Informational Interview, part II

Just back from the informational interview I scheduled last week. It went well and I'm feeling better now that I actually did it and didn't have a total meltdown.

First things first. Here's the email text I finally sent:

Dear Associate Director:
I read Center's recent publication "Publication" and have found it incredibly timely as I finish writing my dissertation on social changes in Fieldsite. I am a graduate student in cultural anthropology and upon graduating I hope to find a policy job where I can practically use my knowledge of small city transitions in the industrial Region. I'm not officially job hunting yet; I simply would welcome the opportunity to talk with you about how one breaks into policy work.

Would you be willing to meet with me for thirty minutes to discuss how you got started in policy and State government? I'd appreciate any advice you can offer. I will be in City Date-Date and can meet in your office if that is most convenient for you. Alternatively, if you are unable to meet with me in person, I hope you would be willing to correspond with me by phone or email in the near future.

Many thanks for your time.

Sincere regards,

Leadfoot

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Associate director replied 3.5 days later with a very nice email saying she would be out of town but recommended I speak with Co-director. She CC'ed Co-director on the email. After a bit of back and forth with Co-director on meeting logistics, we were set.

Now, contra to what a lot of websites and handouts say regarding informational interviews, I contacted Center and arranged everything via email. I did not do a followup phone call (i.e. "I will call next week to schedule a mutually agreeable time to meet"). I don't know about you, but I don't like to talk on the phone. And most people I deal with at my hourly Press job and in my academic life seem to prefer email. You get to it when you can, it's archiveable, it's searchable, and you get a lot of information about the person just from their signature line, etc. Unless there is a compelling reason not to, I will continue contacting people for info interviews via email.

Day before my info interview I did a walk-by of the office so I knew where it was and I added their general office number to my notes, in case my bus caught fire, or there was a freak snowstorm, or an impromptu parade, or something else that prevented me from arriving on time.

I read through their website, read the publications they had published recently (and had pdf'ed on their site), I became their fan on facebook, I did a little googling on the Co-director I was meeting, etc. I fixed my grant writing resume and what I think might go on a policy center resume (both I made up as I went along) and fixed my CV. I wanted to be prepared.

I wrote out my self-introduction and edited it. [I did this so I could refer to it if I totally froze, but also because I do better if I write it out once]. I complied my questions, bolding the ones I absolutely wanted to cover. At the bottom of my questions sheet, I wrote out key terms the center uses and some VIPs we might know in common. Like I said, I was going into over prepared mode.

Which I am glad I did.

I arrived about 10 minutes early and Co-director saw me almost immediately. [Note to self, arrive only 5 minutes early]. We talked about 40 minutes, then he introduced me to two peeps who have jobs I want. All said and done, I was there about 55 minutes. So 25 minutes more than I said. Oops. Must get better at directing conversation and sticking to established time.

Co-director was a friendly guy. Talkative and jokey. Also skeptical of academia and told me so straight off the bat. Well, actually he told me after I introduced myself as a "PhD candidate in the department of anthropology at the University of blahblah". Note to self. Locate myself in simpler, less pretentious sounding terms.

I told him I wanted to know how to break into policy and research work, but didn't really know how, so I thought it would be best to go straight to the source. I told him, "to better help you answer my questions, maybe I should briefly introduce myself." I told him in two (layman's terms) sentences what my research is about and mentioned that on top of my 5 years of researching in Site, I did undergrad at a university just down the way from his hometown. I told him that "I want to use my experiences as a grant writer, researcher and writer to practically make change and that a research policy center seems to be a good place for me". I told him that I was moving to City in July and that my partner currently works in City for Well-known Organization.

[I told him about my personal life and Honey's job because I wanted to indicate that I had longterm ties to the State, current ties to City, and was obviously planning on being in City for a while. I'm glad I did because later in the convo he and I talked about the budget cuts Honey is seeing at Organization and how things have changed for State in the last decade.]

Below are the questions on my cheatsheet. The bolded questions are the ones I absolutely wanted to cover, the starred ones were the ones I was actually able to ask or Co-director addressed in our conversation.

What is research and policy work like?

**How does one break into these fields, especially in State?

What is a typical day like for you at Center?

What is a typical career path into this kind of organization?

**What is the best way to enter this field?

**What kind of experiences would you encourage or expect for anyone seeking a career in this field?

What skills or talents are most essential to be effective in your job?

**What is the best way to get the skills or experiences that would best qualify me for this kind of job?

**What entry level jobs are best for learning as much as possible about this field?

**How should someone with my lack of policy experience approach prospective employers?

Are there websites or publications that might help me learn more about policy and research work?

Are you aware of job boards, websites, etc. that focus on policy and research work in State?

**Who else should I contact in City? May I use your name?

Overall, I give myself a B. I flubbed my self-intro and ran over on time. But I was personable and got many of my questions covered.

I'm to email the other Co-director who is kind of the head of this center and has ties to another dream job center. Co-director today says other Co-director might give me other insights and pointers, especially as a former academic. Score!

Here's what I will do differently next time:

--Buy a watch battery and remember my women's watch (which is currently sitting dead at my apartment). I had to wear Honey's runner's watch since I didn't want to check my phone for the time. I look appropriately professional, minus the hardcore men's timex dragging down my arm.

--Get new business cards asap!! My are all pretentious and I've hated this batch from the start. They currently say

Leadfoot, MA

PhD Candidate

school address, etc.

I will be getting some that simply say

Leadfoot

Graduate Student

school address, etc

--Get real thank you cards. I've sent my email thank yous to the Co-director and the two peeps I met today. By tomorrow I need to also send a paper thank you; I'm planning on addressing it to the entire office.

So that's my informational interview. Off now to make notes on the specifics and start contacting the various folks Co-director and peeps recommended. Hopefully I'll have informational interviews in the future!