New career mentor informational interviews added to the sample content area of CareerSparksClub.com. One titled “Get Your Opportunity Ears On” features Joyce Bone, author of “Millionaire Moms: The Art of Raising a Business and a Family at the Same Time.” The other with a retired human resources executive turned professional organizer for her encore career. That interview is with Karen Hancock of AmazingSpacesMacon.com and is titled, “Planning a Career.” Enjoy these complimentary podcasts!

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.

Sometimes people are surprised to realize what an inside game career management is. In fact if you are feeling stuck about what major to choose or what career to choose or what job to look for next, a great first step is to start envisioning what your ideal career or job looks like. This can only come from the inside! Only you know what you prefer and how you would like to live.

People really underestimate the importance of thinking about the the lifestyle they prefer when choosing too. It reminds me of a story I once heard about a fisherman who goes out to fish for a few hours everyday to earn his living. Then comes home, enjoys lunch, plays with his kids, then goes to town to play guitar each evening with his wife. Some vacationers come to town and one guy can not resist telling the fisherman how he can get more wealth by building up his fishing operation. Long story short, the fisherman is already living how he wants to live! The point is that that often lifestyle choice is a good way to weed out distractors. You might like to hear the short story for yourself though.

Another thing to consider early on in your decision making process is your natural strengths. This is very important because a fulfilling career is built upon natural strengths which enable one to work with ease and to gain expertise faster. Sometimes defining your strengths can be tough because we often tend devalue what we do well — everyone can do that, it’s not special…that kind of inaccurate thinking.

So one action to take is to record what you believe your strengths are. Then take some time to go to 3-6 people who know you well and ask them what they have observed that you do easily and well. Take notes and compare responses, including your own, to come up with a list of your natural strengths. Another good tool to try which I have mentioned before to get more data about your natural strengths is Marcus Buckingham’s “Now, Discover Your Strengths.”

Next, you can take what you have learned about yourself and start comparing that data to what is required in careers you are considering. You do that not only with internet research but with invaluable field research a.k.a. informational interviewing. Can I just tell you, it is amazing how much the view of a potential choice can change after talking to a few folks already in the career field. I cannot overemphasize how learning about careers in this way brings career choice to life (in addition to the other perks of actually talking to people and building networking relationships)!

Mostly though, I encourage you to follow what appeals to you now as that is a big indication of your intuition at work. Follow your nose with an understanding that you may not end up where you thought but career choice a process not a destination. I encourage you to dive into the process one optimistic step at a time.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/oco/) and the O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/) are great places to begin your research about different career fields. But once a specific career field is still being considered after written research, it is time to go out into the field to learn more. In fact, one of the most important aspects to choosing a career path is to talk to people who are doing the kind of work you are considering. This is called informational interviewing.

Typically the informational interview process involves finding people in the field of interest to talk to, scheduling a time to meet with them for 30 minutes or so to ask questions about their career, and sending a thank you note.

There are several ways to find people for an informational interview. The best method is to use your network of contacts to find people in the line of work that you want to learn more about. Begin asking family members, friends, and other people who they know working in the career field. For example you might approach your aunt and ask her, “Who do you know who works as a civil engineer?” Once a member of your network knows someone to refer you to, ask for that person’s name and phone number. You will be surprised how many people your contacts know and how easy it is to find people to talk to about all kinds of careers.

Next call the new contact. Give your name and how you were referred to them. 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. Also be sure to take a pen and paper for quick notes. Get the correct spelling of your interviewee’s name and their address by asking for a business card which will be helpful when you send a thank you note.

INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

• How did you develop your career path?
• How did you get into this job?
• What are your duties as a ____?
• How long have you been in this position?
• What do you like best about this career?
• What do you like least about this career?
• What would you do differently if you were starting over in this field?
• What are the educational requirements of this field?
• What is the typical salary range for this career field?
• Can you recommend some professional associations for this career field?
• What do you read to stay up-to-date in the field?
• What further education do you participate in?
• What are the advancement opportunities in this field?
• What do you see as the future of this career field?
• What is your career goal for the future?
• What is happening in this industry?
• What kinds of companies make up this industry?
• Where has growth taken place in this field recently?
• Who are your customers or clients?
• How do you promote your products and/or services?
• Who are some of your competitors?
• What has helped to make companies successful 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?

I’m surprised how much forethought blogging actually takes. You have to decide a topic and a voice, which platform to use, what design and plugins to use, whether to have comments or not, and how often to post, to name a few. Plus there is a big learning curve to face. Then you have to find a balance between creating posts and checking stats and such…all potentially very time consuming (and addictive).

Blogging is certainly not for everyone. It is getting pretty popular though. Truthfully, I’m not sure if I am glad to be doing it yet or not. I’m sticking with it because I think it will pay off soon as I get faster at developing content and better at juggling it with my other projects. For me, the only downside has been the time commitment and the pressure to post. I’m not going too crazy about deadlines but I am striving to be consistent. The pluses for me have been that I enjoy learning about the technology and I now have a relevant reason to get my thoughts and ideas down on paper on a regular basis which really helps with my infopreneurial endeavors.

Yesterday, I saw a very good article about the benefits of building a content focused website rather than blogging. It was very convincing. From an infopreneurial standpoint it definitely makes more sense to think in terms of a content driven site rather than a blog mainly due to potentially improved page ranking to more easily connect to the intended target audience. Another reason is the higher level of control the infopreneur can have over their writing/production schedule with a content driven website. The big downside the infopreneurial blogger has to overcome is that the relationship building aspect of blogging is quite strained right from the start when you are so obviously trying to sell something. I mean it has to be done carefully because how many people would subscribe to a constant commercial? Here are a couple of infopreneurial website examples for you. The first is a content driven site, Love-of-Roses.com. This site is less than a year old from what I understand and has an awesome traffic ranking already. Next, here is one in the form of a blog, Seth Godin’s Blog. Seth has figured out the fine line that an infopreneurial blogger must manage to build traffic and sell his products and expertise.

Now, career blogging is a whole different story. I believe it to be a cutting edge career advancement technique. Your blog can become a showcase for your unique knowledge and skills. With small regular posts you can quickly build an impressive portfolio demonstrating more about your personality and quality of work while building your reputation at the same time. Plus, a blog can be an outstanding networking tool. This is just the kind of thing the blogosphere was meant for…sharing information, having a discussion, building relationships. Here is a fine example of a career blog to check out if you like the idea of blogging to advance your career – Publishing Careers by Lori Cates Hand. I love the way she has built the blog around the central theme of an informational interview for those interested in the industry. This instantly sets her up as an expert. It also leads to numerous ideas for topics to write about as she discusses her own career journey and daily activities. She also interviews others in the industry which greatly furthers her professional networking activities and exposure. Brilliant!