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The impact of informational interviewing on an individual’s career development

University of British Columbia

Informational interviewing is a technique that individuals can use to access current labour market information from those employed in the occupational field of interest. This research explores the experience of individuals who conduct informational interviews. Ten participants who are within 40 credit hours of completing an Arts Degree were selected from a university college. Participants attended a participatory workshop on informational interviewing and were expected to conduct their own informational interviews between workshop sessions. A total of 23 informational interviews were conducted within a four week time period for an average of 2.3 interviews per participant. The critical incident technique was utilized in a post-workshop interview to assess participants' experience of interviewing. 198 incidents were elicited including 145 positive critical incidents, or facilitating factors, and 53 negative critical incidents, or hindering factors. Twelve categories emerged from the incidents. These included the following eight facilitating factor categories: 1. Information- interviewee's personal experience, 2. Information- occupation, 3. Information- providing options, 4. Encouragement and confirmation, 5. Interviewee's personality, 6. Interview process, 7. Assessing the 'fit', and 8. Providing contacts or post-interview assistance. The four hindering factor categories included: 1. Negative affect, 2. Interview structure, 3. Perceived destructive factors, and 4. Unanswered questions or discouraging information. Additional pre-post test data was gathered to assess knowledge gained in the workshop as well as perception of control regarding career aspirations.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-02-10

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4431

Counselling Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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