How to ask for an informational interview (and get a yes)

An informational interview is a short conversation — twenty or thirty minutes — where you ask someone about their work and their field. It is one of the most useful moves available to a student, and one of the least used, because the request feels scarier than it is. This guide covers how to write one that gets a yes, and what to do once you have it.

Most of the fear comes from a misunderstanding about what you're asking for, so let's clear that up first.

What an informational interview is

You are not asking for a job. You are not asking someone to hire you, refer you, or judge you. You're asking a person to talk about their own experience for twenty minutes, which most people are glad to do, especially for a student who's done some research beforehand.

The difference lives in the ask itself. "Can you help me find a job?" puts a heavy, open-ended task on a stranger and invites a no. "I'd value twenty minutes to learn about how you moved into program management" is something a busy person can say yes to in one sitting. The second request is smaller, and it produces something more useful than a job lead — a real picture of how a field works, in the words of someone inside it.

Why context is the whole game

The single thing separating a message that earns a reply from one that vanishes into the void is context. A message with context could only have been written to this one person. A message without it could go to a thousand people, and the reader can tell.

Strong outreach carries context in three layers:

Context about them. Something specific about their work, their path, or a post they wrote. "I've been following your posts about starting your new job in conservation after you graduated" proves the message wasn't copied and pasted.
Context about you. A concrete line about your own direction, in real skills language. Not "I'm a student interested in your field," but "I've been building research and stakeholder-communication skills through my thesis, and I'm trying to see how those show up in environmental roles."
Context about the ask. Bounded and clear. Twenty to thirty minutes, a zoom call, to learn — not a job, not an open commitment.

Context works because it signals you know who you're writing to and respect their time. People answer when they feel seen, and the details demonstrate that you see them.

The five-part message

A good message is short — four to six sentences — and has five parts: an opening that establishes the connection, one line on who you are and what you're working toward, the specific bounded ask, an easy out that makes saying no comfortable, and a warm close.

Compare two versions of the same request.

The weak version:

Hi, I'm a college student interested in working in your field. I'd love to pick your brain about how to get a job in this area. Any help is appreciated.

This could go to anyone. "Pick your brain" is a worn phrase that signals a vague, large ask. There's no context about the reader, nothing specific about the sender, and the request has no edges.

The strong version:

Hi Dana — I've been following your posts about starting your new job in conservation after you graduated. I'm hoping to find similar work after I graduate. I'm a senior finishing an environmental studies degree, and I've been building research, synthesis, and stakeholder-communication skills through my capstone that seem to point toward project management. Would you be open to a twenty-minute call in the next few weeks so I could learn how you made that move? Completely understand if your schedule doesn't allow it. Either way, thank you for the work you share here.

Both are polite and brief. Only the second is a bounded request that proves, in every line, that one particular person wrote it to one particular reader.

The LinkedIn catch: your note has to fit in 200 characters

On a free LinkedIn account, you can't send a message to someone you only follow — messaging requires an existing connection. And a free account lets you attach a personalized note to only about two connection requests a month, each capped near 200 characters. Most of your contacts are people you follow, not people you're connected to, so for them the connection-request note is your outreach, and it has to fit in that tiny space.

So keep all three layers of context, compressed: "Hi Dana — your move into conservation is a path I'm trying to understand. I'm a senior finishing an environmental studies capstone, building toward project management. Open to a 20-min call?" That's under 200 characters and still says who you are, what you noticed about them, and what you're asking.

Alternatively, you could use the connection request note to tell them you appreciate their work and how it connects to your goals (with details) without requesting an informational interview yet. If/when they accept your request, then you can send them a message asking for a conversation.

If you can find their email address, use it, since it has room for the full message. If you're already connected, message directly. Otherwise, send a connection request and make the note count. Because the monthly note quota is small, spend it on your strongest version. These limits shift, usually tighter, so check the current numbers when you sit down to send.

Questions worth asking

Prepare three or four questions before the call. A strong set mixes four kinds.

A path question: how they got into the role, including the steps that aren't obvious from outside. People answer this easily.
A field question: what the work involves day to day, or what's changing in it that an outsider wouldn't see.
A bridge question: framed around your own developing skills. "I've been building [skill] through [specific work] — what does that capability look like in your role, and how did it develop for you?" This shows you're not starting from zero and gives them something real to respond to.
A referral question: "Is there anyone else you'd suggest I talk to?" This is how one good conversation becomes two or three.

After you send it

Replies aren't immediate, and silence isn't a rejection. One polite follow-up about a week later is fine; after that, let it go and move to the next person on your list. In my experience, a lot of people won't respond, but no one has ever expressed anger or irritation with me for asking. And the conversations that do happen make the asking worthwhile.

When the call happens, be on time, respect the time limit you asked for, take notes, and don't ask for a job — the conversation is the whole point. Send a thank-you note within a day. If they offered a referral, follow up on it and tell them how it went. Closing that loop is what turns a single conversation into a relationship.

Where this leads

This is the payoff of the earlier work. Following and engaging with people over several months is what makes your message warm instead of cold — see how to network on LinkedIn as a liberal arts student. Knowing your own skills in professional language is what fills the "context about you" line and the bridge question — read building your own skills glossary for tips on developing the vocabulary.

Naming your skills clearly enough to drop them into an outreach note is the exact thing Unbracket helps with — it turns your real work into resume-ready language, with a bracketed placeholder wherever a number or fact needs to be filled in. You can view a sample profile to see how it works.

Teaching an upper-level seminar? This is part of a 3-part career readiness curriculum for educators.

Who's the one person on your list you've been meaning to write to? Draft the note today, while their last post is still fresh in your mind.