w00t!
I conducted my first real, in-person informational interview yesterday. It was immensely encouraging to hear someone who has what you think is quite an interesting job, and who clearly enjoys said job, say "As a matter of fact, I started off more or less where you are now." I think I could get to like this informational interviewing process; to my surprise, it didn’t even make me nervous. Now I’ve got a list of several more people to talk to. Operation "Find the Escape Hatch" is officially underway. Hoorah!
Aren’t they a blast! I found most people to be extremely generous when I conducted information interviews with them. Also, it made me a lot less nervous when I got some real interviews.
My advice (keeping in mind that I don’t have a job myself), never leave an interview without getting the name of another person to speak to. You’d be surprised how quickly you can build a network of connections.
Huzzah!