Networking Is Farming, Not Hunting: Informational Interviews and Mentors
Olga Ivleva's single most useful job-search tool was not an application. It was the informational interview, and the relationships that grew out of it. Networking, she likes to say, is farming, not hunting.
The informational interview
The method is to talk to people who already work where you want to work, and to explore the culture, the challenges, and what they value. There is one firm rule: do not ask them to find you a job or to be your reference. Be genuinely curious, ask about their projects, tools, and day-to-day, and let the conversation go where it goes. Sometimes that person becomes a mentor, sometimes a friend, and you never know which until later.
It works for clients too
When Olga took on an IT client without an IT background, she first ran informational interviews with IT people across Calgary, then used the same approach in her own search. She once walked into an interview already knowing the company had problems with turnover and training in its call center, information she could not have found online and that came straight from a curious conversation with someone inside.
Network inside, not just outside
Networking does not stop once you are hired. Keep doing it internally. A coffee with peers across departments teaches you how the business actually works and is often how you progress. After one leadership program, Olga simply connected with everyone in the room afterward and booked short coffees, and it opened up the whole organization to her.
How to ask for a mentor
Her formal, organization-assigned mentors were good people, but the chemistry was not always there. Her best mentors came out of informational interviews: she connected first, genuinely, and then said it would be wonderful to have them as a mentor. A few seconds of discomfort, well worth it. And it is mutual, because mentors grow from the relationship too.
Own your career
The thread under all of it is ownership. You, not your manager, are responsible for your growth. Take ownership even of what goes wrong, ask what you could have communicated better, and treat your leader as a partner in your development rather than someone who is supposed to notice you.
Key takeaways
- Informational interviews open doors a resume cannot.
- Never open with an ask. Be curious first.
- Keep networking inside the company after you are hired.
- Ask for mentorship after a real connection exists, not before.
- Own your growth, including the parts that go wrong.