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78 Nail the Job Interview!

tions or in business directories.
Finally, don’t overlook the opportunity to conduct informational
interviews. An informational interview is one that you initiate with
someone within an organization for the purpose of gathering information
about a specific field or a type of job. Your goal is to get information that
will be helpful to you in further clarifying your job goals, determining any
additional training you may need to qualify, identifjmg organizations
that provide employment opportunities in this particular arena, assessing
whether the type of work is something you will be interested in doing on
a daily basis, determining whether it is a growth field that will continue
to provide employment opportunities as well as career advancement, and
gathering salary information for various levels within the field.
The information gleaned from this type of interview can help you
male career choices, make contacts within the field that may be useful to
you later, and provide information on industry salary ranges that should
be useful in employment interviews when the salary question is discussed.
Remember, though, that at no time during an informational interview
should you aslt for a job. This is an infringement on the good graces of the
employer who agreed to tale time out of a busy schedule to help you. To
aslt about a job in this situation will get you remembered, but not in the
positive way you would like. For more information on conducting infor-
mational interviews, see two of our other boolts, The Savvy Networker and
Interview for Success.
Once you have a job interview scheduled, use your contacts - friends
who are familiar with the company or persons with whom you conducted
informational interviews, if appropriate - to fill in any gaps in your
information as well as to try to get information about the person(s) who
will be conducting your interview.

Prepare for the Verbal Interchange

To prepare for the verbal interchange, consider principles 9-1 7 in the
previous chapter. You need to talk the employer’s language. Though you
are advised to keep jargon to a minimum if your interview is being
conducted by someone from personnel, use of limited jargon of the
industry can be a plus if you are interviewed by the head of the operating
unit. You don’t want to overdo it, but some familiarity with the jargon
appropriate to the position and industry identifies you as an insider.