Career Prep 2009 Summer Blog

Hector Gutierrez from Berkeley suggests asking about a person's previous employment, specifically about their best and worst experiences on the job. Also getting them to talk about their first job can lead to a fruitful conversation on do's and dont's as you move ahead. It is a great way to begin building that trust that is going to open up a bigger discussion on a broad set of questions. This is a great approach when you meet someone in an industry or company you are targeting- and so have a keen interest in learning about their career progression. And as Hector says, this is also someone you potentially have a lot of follow up questions for. But it is important to pay attention to building the relationship with this person to a point where you can ask all those questions.