Run an Informational Interview

This template helps you practice a short, respectful informational interview with a busy professional. The focus is on opening well, asking thoughtful questions, listening closely, and closing with a specific follow-up. It is designed for learners who want realistic practice before speaking with a real contact. The scenario keeps the conversation grounded in what the role is actually like.

Use it if you are preparing for career exploration, networking, or a job search conversation. It works well for students, early-career professionals, and career changers who need practice speaking with someone in a role they want to understand better. It is also useful for interview prep when you want to sound curious without sounding rehearsed. The template is especially helpful for people who tend to ramble or ask overly broad questions.

Run it once to learn the structure, then repeat it until you can stay concise and natural. A second attempt is often useful after reviewing where you asked vague questions or missed a good follow-up. If you are preparing for several real conversations, you can reuse the template with different goals, such as learning about product work, career paths, or day-to-day responsibilities. The repetition helps build confidence without making the conversation sound scripted.

It can be run by a coach, recruiter, manager, educator, or the learner themselves in self-guided practice. The persona is a senior product manager, so the facilitator should keep the conversation realistic and time-aware. The learner should be encouraged to lead the discussion while staying polite and responsive. This makes the roleplay useful for both individual practice and guided training sessions.

The best close is brief, appreciative, and specific. The learner should thank the persona, mention one insight they found useful, and ask for a small next step only if it fits the conversation. Good examples include requesting permission to follow up later or asking whether there is someone else they recommend speaking with. A strong close avoids asking for a job directly unless the relationship has clearly earned that step.

Ad-hoc conversations often drift, become too broad, or end without a clear takeaway. This template gives the learner a defined situation, a realistic persona, and scored criteria so the practice is repeatable. It helps the learner build the habit of asking specific questions, responding to cues, and managing time. That structure makes it easier to transfer the skill into real networking calls.

Yes. You can swap the persona, company context, and learner objective to match another role, such as engineering, marketing, operations, or healthcare administration. You can also adjust the questions to focus on career path, daily responsibilities, team structure, or hiring expectations. The core skill stays the same: open respectfully, ask targeted questions, and close with a thoughtful next step.

Yes. It works well alongside interview prep, career coaching, and networking training because it reinforces a repeatable conversation structure. Coaches can use the rubric to give feedback on question quality, listening, and closing. Learners can retry the scenario after feedback to practice a stronger opening or a more polished follow-up. It is a good fit when you want practice that feels like a real conversation rather than a lecture.