priate to ask for advice on how you should go about getting a job in this
area. Good questions might be:“Knowing what you know about me, what do you feel would be the
best way for me to get a job in this field?”
“If you were me, what would you do next to get a job in this field?”
“Is there something I should have asked you that I haven’t?”Obliging Stage
As noted earlier, although you are not being evaluated with
respect to a specific position, you can be sure that the person with
whom you are speaking is forming impressions of you. If you make a
good impression, this person might be able to help you sometime in the
future. To make a good impression, you do not want to just focus on sell-
ing yourself. You also want to make the other person feel appreciatedby
you. The more this person feels appreciated by you, the more likely he
or she will be to help you in the future.
Here are some ways to make your interviewees feel appreciated:Be a good listener. Listen attentively, sympathetically, and don’t
interrupt.
Nod appreciatively when your interviewees think they’ve made a good
point.Nodding doesn’t mean you necessarily agree with them, it just
means you understand what they are saying and why they feel the
way they do.
Show that you respect how important and busy they are by not over-
staying your welcome.Because you requested the meeting, it is your
responsibility to monitor the time. If you asked for a half hour, you
should point out that you are asking your final question as it gets
close to that time. If the person with whom you are speaking encour-
ages you to continue or says that she would be willing to talk for an-
other twenty minutes, thank her and continue. Otherwise, stick to
the original plan and take responsibility for bringing the interview to
a close:“This conversation has been most helpful to me, Ms. Smith. I
know you’ve got a lot of important things to attend to. Thank you
very much for your time.”
Continue to be obligingafterthe interview.If you’ve been polite, lis-
tened carefully to everything that has been said, and been appropri-
ately appreciative along the way, the chances are you will get some
very useful information during the interview. You will also be well on
your way to making a friend who could prove very useful to you. So
it is important to keep in touch.
Write a thank-you noteimmediatelyafter the informational inter-
view.If you can, pick up on something they said or advised you to do
and tell them how you intend to follow through.
Write thank-you notes when you get a job.Your contact should not
cease with a post-interview thank-you note. It is courteous, and can
also be helpful, to keep the people you meet informed of your58 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio