How I prepare for informational interviews

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I’m starting to conduct informational interviews with people in the Organization Development (OD) field so that I can explore the types of OD roles that are out there, learn from others’ journeys, and build meaningful connections. I am just getting started, but I’ve already found this process to be extraordinarily helpful.

I’ve recommended informational interviews to a few people lately, so I thought I’d quickly share my own approach. While an informational interview lacks the pressure of a job interview, it’s just as important to be prepared. This person is taking time out of their day to help me, so I want to make the most of their time.

Here’s what I do to prepare:

  • Confirm logistics – Double check time zone, who is calling whom, and amount of time available. I also tend to confirm how much time the person has at the beginning of the call so I pace my questions accordingly.
  • Do my research – Learn about the organization and industry, check out the person’s LinkedIn profile, and do a Google search for any publications the person may have written. I don’t need to memorize the person’s entire career or become an expert in their industry, but getting smart on at least the basics helps me better tailor my questions, make the most of their time, and understand the context behind their answers.
  • Prepare questions and talking points – I create an outline for each informational interview that’s tailored to the person. I also created some talking points around my own career and what I’m hoping to learn from our conversation. I study and become comfortable with the questions I prepare, but I try to stay flexible and go with the natural flow of the conversation. It’s helpful to pick 2-3 “must ask” questions, and then refer to the other questions you have as needed in the conversation. Here are some examples of questions I’ve asked recently:
    • I’d love to hear about your journey – how did you begin working in this field? (I usually open with this)
    • What was the biggest change or challenge in your transition from consulting to an internal role?
    • What would you say are the most important values at your organization, and how would you describe the culture?
    • What are the most challenging/rewarding parts of your job?
    • If I asked a leader within your organization to describe Organization Development, how do you think they’d respond? or What is OD’s “brand” within your organization?
    • Is there an experience or skill you wish you’d had in the first part of your career, or something you wish you’d done differently?
  • Think about ways to return the favor – Since this person is doing me a favor by chatting with me about their career, I try to think about ways I can support or help them in return. For instance, I recently interviewed someone who is doing some fascinating generational research, and I offered to connect her with some other people I knew who are conducting complementary research. This might not always be possible, but at the very least, I send a thank you note to show my appreciation.

I’ve found these articles really helpful in my preparation as well –

Anyone else have any tips or go-to questions when preparing for informational interviews?

 

Intentions for 2016

Wow – I turned in my computer and cell phone to my company today! I am feeling so appreciative for all of the amazing people I worked with and experiences I had, but I am absolutely ready for the next phase and am already loving this leave of absence. With both closure and new beginnings happening this week, it seems fitting to spend some time reflecting on my “goals” for 2016.

I create a new set of resolutions every year, and I usually do pretty well (one of my biggest achievements in 2015 was paying off all of my credit card debt <<praise hands emoji>>) but I inevitably forget about some of them (definitely didn’t learn how to use my camera yet – that’s been on the list for 2 years).

I wanted to do things a bit differently this year. I’m a big fan of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound) and usually use that format for my resolutions, but this year I’m saving the SMART goals for more specific milestones I want to achieve. Inspired by this article and this article, I’m setting intentions instead of resolutions this year.

The Huffington Post article talks about intentions as a “determination to act in a certain way.” For the past decade (at least), I’ve measured my success by achieving specific goals – getting promoted by a certain year, finishing a triathlon in a certain time, etcetera. But I’m realizing that success (for me) is a lot more about the journey than the destination, so my 2016 intentions are more focused on the journey and the way I want to live my life than my resolutions have been in the past. They’re short and sweet, and rather than keeping them in a Word document that I forget about by March, I designed it to hang in my room so that I can see it and reflect on my intentions every day.

2016 Intentions

I used a few different templates as inspiration to create the following list of intentions (big thanks to my sister for sharing this template, which was my starting point).

What do you think – do you prefer resolutions or intentions? Or do you not see a difference? I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer – everyone should choose what works best for them.

What are some of your intentions for 2016? I’d love to hear them!

Thank you, 2015 – My Most Important Moments

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Happy New Year everyone! Just getting back into the blog after a relaxing few weeks spending time with friends and family over the holidays. Later this week I’ll share my goals and what I’m most looking forward to in 2016, but for now I’m reflecting on the most important moments of 2015 and what I’m most thankful for in the past year.

My Marriage.

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Our wedding was surrounded by so much love and joy – it was the most perfect day for us. It was very stress-free and every part of the day was planned by us and had special meaning, from the vows we wrote to each other to impromptu dance party to Turkish drums before the reception. But the most wonderful part of 2015 has been our actual marriage and how we live our day-to-day lives as partners. I can’t wait to experience how we grow together and continue to support each other in 2016, especially with several big changes ahead of us – a new job for me, most likely selling our current place and buying a new place, and potentially moving out of DC (whether that means the DC burbs or a different city remains to be seen!).

Honoring my Grandmom.

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We had to say goodbye to my beloved grandmother this summer – it was one of the saddest and most difficult experiences of my life, but I will never forget how much love surrounded her in her final days and the way my family came together during that time. We were so fortunate to have had the opportunity to have several days to say all of the things we wanted to or needed to say and to demonstrate our love for her – not everyone has that chance, and I’ll forever be grateful for that. Since her death, I am trying to be very intentional about honoring my grandmother by spending more time with family and treating others with the same love and kindness that she had for everyone.

Traveling.

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My husband and I love traveling together, and this year was one for the books. We have done a lot of international travel together, but this year was all about continuing to explore the U.S. – there is so much to see in this amazing country and it’s my goal to see at least one or two new places domestically each year. We spent our honeymoon in Hawaii (Kauai and Maui) and it was hands-down the best 16 days of my life – lounging, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, and EATING (the food in Hawaii is absolutely incredible). We also took a short trip to the Pacific Northwest (read more about it here) and recently went on a road trip down the Pacific Coast Highway in Northern, Central, and Southern California. We’re still figuring out where we’re going to travel in 2016, but for now we have a trip to Panama on the books for our dear friends’ wedding later this month!

Taking a Leap with my Career.

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I will always remember 2015 as a pivotal year in my career. I got promoted, I worked on exciting projects that challenged me immensely, I had the privilege to lead and learn from several teams of really amazing and brilliant people, and I had many opportunities to learn from my mentors and leaders. Most of all, I built my confidence and trusted myself to follow my heart and take a pause from “big consulting” to explore the next phase of my career. 2016 is full of opportunity for me, and I am excited to see where it takes me and to share this journey with you all!

What were the moments or experiences in 2015 that you are most thankful for, and how are you carrying what you’ve learned into 2016?

Book of the Week Challenge (and a tidying challenge…)

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It’s a sad fact that I could probably count the number of non-grad-school books I’ve read in the past 3 years on one hand. Granted, I loved most of the content I read during grad school, but I was rarely reading “for fun” and I got out of the habit.

I was a bookworm growing up – I loved going to the library with my mom, and I was the kid who read under the covers with a flashlight way past my bedtime. I truly think the rise of the internet and social media contributed to me reading less over the past few years – rather than reading before going to sleep or when I have some downtime, I scroll through my Instagram feed and catch up on blogs.

One of my goals during my leave of absence is to read more – in fact, to get back into the habit of reading during my downtime, this December I’ve started my own #bookaweek challenge! I’ll be posting the books I read on Instagram, and I also just started using Goodreads. I’d love your suggestions for books I should add to my reading list!

One of the first books I started with was Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Cem and I picked this up at Kramerbooks a few months ago because we knew we wanted to better organize our tiny 750 square foot apartment and had heard great things about this method.

I honestly didn’t like it at first – its a bit repetitive and the author takes tidying way too seriously for my own liking (folding socks the wrong way is a “fatal” mistake). But the author is strangely charming and at the core, she hits on important truth – only surround yourself with things that are absolutely necessary and that bring you joy, and be grateful for and respectful of what you have. Now isn’t that true about life in general – not just about your clothing and paperwork? Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go recycle the 2 giant trash bags of paper that I’ve accumulated over the years…