Informational interviews and job shadowing

Early in your career exploration, you can start to gain knowledge and experience into your prospective career choice. By conducting an informational interview or job shadowing opportunity, you will be able to talk with professionals in the field, experience the culture of their workplace, build your personal network, and get your questions answered.

An informational interview can occur either face to face, over the phone or over email. It may be a one-time interaction or several occurrences. To get started, you will need to source a professional in your field. This can be accomplished through the Carnegie Mellon's alumni directory, using your personal network, making contact through professional organizations, or seeking the help of your Career Consultant. You will want to have a resume together to give the interviewer an idea of who you are professionally, and you will need a letter to introduce yourself and make a request for an informational interview. Once you have the interview arranged, you will need a list of questions.

Job shadowing allows you to spend time with the professional in his/her work place. This time may be a half day or whole day. Typically, it is not longer than a day. The advantage to shadowing is you get to not only ask questions about the profession, but you also get to experience the culture of the workplace. Once you have the shadowing opportunity arranged, you will need a list of questions, proper clothes for the workplace and to do your research on the organization.

These may sound like quite a list of tasks, but we can help you with each of these tasks. Call or email us for an appointment.