The strongest informational interview questions move through four stages: opening rapport, what the role is really like day to day, how the person got there and what the field actually demands, and a close that asks for perspective and, only at the very end, a possible next contact. Trying to ask a long flat list of questions in one 20 to 30 minute call is what makes most informational interviews feel rushed and forgettable.
What Is an Informational Interview, and What Is It Not?
An informational interview is a short, informal conversation with someone working in a role, company, or field you want to learn about, set up to gather honest insight, not to get a job offer. That distinction matters for how you behave in it.
It is not a job interview, so it isn’t the time to pitch yourself, ask for a role, or treat every question as a chance to prove you’re qualified. The moment it starts to feel like you’re angling for a job, the honesty you came for tends to disappear.
What Should You Ask to Open the Conversation?
The first couple of minutes set the tone, so keep them short and genuine rather than treating them as a throwaway.
- “Thanks for making time. Could you start with a quick overview of your path to this role?”
- “What drew you to this field in the first place?”
Keep your own introduction brief, a sentence or two on who you are and why this conversation is useful to you, then move the focus back to them quickly.
What Should You Ask About the Role Itself, Day to Day?
This is the part generic career advice skips, and it’s usually the most useful for deciding if a role actually fits you.
- “What does a typical week actually look like for you?”
- “What part of the job takes up more time than people from outside would expect?”
- “What’s the most frustrating part of this role that doesn’t show up in the job description?”
- “What kind of person tends to struggle in this job, even if they’re smart and hardworking?”
What Should You Ask About the Career Path and How to Get There?
Once you understand the role, shift to how someone actually builds toward it.
- “Looking back, which of your experiences mattered most for getting here, even if they didn’t seem related at the time?”
- “Are there specific skills or certifications that actually matter for this path, versus ones that are nice to have but not essential?”
- “If you were starting over today, would you take the same path into this field?”
What Should You Ask About Industry Trends and Company Culture?
This stage is where you check whether the field and the specific workplace actually match what you want, not just whether the job title sounds right.
- “What’s changing in this field right now that someone just starting out should know about?”
- “How would you describe the culture here, and how is it different from other places you’ve worked?”
- “What’s something about this company that doesn’t show up on its website or careers page?”
How Should You Close the Conversation?
The close is where most people either overreach or leave value on the table. The goal is to leave the door open without putting the other person on the spot.
- “Is there anything else you think I should be asking that I haven’t?”
- “Would you be comfortable if I followed up occasionally, or reached out again if something specific comes up?”
- Only near the very end, and only if the conversation genuinely supports it: “Is there anyone else in this field you’d suggest I talk to?”
Asking for a referral too early, or asking for one at all if the conversation felt thin, usually does more harm than good. Send a short, specific thank-you note within a day or two that references something they actually said, not a generic template.
How Many Questions Should You Actually Prepare, and How Many Should You Ask in 20 to 30 Minutes?
A 20 to 30 minute call realistically supports about 5 to 7 questions asked well, with natural follow-ups, not a checklist you rush through. Preparing a longer list of 12 to 15 across all four stages gives you backup, but the goal is depth on a handful of answers, not coverage of every question you wrote down.
Build in flexibility: if one answer opens up something more interesting, follow it instead of rigidly moving to the next item on your list. The best informational interviews feel like a real conversation that happened to be structured, not an interrogation.
What Questions Should You Avoid?
- Asking directly how much the person makes. If pay matters to your decision, ask about a general range for the role instead.
- Asking them to review your resume on the spot, which turns the conversation into something else entirely.
- Asking for a job outright, or implying that’s the real purpose of the call.
- Asking anything easily answered by the company’s own website, which signals you didn’t prepare.
- Spending more time talking about yourself than listening, which defeats the entire purpose of the conversation.
Building this kind of real relationship matters more than it might seem: being referred by someone inside a company remains one of the strongest paths into a role. One analysis of millions of job applications found that referred candidates were about 7 times more likely to be hired than people applying cold through a job board, which is exactly the kind of connection a genuine informational interview can lead to over time.
Once you’ve had a few of these conversations and have a clearer sense of the field, the next practical step is usually making sure your actual application gets seen, which means understanding how an applicant tracking system reads your resume and making sure your LinkedIn headline reflects the direction you’re now aiming for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it okay to ask about salary in an informational interview?
Asking for a general range tied to the role or level is usually fine and often genuinely useful to you. Asking the person directly what they personally earn tends to make people uncomfortable and isn’t well received, even when the rest of the conversation went smoothly.
How do you follow up after an informational interview?
Send a short, specific thank-you message within a day or two, referencing one real detail from the conversation. If they offered to stay in touch, a light, occasional update every few months (not a request every time) keeps the relationship alive without becoming a burden.
Can you do an informational interview over email instead of a call?
Yes, especially if someone’s schedule doesn’t allow for a call. Keep it to 3 or 4 of your strongest questions rather than the full list, since a written exchange asks more of the other person’s time per question than a conversation does.
Should you bring a resume to an informational interview?
Have one ready in case they ask, but don’t offer it unprompted or treat the conversation as a review session. Bringing it up yourself shifts the tone from learning toward applying, which isn’t what this conversation is for.