Module 4: Career Readiness: Informational Interviews & Resume

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• Understand the importance of informational interviews in your job search
• Create a professional resume using the BloomTech template
• Identify potential interviewees and prepare for informational interviews

Introduction

Informational interviews or coffee chats as we often refer to them here at BloomTech are informal conversations you have with professionals in your field of interest. The primary purpose is to gather information about a career field, industry, or company rather than to secure a job.

Unlike job interviews, informational interviews are initiated by the job seeker and focus on learning rather than being evaluated for a position. While not the primary purpose, job opportunities can come out of these types of conversations and are often a very effective method for networking that can lead to referrals or introductions to others that are hiring. Worst case scenario you learn from someone working in the industry and get some great advice!

Benefits of Informational Interviews:

• Networking Opportunities: Informational interviews allow you to expand your professional network by building relationships with industry insiders.
• Gaining Industry Insights: They provide firsthand insights into the realities of working in a specific field or company, beyond what you can find online.
• Identifying Career Paths and Job Roles: Through these conversations, you can learn about different career paths and job roles that you may not have considered before.
• Developing Professional Relationships: Building a rapport with professionals can lead to future opportunities, mentorship, and advice.
• Job Opportunities: Informational Interviews can produce referrals for roles or introductions to hiring managers/team members and lead to interviews.

Informational Interviews are often a longer term strategy to finding a job so that's why it's important to get started with them NOW. Building relationships with people in the tech industry before you graduate will give you more support during your job search after graduation. You may be reaching out to someone at a company that isn't currently hiring BUT these types of conversations can keep you top of mind when they do have a role open up that aligns with your skillset.

Building a strong resume is essential for your job search. Your resume is often the first impression you make on a potential employer, and it needs to effectively showcase your skills, experience, and education.

In this section, you'll learn about:

• The BloomTech resume template and why it's important to use it
• How to structure your technical skills and projects sections
• How to highlight your experience and education effectively
• How to tailor your resume for different job applications

In this module, there are two guided projects to help you with different aspects of career readiness:

Guided Project 1: Informational Interviews

Guided Project 2: Resume Building

For this module's practice activity, you'll need to complete two tasks:

Task 1: Complete Your Resume

Using the BloomTech resume template, complete or update the following sections:

• Personal information (name, contact details, links)
• Technical skills section
• Projects section with descriptions
• Experience section with bullet points
• Education section

Task 2: Informational Interview Planning

Prepare for conducting informational interviews by:

• Identifying at least 3 potential professionals to contact
• Drafting an outreach message for each
• Preparing a list of 5-10 questions to ask during the interview
• Creating a follow-up plan for after the interview