The Career Portfolio Workbook

4

Using Informational Interviews

to Perfect Your Portfolio

OVERVIEW

In this chapter we will show you how to use informational interviews

to get the precise information you need to create a portfolio that is

tailored specifically for a future meeting. In the previous chapter, we

alluded to the fact that informational interviews are a great tool for

learning about the particular P.E.A.K.S. that an employer is likely to be

seeking in job candidates. And we also suggested that informational in-

terviews are useful for getting feedback on drafts of your Can-Do Port-

folio. In this chapter, we will show you some strategies for getting and

conducting informational interviews that are both fun and productive.

Specifically, we will review the following:

What informational interviews are and why they are important

Key things you can learn in an informational interview

How to identify and then contact the right people to interview

The homework you should do prior to these interviews

How to conduct an informational interview

We noted in the past chapter that this is an optional chapter. You

can, in fact, create a targeted portfolio without doing informational in-

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