Storyteller | Writer | Consultant
Informational interviews let you glean valuable information for a career change, move a job search forward, and simultaneously build meaningful professional relationships. Here are five skills to hone that will help you learn others’ stories, have engaging, productive conversations, and develop your network.
Informational interviewing has plenty of value to offer job searchers, career changers, or simply those looking to develop professionally while expanding their networks. Whether you’re struggling to get your cover letter and resume noticed by your dream employer, or just aren’t quite sure what to do next in your career, informational interviewing is a strategy worthy of adding to your repertoire. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised by who’s willing to make your process a little more positive. Here are five keys to successfully landing informational interviews, learning others’ stories, and building lasting professional relationships.
Originally included in Empowering Innovators, 2018. At the Global Leaders Program, we believe Chicago-area youth possess the innate ability to create great change, and through the program, we cultivate the natural talent and capacity for innovation of Chicago's underserved populations. Specifically, we aim to increase access and resources for those from backgrounds historically underrepresented in STEM:…
Stacy, 2015 Stacy's story is part of a project entitled “Scholar Stories.” Please see this project’s portfolio page for more details and additional stories in this series. “Stacy, finish your food!” her dad exclaims in Cantonese, the dominant tongue in this North Side Chicago household of Asian diaspora elders and first-generation American offspring. Stacy’s story begins far…
Stories make strategies and policies personal. The experiences and circumstances of real people serve to humanize contentious political discourse and give weight to larger trends. I’m passionate about crafting similar narratives and learning experiences, sharing these opportunities for growth and understanding, and contributing to lasting change in our world. My voice is an amplifier; I look forward to handing others the mic.
Growing up in Arkansas and attending university in Oklahoma, I benefitted from many privileges. Most of these privileges only became fully evident to me after moving elsewhere, after meeting many people from backgrounds vastly different than my own. This weekend, I became aware of another privilege I once had, but now must ask you to…
Cantina 1838, new taqueria in the heart of Harlem, boasts a killer happy hour. New York City is a rather expensive place to live—often brutally so. Usually, when it comes to matters of time and money, you feel squarely at odds with the City, locked in a losing battle. Almost invariably, the City ‘wins’. Opportunities…
New Yorkers love a good line. If a dozen New Yorkers will queue up, slowing their frenetic pace long enough to wait for something, then it must be worth waiting for. And the more people in line, the better. Or so the popular wisdom goes. We stand in line to enter grocery stores and…
Yesterday, a class of my students repeating Earth Science took the January Regents in our subject. The Regents are summative state tests, and high school graduation in NY state is contingent upon passage of at least five of these exams (1 math, 1 english, 1 science, and Global and US Histories). If past performance gives…