career management coach (CCMC) specializing in helping job seekers get connected to the job market by embracing the power of social interaction and personal branding.  Jill’s coaching focuses on increasing emotional intelligence to approach networking with an authentic and rewarding attitude.  She assists in successfully identifying and developing clients’ genuine brands to positively market themselves, make memorable connections and purposefully develop professionally. She is a committee chair with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and holds a Master of Science in Management (MSM).  

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

President's Letter for February 2014


Take the 2014 Core Competency Challenge!

Q. What do you get when you cross an ICF Core Competency and the ICF Chicago Chapter Meetings?
A. A plethora of Applied Coaching!
Applied coaching is the integration and use of coaching competencies, skills and practices, designed to be used within the coaching relationship, to enhance one’s effectiveness and competence in other areas of one’s personal and/or professional work and life. (Admittedly this is my own definition.)

ICFC provides programming designed to support you in engaging both virtually and in-person, in small and large group settings, with a diverse population of new and experienced coaches, in applying each of these competencies over the course of a year’s time. And Continuing Coach Education Units (CCEUs) are available to support your credential pathway as well! (Check out our ICFC Calendar <http://icf-chicago.org/calendar.cfm>for times and locations! The list of what Core Competency is the theme for each month can be found on the Core Competency Call <http://icf-chicago.org/meetings-events.cfm?id=66>  webpage.)

We started the year in January with the Core Competency of Active Listening. At our January Chapter Meeting, Denise Hedges showed how Active Listening can be used to help us authentically grow our coaching clientele.

By the way, for those of you who attended that meeting…did you follow through on the next steps you identified for yourself at the end of the meeting? Take a moment and see if there is any further application you want to make from your learning. 

February’s Core Competency is Powerful Questioning! We are fortunate to have master coach, Therese Kienast, MCC, with us as our speaker at our February 10th Chapter Meeting to challenge us to new perspectives on how to navigate that subtle and sometimes awkward place between asking powerful questions and skillfully using direct communication (telling the hard truth).

To prep for this meeting, consider how often you hold back saying what you would consider the hard truth. What is the impact for you personally and professionally when you hold back? 

Here’s where the challenge comes in…why not make one of your 2014 professional development goals to grow your mastery of the 11 ICF Core Competencies this year? As a coaching community, the impact would be exponential.

Will you take the 2014 Core Competency Challenge?  (Here is a link to the 11 Core Competencies for your reference.)
With Joy,
Wendy Balman, CPCC, ACC
ICFC President
 
**We have 1 more opening for an ICFC Membership Committee Chair; contact Betty Terrell at membership@icf-chicago.org with your interest. Get in on the ground floor of this vital team! 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

President's January 2014 Letter



Happy New Year!
After hearing the book “Let Your Life Speak” by Parker Palmer mentioned three times within a couple months, I knew I had to read it.  It challenged me to listen to my own life on a deeper level and pay attention to not only my gifts and talents, but also to my constraints and limitations as a way to “listen for the voice of vocation” in 2014. 


The ICF core competency of Active Listening describes this type of listening…and as this is the core competency that ICF Chicago is focusing on this month, it was apropos to have this be the way to bring in the new year.  And while we are at it, let’s listen to our own lives as we start out the new year. What do you hear…and what will you do about it?

World Café 2013
Speaking of active listening, you could really see it during our December 9th World Café event. The focus of the event was Creating a Premier Coaching Community! We had a record number of new comers and the prevailing theme was that people wanted to have more events like this to get to meet and know each other as a community of coaches. The input gathered from the event will be available soon and the ICFC board and committee teams will be using this input to guide our programs and initiatives this year.

In the News
I am excited to announce that we have thirteen new **committee chair members joining the ICFC leadership team in 2014! The ICFC board will be hosting a Committee Chair Onboarding Orientation on January 13th and will introduce our new team members along with new board members that same evening at our January Chapter Meeting.
 
**We still have a couple openings for Membership Committee Chairs; contact Betty Terrell at membership@icf-chicago.org with your interest. It would be great to have you join us for the January 13th orientation!

As coaches, we have a unique position to influence and impact for good the greater Chicagoland area and beyond this year. Thank you for what you do…it really matters! Whether you work with one or many.

 
In Anticipation of a Great Year,
Wendy Balman, CPCC, ACC
ICFC President