Do you know the difference between an informational interview and a job interview? Well, one is for information, and the other is for a job. If you keep that distinction in mind, conducting informational interviews should be pretty straightforward.

Before I provide tips for conducting informational interviews, let me give you a little more background.

This process, which some say was first described on paper by Richard Bolles in early editions of "What Color is Your Parachute?," is actually a pretty good reflection of human nature.

Basically, when we want to know something, we tend to ask someone. For example, when we want to know about a certain kind of car we're thinking of buying, we ask people who already own that kind of car how they like it. By doing research, we might "ask" for auto experts' opinions. And we'll definitely "ask" ourselves for an opinion, formed by taking a test drive.

AMY LINDGREN

WORKING STRATEGIES

Informational interviewing, when it is applied to a job search, is the process of asking for information from people who hold jobs you're interested in as well as from people who have expert knowledge about those jobs.

The conversation in which this information is gathered — be it in person, over the telephone or even via e-mail — is known as the informational interview. It can be as long as an hour or as short as 15 minutes, with the length always dictated by the person being interviewed.

The cardinal rule of informational interviewing is never to use the session to ask for a job. To do so is to break the tacit promise that you won't put pressure on your new contact, and it makes you seem duplicitous.

Besides showing bad form, however, asking for a job in an informational interview also demonstrates that you don't have a well-structured job-search plan. If you already know that you want to do this work, you are past the stage of informational interviewing. This technique is for gathering the data needed to make a decision about which field to go into.

There is one other purpose for this process: If you've chosen your new occupation, you could use these sessions to gather information about different companies where you might work.

In these cases, the person you are interviewing already knows that you are about to enter an active job search and that you might be interested in jobs at his or her company.

Here are a few tips to make informational interviews go more smoothly for you.

1. Start with a list of about 10 people to contact if you want to get three or four meetings. More people will say "no" than "yes." Some don't have time, and others are uncomfortable with the process.

Choose your people strategically. Who is likely to know a lot about the field you're exploring? Who might have contacts to offer you? Who will be most likely to say "yes"?

One way to find people is to look at the board members and volunteers in professional associations in your field. These folks are well-connected and already have made a commitment to helping others.

2. Develop your list of questions, but don't write too many. As a seasoned interviewer, I know that you won't get through very many items on your list. At most, expect to ask one question for every five minutes of your meeting, or no more than six in a half-hour.

To make the interview more informative, choose questions that will give you unique information from each person.

For example, rather than asking things you easily could research on your own (e.g., who are the biggest trade partners for this product?), ask instead: "Where do you think the industry is headed? If you were starting all over again in this field, where would you begin?"

3. Start dialing (or e-mailing). Introduce yourself in this first contact, then ask for a brief meeting. You may as well contact all 10 people on your list in one morning.

Schedule your interviews, gather the information and follow up on contacts that come from the sessions.

Within a few weeks, if possible, make a decision. These sessions are about getting information, and the purpose of the information is to help you make a decision.

And then? Well, the decision-bone is connected to the action-bone. When you know what your next step is, take it!

- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecaree rservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.