The Informational Interview Assignment Cluster

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE

The Informational Interview:

Writing With Consequences

Rationale, Methods, Tips, Schedule,

Student Handouts, and Sample Documents

by

Dr. LeeAnne Kryder

University of California, Santa Barbara

In conjunction withDr. Mary Ellen Guffey

and South-Western Cengage Learning

The Informational Interview Assignment Cluster:

Writing With Consequences

One of the most successful projects in my business communication courses is my Informational Interview project. This project (1) gets students out “into the field," (2) requires them to work with primary and secondary sources, (3) encourages critical thinking, and (4) provides practice with various business communication genres. These genres include the business letter with enclosure, questionnaire, summary, oral presentation, and evaluative memo report with attachments. In addition, the information they gather may also feed into their quarter-long collaborative project, a business plan or formal report. I’ve come to rely on this project to give students an experience of what I call “Writing With Consequences.”

The traditional academic assignment involves the teacher as the sole audience, with the familiar consequence of a grade. But with this series of assignments, students experience new consequences: they don’t get an interview unless they write a clear and convincing letter of request; they don’t get an informative interview unless they develop interesting, precise interview questions and follow through with contact management plans. Their findings must be shared, in written and oral format, with fellow students (and, sometimes, with the interviewee).

The following pages contain a definition of informational interviewing and additional reasons why and how I incorporate this project in my writing courses. I have included sample student responses to this project, along with assignments and handouts I give to the students (the symbol indicates “for the student”)Finally, I will provide additional instructor advice for implementation and models of completed student documents.

What Is an Informational Interview?

Let’s begin with what it is NOT—it’s not an interview for a job. In fact, I make a point of stressing this with the students from day one: they may scare off potential interviewees with a request for “an interview.” The students are to contact a working professional to request some time from him or her for “data gathering.” That is, an informational interview is a form of primary (first-hand) research, in which the interviewer (a student) asks a series of questions about the interviewee’s area of expertise and, possibly, his/her career path.

This form of research is extremely common in the workplace, but I believe it hasn’t been given enough visibility in academic courses. My commitment to this assignment comes from personal experience. After completing my Ph.D. in 1982 but finding no teaching position, I found employment as a technical writer at the international headquarters of Marathon Oil Company. Within a day at my new career, I was shocked to discover that the information I needed to do my work was not available in writing; I had to find people to ask for that information.

I had to learn how to find the right people, persuade them to take time to share information with a stranger, develop the right questions, and create the best environment to facilitate that information transfer. Since that initial discovery, I went on to spend the next eleven years in industry; and I am convinced that informational interviewing is the quickest, most efficient, and often the only way to learn what must be learned. This relates clearly to today’s emphasis on knowledge workers and knowledge management (for details, see Mary Ellen Guffey’s Business Communication: Process and Product, Chapter 1). Today, as a teacher and a consultant, I continue to rely on informational interviews as a key means for developing and updating curriculum and for better serving my clients.

Of course, we need to exercise critical thinking when we are evaluating our interview findings. As with any source, it is always good to compare information gathered to that of other sources (sometimes, those sources are information interview findings from additional sources). Often, the interview leads to written sources (these include internal memos, reports, and spreadsheets), and to additional persons to interview. For this reason, before my students conduct their interviews, I have them read and summarize several published sources. Also, for the final part of this project, I have them assess their source and information gathered, as well as the method of data gathering they used.

Why Are Informational Interviews Effective?

An informational interview assignment is important in my business communication courses because it

Provides a means for practicing and developing skill in what is a common workplace task: learning from others. My experience has taught me that the first step in an assignment should be asking others--not just running to the library. Especially when a current situation needs research, there may be little if any published sources.

Encourages active learning including synthesizing reading. Students become more active readers because they know their secondary reading will be used to develop interview questions and preinterview understanding. They are more engaged in their interviews, because they also know that these must yield information needed to make their final memo of findings credible and interesting.

Establishes a realistic context. This assignment includes a series of associated subtasks, one of which is a letter of request (for an informational interview). The students tend to write better for a “real” reader who is not simply their instructor. Often, if the reader agrees to the interview, he/she requests a copy of the interview findings. Again, this is a great motivator for careful student work and increased enthusiasm for the assignment. Additionally, the series of tasks—both written and oral--is a realistic introduction to workplace communication.

Expands our classroom. Because students are seeking information that is of importance to them, they try to find the best SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) to learn things I cannot give them. Also, some students find it hard to really accept classroom ideas (such as the concept that accountants and computer analysts really need to develop written communication skills) until they hear the same message from the “real” world. Additionally, this assignment gives students an opportunity to explore our campus career center and use our alumni network.

Gratifies students. My students genuinely like this assignment because they learn from it and from each other. In our ten-week business communication course, we also have a large collaborative project. Typically, the students work in teams of four to five, creating a business plan or formal report. They also give a group presentation. In contrast, the informational interview assignment is an individual’s project, allowing more freedom to pursue a strong interest. Also, because the students are often given access to very special persons and/or information, class members have asked me to incorporate short oral reports so that they can learn from each other. This gives students another opportunity to practice oral presentation skills, and they typically appreciate that.

As the remarks indicate below, not only are the students pleased with the interview experience, but they learn some unusual things—things not typically learned in class.

“I was very pleased with my interview...but I would possibly change a few things. I wish that I would have tape recorded the interview, since Mr.------provided me with so much valuable information.”

“This [the informational interview] showed me that you actually do have to write. Even though it is said in class, I don’t always completely believe it. Now I am convinced.”

“I really enjoyed speaking with -----. We spoke for about an hour, and she offered to review and critique my resume before internship interviews. I will definitely take her up on this! She also gave me some good advise [sic] on buying my first suit.”

“I felt interviewing a professional really increased my interview skills so that I will be even more prepared when I go for a job interview.”

How I Integrated the Informational Interview Into My Business Communication Class

From the first day of class, I encourage students to start thinking about what individual would be best suited for their informational interview. I present this as a special opportunity to explore their possible profession and to develop a contact who might later provide an internship or additional career advice.

Several subassignments lead to the final report, which appears in both writing (as a memo of findings) and in a short oral presentation. Although this assignment is for an individual grade and provides an opportunity to seek answers to career questions, it may also yield excellent primary data for use in a student’s group project. For example, if a group of students is creating a business plan to start an environmental accounting consultancy, each individual can include a few interview questions about environmental accounting that can then be shared with the team. If students were investigating customer service, they would ask about customer surveys, employee incentives, and so forth.

Out of six typical assignments in the quarter, three assignments are related to the informational interview, earning 30 percent of the course grade. Please see Table 1 for a closer look at how I integrate the informational interview project among other assignments. The following pages present the written assignments and handouts, just as you would give them to your students (their titles are accompanied by two symbols), followed by some instructor suggestions for implementation.

Table 1

Typical Assignment Schedule

(Assignments 1, 4 and 6 relate to informational interview project)

ASSIGNMENTDUE DATE% OF GRADE

1. Letter of Request for Interview with

enclosed tentative interview questionsWeek 310%

(Individual)

2. Resume and Cover Letter (Individual)Week 515%

3. Case study memo of analysis (Group)Week 610%

4. Oral Report of Interview FindingsWeek 8 5%

(Individual)

5. Business Plan (Group)Week 940%

6. Written Report of Interview Findings

with attached evaluative annotations

of four background articles and/or

Websites (Individual)Week 1015%

Participation and in-class writings (Individual) 5%
Student Handout Sheet

Assignment Overview: Informational Interview 

As you can see from our syllabus and assignments, you will have two major projects. One will be a collaboratively developed business plan, and the other will be an individually developed report of interview findings. To get to these end products, you’ll need to pursue a variety of subtasks, including reading, writing, analyzing, and conducting an interview.

Here is a tentative schedule of activities for your informational interview assignment. Please consult your syllabus for the exact due dates.

Weeks 1-3Do background reading (includes article summaries).

Identify one person to interview, with one or two backups if

this first choice doesn’t materialize.

Send me an e-mail by ______

naming your first choice and explaining, briefly, why you chose him/her. Name your two other backup choices.

Develop a tentative list of interview questions.

Write a letter of request and enclose a tentative list of

questions. Get letter and questions critiqued (have reviewer use attached form); revise as needed.

Submit for grade as Assignment #1

Week 4Revise letter and questions per instructor advice.

Send revised letter to proposed interviewee.

Weeks 4-8Follow up letter with contact to confirm interview

arrangements.

Conduct interview.

Assemble and analyze raw notes.

Prepare for oral presentation.

Week 8Deliver short oral presentation of interview findings (Assignment #4).

Week 10Write and submit memo of findings, with article summaries and raw notes attached. Submit for grade as Assignment #6.

Assignments and Support Materials for Instructors

Assignment #1 Support Materials for Instructors

Preparation:As a class, we have practiced summarizing and evaluating. We have discussed the difference between a summary and a critique.

We have reviewed business letter formats, and have

read assignments (see Reading, below) and discussed conducting informational interviews and writing “open” and “closed” interview questions.

Often, I will have our class meet for a field trip to our campus career center, so that I can be certain they are familiar with its services. It has a library with many references on companies and professions; it also has an alumni database—see below. If time is short, the library trip becomes an out-of-class assignment.

Finding an interviewee.We have discussed methods to locate an appropriate interviewee and one or two backup choices from sources such as these:

• Alumni (our career center maintains a list of alumni who are willing to help undergraduates)

• Current or former employers, coaches, teachers

• Campus recruiters

• Campus staff professionals (internal auditors, Director of University Accounting, bookstore managers, Publications Editor, Staff Training Manager, etc.)

• Professional associations: on-campus clubs (like the Accounting Club or Investment Club); local, off-campus chapters (Society of Women Accountants, Science & Engineering Council, Sierra Club, etc.)

• Family[*] and friends (especially a roommate’s parent or a sibling’s boyfriend or girlfriend)

• The yellow pages of the local telephone directory or the Internet

Reading:Chapter 11 in Guffey's Business Communication: Process & Product ("Report Research and Basics").

Student Handout Sheet

Assignment #1: Letter of Request and Interview Questions

Your assignment—a Business Letter with enclosure—is an opportunity to develop and demonstrate a number of skills:

• Searching for primary (unpublished, first-hand) sources; searching secondary

sources (articles you’ve read which helped create interview questions)

• Writing clear, concise, correct, coherent prose
• Producing “bottom-line writing”
• Using effective business letter format
• Producing audience-centered writing, with appropriate tone and word choice

Specifics:

Write a letter requesting an informational interview. Decide whether you wish this

interview to provide an opportunity for you to learn more about your possible careerorto learn more about an organization that you wish to work for. The person you select could be an expert met via the Web or discovered through a published article. It could be an entrepreneur who conducts a “green business.” When looking for someone in your anticipated field, especially consult the CareerCenter’s “Career Net” and other professional organizations. Sometimes your contact may be a parent of a friend or a manager in a company where you currently work (one student got an interview with his bank’s president—just because he asked).

Follow the letter format reviewed in class. Your relationship with the audience will probably determine the specific format (block, semiblock, personal business style), word choice, and tone.

Use the “direct request” organizational pattern for the letter: (Introduction establishes rapport AND provides the purpose for the interview; subsequent paragraphs provide details to support the request; conclusion ends the letter with courtesy and explains the next action.)

Enclose tentative interview questions. As a reader courtesy and as a communication aid, enclose a copy of tentative interview questions. The questions should come from your readings and class discussion. Give publication data (MLA style) for two of the sources you used to develop your questions. Include the following core questions that everyone in our course will ask:

How much time do you estimate that you spend during a typical work week on

(a) written communication and (b) oral communication?

What types of documents do you typically write?

What would you do differently if you were in school or college today?

What advice do you have for my classmates and me?

Be sure to staple the questionnaire to your letter before submitting it.

Make every effort to actually conduct the interview in person. Let me know if you can’t. We’ll determine a viable alternative, or you will contact your back-up choice.

DO NOT procrastinate on this project, although the interview notes and assessment aren’t due until later. It takes time to plan for and execute a worthwhile interview.

Student Handout Sheet

Improvement Stage of the Writing Process: In-class Critique

One of the best ways you can move your writing from “adequate” to “excellent” is to build in time for revision. That’s what we’re practicing today.

Consider playwright Neil Simon’s words: “Rewriting is when playwriting really gets to be fun…In baseball you only get three swings and you’re out. In rewriting, you get almost as many swings as you want and you know, sooner or later, you’ll hit the ball.”

Today’s Tasks:

As editorRead and evaluate a classmate's the letter and its enclosure the tentative interview questions). You may make comments on the document itself, but also mark your answers to the questions below. Sign this evaluation sheet when you’ve completed the task, and use it for a discussion between you and the writer. That writer will need to attach this critique sheet to the final draft.

As writerCollect two evaluation sheets from two different editors, and attach them (as the final sheets) to this assignment due ___. Be sure to discuss comments with each editor.

.

Evaluation Criteria (Before reading, ask the writer WHY this person was selected to be

interviewed. Is there any existing connection/contact?

Also, ask what typical spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors the writer makes—then, look for these when editing! )

Student Handout Sheet