Day60 guide
How to ask for an informational interview
Ask someone doing the work you want for 15 minutes. Who to ask, what to say, two illustrative messages and what to do after the call.
The short answer
Direct answer
To ask for an informational interview, write to one person who does the work you want. Point to one specific thing they made or said, say in a line why it matters to you, and ask for 15 minutes to hear how they do that work. Have two or three questions ready, keep the call to the time you asked for, and don’t ask for a job. Thank them within a day.
What an informational interview is
An informational interview is a short conversation with someone who does work you want to understand. You ask how they got there, what the work is like and what they would do in your place. It is not a job interview, and nobody owes you one.
It works best when your ask is small and your questions are specific. Fifteen minutes on a call, at a time that suits them, is an easy yes. “Can I pick your brain?” is not, because it gives them no idea what you want or how long it will take.
Who to ask
Pick one person, research them, then write. One note written for them is worth more of your time than the same note sent to twenty people.
- Someone doing the work you want. A person in the role, or a step or two ahead of it. They can tell you what the job is like day to day, which a posting cannot.
- The internal champion for an open job. When a specific job is open, the most useful person is often someone on that team, or a peer in the same kind of role. They know the work and can tell you who the right person is.
- Someone who shared their work. A person who wrote a post, gave a talk or shipped something you can point to. That gives your first line a real reason.
- Someone with a link to you. A shared school, a past employer, a group you are both in. Mention it in one short phrase, and only if it is true.
What to ask for
Ask for 15 minutes on a call or a video chat, in the next week or two. Let them pick the time. If they offer longer, take it, but don’t ask for it.
Know what you want to learn before you write. Two or three questions are enough for 15 minutes, and naming the topic in your message tells them the call is worth their time. Questions that work:
- How they got here. “What did your first year in this kind of role look like?”
- What the work is really like. “What takes up most of your week that people outside the team don’t see?”
- What they would do in your place. “If you were moving into this work now, what would you learn first?”
- Who else to ask. “Is there someone else you think I should talk to?”
Keep it from reading as a job request
People say yes to a conversation and no to a disguised job pitch. If your message asks to learn but reads like an application, it loses on both counts.
Say plainly that you are not asking for a job. Leave out your resume and any link to it. Don’t ask them to pass your name along, and don’t list every role you have held. One line about where you are now is enough.
If a job is open on their team, it is fine to say you saw it. Keep the ask the same: 15 minutes to learn about the work. What they choose to do with that is up to them.
Write the message
Use Hook → Bridge → Ask. Open with the specific thing you found: a post, a talk, a launch, with its date. Bridge with one line about you that explains why their work matters to you. Ask one question, for 15 minutes, and stop there.
Keep the email to four to six sentences. A LinkedIn connection note has to fit in 300 characters, or 200 on a free LinkedIn account, so it keeps the hook and the ask and drops the rest. Both examples below are illustrative: Harborline, Dana, Cedarline and the dates are invented.
Illustrative email asking for an informational interview
The company, people, dates, and experience in this example are invented.
Subject
Your post on sorting support tickets
Message
Dana, your April 9 post on the Harborline blog walked through how the support team sorts tickets by product area. I'm moving from retail operations into support analytics, and at Cedarline I built a weekly report on where store returns came from. This isn't a job request; I'd like to hear how you got started and what the work looks like from week to week. Would you be open to a 15-minute call in the next two weeks? Best, Alex If you're not the right person, a quick 'not me' is a kindness.
Illustrative LinkedIn connection note
The company, people, dates, and experience in this example are invented.
Message
Dana, your April 9 Harborline post on sorting support tickets by product area was clear and useful. I'm moving into support analytics from retail operations. Would you be open to a 15-minute call about how you got started?
Shorter version
Dana, your April 9 post on sorting support tickets stood out. I'm moving into support analytics. Open to a 15-minute call about how you got started?
Send it yourself
Send the email from your own address. For LinkedIn, open LinkedIn yourself, go to the person’s profile, choose Connect, add a note and paste your message. If you are already connected, send it as a message instead.
Do every step by hand. Skip any tool that logs in to LinkedIn for you, copies profiles in bulk or sends messages on its own. You are writing to one person, so there is nothing to speed up.
No answer after a week? One short follow-up is fair. After that, let it go and write to someone else.
On the call
Be on time, and keep to the time you asked for. When 15 minutes are up, say so and offer to stop. If they want to keep going, they will tell you.
Start with your best question, listen more than you talk, and take notes. Near the end, ask who else you should talk to. Their answer can be your next conversation.
After the call
Send a thank-you within a day. Name one thing they said that you will use, and keep it to a few sentences. Don’t add a new ask to it.
If you act on their advice, tell them later in a short note. People like to hear that their time made a difference.
When is it fair to mention an open role? When they ask what you are looking for, or when a role opens that fits what you talked about. Mention it once and ask a small question, such as whether they would point you to the right person. If they don’t offer to help, don’t ask again.
No work history yet?
You don’t need a job title to ask for 15 minutes. Use what you have: a class project, a part-time job, volunteer work or something you built on your own. One true line is enough for the bridge.
Your ask is plainly about learning, which makes it easy to say yes to. Ask about the first year in the role, what they wish they had known, and what to learn now.
Where Day60 fits
An informational interview is one conversation. When you are ready to go after a specific job, the same habit applies: a short, researched message to the people close to the work.
Day60 helps you identify the four people closest to the hire: the hiring manager, their boss, an internal champion and the recruiter.
You send every message yourself. Day60 never logs in to LinkedIn or sends anything for you.
Related guides
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