For this paper, you will conduct an informational interview with a person working in a position, occupation, graduate school, or career field of interest to you. This individual will not be a relative

Informational Interview Report

Recommendation: Work on this assignment throughout the course. This is a very manageable assignment when approached as a two to three-week project.

For this class project, you will conduct an informational interview with a person working in a position, occupation, graduate school, or career field of interest to you. This individual will not be a relative, close friend, or current supervisor. Although interviews conducted over the telephone, Skype, or through e-mail will be accepted, I urge you to try and conduct an in-person interview if possible. There are preparations to take prior to the interview, as well as specific guidelines for writing the report. To receive full credit (aside from writing well), you should incorporate the four sections identified below. The sections are listed in the order that will make your efforts most efficient.

1. Introduction (1 page)

For the purpose of this assignment, you will need to choose a career. Briefly discuss the career you have chosen to investigate and how it matches your skills, interests, and values. Identify an organization of interest to you that employs people in your chosen career field. Give a brief description of the organization and possible employment options; be sure to cite where you found this information. Locate someone in the organization working in a position of interest to you. Contact your targeted individual, inform him/her of your assignment, and ask to schedule a 30-minute informational interview. Thoroughly research the organization before conducting the interview to ensure more specific interview questions. Your report should include an overview of this process.

2. Summarize Your Informational Interview (2 pages)

Develop six to eight questions you intend to ask during the informational interview; these questions and the interviewee’s responses need to appear in your report. Your questions should elicit responses that assist you in gaining a more developed understanding of the career, the organization, and/or the process of securing work in a similar position. Be sure to identify the name, job title, organization, location, e-mail address, and business phone number of the person you interviewed.

What type of training and/or education would best prepare me for this kind of work?

NEWM-299 is probably the best course you can take to prepare for life after IUPUI. Trust me, you will often think back to the content of NEWM-299 and realize how beneficial the course is in preparing you for the working world.

3. Reactions and Conclusion (1 page)

Include your reactions to the interview. Do you possess or can you acquire the necessary skills? Would you be comfortable working in this position/organization/location? Having done the interview, how do you feel about the career? Realistically, can you obtain this type of job? How has the interview assisted you in your job search?

4. Final Step

Send a thank you letter to the person you interviewed. Attach a copy of your thank you letter to your report. Five points will be deducted if you fail to send/attach a thank you letter to the assignment.