Now to explore, seriously

research and informational interviews

Now that we’ve narrowed down some choices from the last post. Here comes the fun part. But… it will be some work. For me it took over a month to get all the information I needed before I could sit down and take a serious look.

Research

Approach each of your potential careers seriously with the perspective that you’re going to be actually planning to move into it.

• Do you need additional training? If so which institutions near you offer this program, how long, how much does it cost, what’s the application process and when is the next intake?

• What does the job itself entail? What does the day look like? What’s the average compensation?

This will feel overwhelming (at least it did for me) if your brain goes immediately to ‘omg wtf do I do now??’ mode so try to keep all this information gathering as purely objective. Find the answers to your questions, note it and move on.

Informational interviews

There’s nothing better than asking someone who’s currently doing the job for insight on what it’s like.

• We tend to underestimate the reach of our social circle. Reach out to your friends to see if they knew anyone that are in the fields. you’re interested. I ended up connecting to a few architects who were friends of friends.

• Cold call. This is a super cringey thing to do, especially for an introvert like me, but it is surprisingly effective. I sent out emails to architecture firms asking if I could talk to someone. I also reached out on social media to gardeners and people in horticulture related businesses. I got a phone call and a handful of email responses back.

• Set up video calls and phone calls whenever possible. This of course depends on the comfort/availability of your contacts but you might be surprised by how generous people are

• Quick reference on how to conduct informational interviews here.

Get organized

TAKE NOTES!

I know being crazy organized is not everyone’s jam. But it’s important to keep track of what you’ve done, who you’ve talked to and what they said. Organize it however you want. I personally love a good chart.

What you ultimately want is something you can easily see the spread of information so you can evaluate the possibility as a whole.

Example of what my table looks like

Remember to keep track of just your thoughts as you go through the process too. Any positive or negative impressions off the bat might be helpful for your decision later! I’m talking about stuff like “oh this field is very cut-throat competitive… I’m not sure how I feel about that…".

Feel good about checking into even just a little tiny thing or sending one email. This process will take time, especially if you’re just doing this in your personal time while working.

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-S