Informational interviews can be a treasure trove of useful tips that help you get a great job, or they can be a terrible waste of your time (and your interviewees\u2019 time as well). The difference between a great result and a disappointing one all rests with a simple question. It\u2019s almost never asked.<\/p>\n
That question is: \u201cWho is the best person you\u2019ve had in this position?\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, if you are seeking an internship, this question will translate into: \u201cWho is the best person you\u2019ve had in your internship program?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, it\u2019s that simple. If you want to be the best, then you need a definition of what is<\/em> the best. The answer is not something you can mindread, deduce, or learn any other way than directly asking this one simple question. Of course, the answer is likely to be different for every company.<\/p>\n This is a question you\u2019ll want to ask in each and every interview, even when you are interviewing more than one person in the same company. What specifically are you asking the interviewee to reveal? You want to know what traits, skills, habits, mindset, and interaction style did this ideal intern or employee possess?<\/p>\n You may need to ask follow-up questions to get the full picture of what the best really means. The answer might be, \u201cWell, our best intern was Jack. He was a really quick learner. He picked up on our systems really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n If you reflect on that answer, you\u2019ll realize that no one hires an intern to just learn. Typically, an intern also needs to produce value for the employer. So, you could follow up by asking, \u201cOnce he learned the systems, what did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n Now, you\u2019ll hear some specifics about the internship that might not be posted in the job listing. You may hear some of the traits that are truly valued by that employer. For example, you might hear, \u201cJack was able to gain the trust of senior leadership. He was so dependable that our CEO let Jack participate in product development meetings and coordinate the meetings because he had learned how to use our project management software. He was able to track projects from early-stage ideation to launch. Everyone liked him and appreciated his work ethic. Of course, all that made him an ideal full-time hire when he graduated.\u201d<\/p>\n From that conversation, you\u2019ll know that being trustworthy, congenial, and hardworking were just as important as being able to learn the company\u2019s systems. Now you know what you\u2019ll need to show when you are interviewed for that position!<\/p>\n How do you get the job interview? After you\u2019ve asked other questions to truly understand the company and bond with the interviewee, you may say, \u201cI think I am quite a bit like Jack. Can you tell me who I should call to set up an interview for an internship?\u201d<\/p>\n Next Steps<\/p>\n How can you be the winning job candidate?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3256,"featured_media":4450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[76,80,77,12],"class_list":["post-4449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice","tag-careers","tag-job-interview","tag-job-search","tag-school-of-communication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3256"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n