4 things you do NOT need to be successful at informational interviewing

Last week we talked about the 5 things you need to be successful at informational interviewing. You may recall they were: hope, time, energy, self-esteem and ambition. This week I’d like to briefly chat about the things you DON’T need to be successful at informational interviewing.

This is a very important list because people often feel hesitant to start informational interviewing. They have all these ideas about who they need to be and what they need to have before they are worth anybody’s time. These ideas are incorrect. The whole point of informational interviewing is to meet you where you are (wherever you are!) and help you get where you want to go. If you wait until you are the shiniest most polished version of yourself before you reach out to someone, well then you will never reach out to anyone and nothing will ever happen and you still stay stuck exactly where you are. This is not what I want for you. And I’m sure it’s not what you want for yourself.

So don’t be that person who’s waiting to become perfect. Just start. Right now. Don’t worry if you embarrass yourself or your emails are shitty. “Massive imperfect action” as my creative coach calls it, is the name of the game. Just try a bunch of stuff a bunch of different ways. Something will work. Someone will respond.

And in case you need a little extra encouragement, here are 4 things you definitely should not be worrying about.

1. A resume (!!!) — Resumes are dumb. Yes, you heard that right. They are dumb and useless. People should just use LinkedIn. It is shocking that university career services spend so much time helping young people polish their resumes. No one, I repeat no one, is going to look at your resume. Okay, I’m being a little hyperbolic, but not really. The amount of time, effort and attention people give to their resumes is completely disproportionate to their value on the job market. Maybe you don’t know how to put together a polished-looking resume. Or maybe you don’t have anything to put on a resume because you just graduated high school and the only job you’ve ever had is babysitting for your cousin. This is NOT A PROBLEM. EVERYTHING IS FINE. JUST EMAIL PEOPLE AND ASK THEM TO TALK TO YOU. Do not worry about if you have a good resume or even a resume at all. Say it with me: RESUMES ARE OVERRATED!

2. Personal connections to powerful people — This is a classic. “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” as the saying goes. Well, yes. That is why you must start informational interviewing without delay. Most people don’t have friends in high places. And if you do, well good for you, your path in life is going to be smoother for it. Everyone else needs to raise their hand, send those e-mails, show-up, and get to know the professional community they want to be a part of. If you master the art of the informational interview you will eventually cultivate connections to powerful people, and someday you will be a powerful person yourself. So just get started. Don’t delay!

3. Any kind of degree or certificate — So you didn’t go to college. Or community college. Or high school. Actually you have no degrees whatsoever (but presumably are literate and fluent in English because you are reading this blog post). Great! You have everything you need to start informational interviewing. Of course things are easier if you have a college degree (assuming you are not also saddled with debilitating debt). But this newsletter is not about dreaming of a better world where education is free and accessible to all. This newsletter is about the reality we live in, and how to navigate it. And the truth is you you do not need a degree or any other kind of credential in order to be successful at informational interviewing. In fact, one of the most gifted informational interviewers I know did not graduate college (I’ll be tell you more about her soon!).

4. A clear goal — Many people are reluctant to start informational interviewing because they don’t know what they want to do. What a Catch-22! You don’t need to know what you want to do in order to be successful at informational interviewing. You just have to have some kind of goal: get a better job, make more money, figure out how to use your skills. You can do informational interviewing with the goal of figuring out what you want your career to look like. In fact, that is one of the best use cases for informational interviewing.

And that’s it. Hopefully this list can help unblock you when you get hung up about feeling unready to informational interview. If you have the 5 ingredients you need to be successful at informational interviewing, then you don’t really need to worry about anything else. Just get to it!