Ep 99: Informational Interview Questions from Lauren’s recent talk at Torrey Pines Training Consortium Transition to Industry Event - Propelling Careers Podcast

In this episode, Jim and Lauren focus on advice relating to informational interviews. Lauren recently gave a talk at the Transition to Industry Event organized by the Torrey Pines Training Consortium.  This event was developed for early career scientists who are thinking of transitioning to a career in industry. Lauren, along with other panelists with extensive industry experience shared our insights and providedguidance to help clarify the pathway to establishing a successful career in industry from academia.  Lauren gave two talks there - one on advice for networking and informational interviews and one for developing your brand on LinkedIn.  This podcast will cover questions that came up from the audience regarding informational interviewing talk. A future podcast will cover questions that came up from the developing your brand on LinkedIn talk.  We hope you enjoy listening.  There were a few hundred people in the audience, mostly graduate students and postdocs,  from a range of institutions including Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Scripps Research and University of California San Diego and a few others.  Lauren’s best tip for informational interviewing Jim’s best tip for informational interviewing For people you informational interview, is it a one time thing or do you try to meet multiple times?What method works best?  Phone, video, in person? If you do this in person, who pays for the coffee/snack if there is one? Do you send a resume or LI profile ahead of time? Should we send information to the person ahead of time on what we are looking to learn in the informational interview?  Are any questions off limits to askAdvice to keep in touch after an informational interview  Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School,launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers. As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!