Extensions

When you are researching careers, you may want to speak with someone who works in a field of interest to you.

To conduct an informational interview about a career, you must first contact the person who works in the field.

In this extension, you will write an email to send to a potential interview subject.

In your email, it is important to remember to: Be polite.

Use appropriate formal language.

State the purpose of your interview.

and provide relevant details about the potential interview.

To begin, open your email account.

Enter the email address for your potential interview subject.

Next, add an email subject.

Keep the subject line brief but clear.

Be sure you include the reason for your interview.

Then, write your email.

Say who you are in a sentence or two.

Tell them that you want to learn more about their field of work and hear about their experience.

Ask if they would be willing to speak with you.

You can schedule a specific date and time after they have agreed to the interview.

You can then also ask the interview subject whether they would like to complete the interview in person, on the phone, or in a video conference.

Reread your email to make sure you have included all relevant details and that you have not made any mistakes.

Then, send your email.

If your first choice does not reply or is not available, do not be discouraged.

Write an email to another potential interview subject.

You can copy and paste the main text of your email.

Be sure to change the greeting and any other information you included specific to the person you emailed.

If you do not know anything about the person you are contacting, begin with a simple, polite greeting.

Now, it’s your turn: Open your email account, Begin a new email, Add the email address and subject, Type your email, and send your email.

Most career fields include several different jobs within the field.

The jobs may be similar but still include unique tasks.

Career paths in a field may start at one place and then, with experience, evolve into something entirely different.

You may also want to learn about an entirely different career path.

Learning as much as you can about different jobs will help you decide which path to take when you choose a career.

In this extension, you will revise the questions from your first interview for a different job.

To begin, contact a professional in another area you are interested in.

Be brief and polite with your request.

After you have scheduled your interview, open your original interview document.

If you do not have an original interview document, you can open a new document instead.

You will want to save the information that you learned in your first interview, so make a copy of your document.

Then, change the title of the copy you made.

Use a unique title that relates to your new interview subject.

Update the details for your upcoming interview.

Include the job title of the person you will interview.

This will show you which jobs each of your interview subjects has when you want to review your career research.

Next, delete the responses from your previous interview.

Then, reread the questions you used in your previous interview.

Make changes to questions that may still be useful for your upcoming interview.

Replace other questions with new ones.

Because each job is unique, you should ask questions that will help you gain an understanding about the specific features of the job.

Continue making changes to your questions.

You can change the number of questions if you would like, depending on what you want to find out.

Be sure to update any information to match the job you are asking about.

You can then use your interview questions during your interview.

You may add questions or change questions if you think it will be helpful.

Make these changes in your document.

Now, it’s your turn: Schedule an interview, Open your original interview document, Update your document details, and edit or replace your questions.

When you want to learn about a specific career field, you should research the field.

Speaking to several different people working in the field can be helpful.

One way to achieve this is by using a survey.

A survey is a way to seek information from several professionals at the same time.

In this extension, you will create a survey.

You will be able to use many of the same questions as in an interview.

In your survey, remember to: Clearly explain your purpose, Make it easy to respond, Keep your questions brief, and limit the number of questions you ask.

To begin, open your Google Drive.

Then, create a new form and rename it.

Add a title to your survey.

Next, add a description.

Describe the basic idea and purpose of the survey.

Then, begin to add questions.

You may be able to use some questions from your interview document.

You can edit them if you need to.

Choose the format of the question.

Short answer and paragraph formats allow people to type in their responses.

Multiple choice, checkboxes, and dropdown menus offer people options to select for their responses.

Typed responses allow people more flexibility for what they want to share in their responses; however, they take longer to complete.

Questions with options will limit choices, but they can be answered quickly.

Continue adding questions.

Each question should ask about something that will help you better understand the career you are researching.

You want to learn as much as possible without requiring too much of your respondents’ time.

Using checkboxes as your response format allows people to check more than one response.

This can be useful if there are several possible responses to a question.

Including a space for respondents to type other choices gives them a chance to include information not given as an option.

After your questions are complete, you can customize the theme of your survey to make your survey appear both professional and appealing before you send it.

When you are ready, send your survey to professionals you have already contacted.

You can also work with your teacher or guidance counselor to locate other potential respondents.

Add a brief message about who you are and the purpose for your survey, so professionals receiving your survey will know what it is for.

You can include the survey directly in the email.

Now, it’s your turn: Create a survey in a new form, Add a title and description, Add questions to your survey, Customize your survey theme, and send your survey.