NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ896966
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Sep
Pages: 12
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1080-5699
EISSN: N/A
Literacy and Informational Interviews
Decarie, Christina
Business Communication Quarterly, v73 n3 p306-317 Sep 2010
Informational interviews are valuable tools for improving writing, editing, and interviewing skills, and they are also extremely valuable in improving the soft skills that are valued by employers, such as confidence, adaptability, the ability to set and keep deadlines, the ability to manage risk, and so on. These soft skills, this article argues, are a set of skills important enough to be considered a form of literacy. College graduates must be literate in these skills if they are to survive and thrive beyond college. Informational interviews are simple to assign yet challenging to do and appropriate for any area of study and for any age group of adult learners (loosely defined as any learner in postsecondary education). They are especially useful for younger adult learners (those who entered postsecondary education directly after high school and typically in their late teens) as they help them meet potential adult role models and give them a structured means of interacting with older adults... as adults. Informational interviews are, very simply, opportunities for students to have conversations with people who can serve as models for the students' futures, in this case business professionals. Although informational interviews can lead to job opportunities, they are not job interviews, and the students should emphasize when making a request for an interview that this is a research opportunity. In colloquial terms, an informational interview is a chance to pick someone's brain about a profession, business, or industry. This article presents a sample assignment for informational interviews in a business communication course.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A