Pre-Health Prep Series: Informational Interviews

So, you know that you need shadowing to be a competitive candidate for professional programs, but you find yourself in the midst of a pandemic. Shadowing has been put on hold or canceled at most healthcare facilities for safety reasons. What do you do? You should try to find virtual shadowing, but while you are continuing the search for these rare opportunities, you can also be conducting informational interviews with professionals in your career field of choice. While these interviews shouldn't completely replace shadowing on your application, they can be great tools for career exploration and can still be discussed in your application as part of your pre-health experience. In this post, we will talk about conducting informational interviews with health professionals.

What are informational interviews?

Informational interviews are conversations that you arrange with a healthcare professional to ask them more about what they do and what their day-to-day looks like. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these interviews can be a way to learn more about the profession when shadowing and volunteering opportunities aren’t available.

How do I set up an informational interview?

First, identify who you’d like to interview. Start with personal connections that you may have through friends, family, or even your own providers. Ask around to see if anyone knows someone you might be able to shadow in the career of your interest. You can also ask your pre-health advisor to help you find someone to shadow. If you have a job or volunteer in a healthcare field, you might have connections to professionals through colleagues or supervisors. Finally, you can search online directories and call or write to professionals directly.

Reach out to professionals you’d like to interview via call or e-mail. Generally, texting is unprofessional, but it is okay to do so if a professional instructs you to text them directly. Let the person know who referred you if you don’t know the professional yourself. If the professional accepts your request for an interview, ask if you need to schedule with one of their office assistants or if you need to schedule with them directly. Plan for a short meeting of 20-30 minutes and set up a time that works within both of your schedules. You should always keep in mind that healthcare professionals are busy people, so be respectful of their time and polite if they decline your request for an interview.

Prepare for your interview by learning more about who you are interviewing (what they did as an undergraduate, where they did their professional training, what their specialty is, etc.) and by writing out questions ahead of time.

What do I do during the interview?

Call the professional on-time or log into your video chat early. Do not make them wait on you! As you begin the interview, remember that you are the person who needs to initiate and keep the conversation moving. Go through your prepared questions, but also let the conversation go in other directions as you talk. It is okay to not get through all of your questions. You should also be prepared to answer questions from them as well.

Make sure that you stick to your 20-30 minute time frame. These are busy people, so do not take up more of their time than the two of you agreed upon. Listen to what they have to say and remember that it is okay to not get all of your questions answered. You don’t want to rush through the interview and forget what they said just to ask everything you wanted to ask. If you don’t get through all of your questions, you can end the interview by asking if you can stay in contact with them to ask more questions via e-mail.

After the interview, you may want to ask for recommendations of other professionals to interview. If they give you a recommendation, be sure to ask if you can use their name as the person who recommended that you reach out. If things go well, you might ask if you can shadow them in the future (acknowledging that this may be the very distant future given the pandemic).

What kinds of things do I ask?

There are lots of good questions you can ask about their personal experiences, their work environment, and professional development. You can tailor your questions to specific individuals, but here are a few general questions you may want to ask:

• What does your typical workday look like? 
• What do you spend most of your time doing while at work?
• How would you describe your work environment?
• What are the most important skills you use every day?
• What kinds of problems/decisions do you face during your day?
• What makes a person in your position successful?
• Can you tell me about your career path and where you see the future of your career?
• Why did you study what you studied as an undergraduate? How did it help you prepare for a career in healthcare?
• How does this job affect your personal life?
• What did you look for when selecting a professional program?
• What are some things you wish you had known as an undergraduate?
• What advice do you have for someone starting a career in your field?
• If I have any questions that come up after this interview, may I stay in contact with you?

What do I do after the interview?

Be sure to send them an immediate thank-you e-mail for their time. It is also nice to send a written thank-you care within a week or two if you are able to do so. If the person was open to letting you shadow them, do not delay in getting a shadowing time scheduled. If you are setting up a tentative time in the distant future due to COVID-19 protocols, be flexible as things change and be sure to touch base later to confirm or reschedule as needed.