CSE 300: Professional Readiness

W02 Team Activity: Discuss Informational Interviews

For this activity, you will need to meet with your gathering group for a one hour synchronous meeting.

Overview

Purpose: Work with your team to deepen your understanding of this week's topic.

Being able to collaborate with others is an essential skill in any organization. It is also a BYU-Idaho Learning Outcome: Skilled Collaborators.

Meeting Agenda

Use the following agenda to guide your meeting.

Begin with Prayer

Get to know Each Other (5 minutes)

You will be working with one another for the rest of this course. Take a minute to have each person answer the following questions:

(The lead student should direct the group discussion and make sure each person gets a chance to respond.)

  1. What is your name?
  2. Where do you live?
  3. What is your dream job?
  4. Who has been your most important mentor or role model?

Discuss Informational Interviews (5 minutes)

As a group, discuss the following questions:

  1. What is the difference between an informational interview and a job interview?
  2. What are the key parts of an informational interview?
  3. How long should an informational interview take?

Discuss Plans (10 minutes)

For this step, the lead student should direct each person to answer the following questions:

  1. Who are some people or businesses you are considering for informational interviews?
  2. What are your next steps with each one?
Important Note:

As each person talks about their ideas, the rest of the group can offer advice and suggestions.

This is especially important if someone doesn't feel like they have very many good options. Help them brainstorm people or businesses in their area that could be options. Remember that sometimes you may need to start with someone who isn't exactly in your desired role, or you may need to contact a company where you don't know anyone.

Develop Questions (20 minutes)

  1. As a group, brainstorm at least 10 possible questions you could ask in an informational interview.

You should each write down these questions because you will need to submit a list of questions at the end of this week (and you can take them with you to your interview if you would like!).

Conclude (5 minutes)

  1. See if anyone in the group has any questions about the remaining assignments for the week.
  2. Decide on a person to be the lead student for the next meeting.

Submission

After you have finished this activity, return to Canvas and submit the associated quiz there.

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