This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2024, titled “Informational Interviews”. The presenter is Alex Johnston, who is Director, Master’s Programs & Career Management in the Georgetown University Dept. of Linguistics. Informational interviewing is the key way to learn about jobs of interest, what jobs might be a good fit (or not!), and finding out “what’s out there” beyond the information available on the internet. It’s an effective research tool, but it’s important to do it right. In this presentation, you can learn how to use your research skills in service of your own job search. This presentation covers topics such as what an informational interview is, who to contact, how to contact them, which questions to ask, and how to maintain the connections you’ve made for the long term.
The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.
The deck used in this presentation is available here
Informational Interviewing: Best Practices and Etiquette Guide, by Alex Johnston (work in progress, PDF download)
This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.
Topics discussed include
– informational interviews
– professional relationships
– networking
– career preparation
– job research
– community building
– career learning
– career discernment
– interview etiquette