You’ve noticed a potential mentor but suspect they are too busy to be a mentor? Or maybe you just don’t know how to break the ice with them. Try informational interviewing. Its not just for students or those choosing a career for the first time! Informational interviewing can help you transition to a new career field, further your network, or find a mentor.

Approach people who you suspect are too busy to be mentors and ask them for an informational interview. This is only one meeting of 30 minutes or so in duration but it has great potential for you to get excellent advice and information about the transition you are considering. It is also a way you can receive a little mentoring from several different people. Of course, be on the lookout for ways you can contribute to your interviewee’s efforts too, now or at a time in the future.

Here are the steps to make an info interview happen. Call your contact. Let them know you want to learn more about their career field and you were hoping they could help. Ask if you can schedule a time to speak with them for 30 minutes because you would like to ask them how they got into the field and about their recommendations for people considering entering the profession.

Following are some questions typically asked in an informational interview. Remember you most likely will not be able to ask them all since you want to keep the interview to only 30 minutes unless they encourage you to continue.

• How did you get to this point in your career?

• How did you find this job?

• What would you do differently if you were starting over in this field?

• Are there any professional associations you can recommend?

• What do you read to stay up-to-date in the field?

• What is happening in this industry?

• What recommendations do you have for a person interested in this field?

• Do you know others I should speak to about this career field?

Be sure to take a pen and paper for quick notes and recommendations and ask for their business card before you leave. Don’t forget to write and send a thank you note the following day.

Find a mentor by being found in the environment where the kind of people who you would like to have as a mentor hang out. The way to find the environment where they hang out is to first follow your own interests. Continue to make better distinctions about yourself and where you want to go then follow your nose to the gathering places for people whose interests match yours. Locate and engage the experts in those places. Share your enthusiasm and demonstrate that you are there to learn and that you are very interested in contributing to the conversation.

I found my most recent mentors by first defining my career goals then participating in my career field. I went to conferences and meetings, volunteered on committees, and entered the dialog appropriately. I looked for ways to contribute (usually by volunteering to do or organize something for the group) and I formed relationships through those activities.

Remember too that mentoring doesn’t have to be a formal arrangement. Most of my mentors weren’t even aware that I considered them mentors at all. This is because very important mentoring often occurs in small doses. Not to knock a formal mentoring arrangement because if both parties are willing to commit to meeting and talking for a regularly for a month or six there are benefits to both the mentee AND the mentor.

Many people say they want to take part in the finer things in life but of course there are always trade-offs. Unless you hit the lottery you will have to give up something or many things to achieve a more exquisite lifestyle. You may also have to be very self-motivated to work and accomplish. Of course, knowing and serving your higher purpose can effortlessly fuel the required work effort if your career and purpose are intertwined well.

Another option for a satisfying and purpose filled lifestyle is to move towards a more simple and cost effective way of living. This lifestyle is gaining momentum in some parts of the country as some strive to get back to a more simple way of being. It is a choice rooted in the idea of  stepping away from the hustle and bustle to live a more authentic existence.