What is an informational interview, and how do you ask for one?
A conversation with someone working in a role, organisation or sector you are interested in, to learn rather than to ask for a job — and the distinction is the entire reason it works.
Why the framing matters. A request for a job puts the other person in the position of gatekeeper, with the power to disappoint. A request for twenty minutes to hear about their work asks for something they can easily give, on a subject they know well and generally enjoy discussing. The acceptance rate is dramatically higher, and the conversation is more useful because they are not assessing you.
What you actually get:
How the work really is, as against how it is advertised.
What the entry routes are, including ones you did not know existed.
Vocabulary and priorities of the field, which makes any later application read as informed.
Who else to speak to, which is frequently the most valuable outcome — one conversation leading to two more is how this compounds.
Awareness of roles before they are advertised.
How to ask:
Be specific about why them. A generic request is ignored; a reference to something particular about their work is not.
State the time you are asking for — twenty minutes is credible.
Say explicitly that you are not asking for a job, which removes the awkwardness for both of you.
Make it easy to say yes: offer to fit around them, suggest a call rather than a meeting, and propose a couple of times.
Approach people one or two steps ahead rather than only at the top. They remember the transition you are making, have more time, and are frequently more useful.
How to conduct it:
Prepare specific questions, and do the basic research first — asking something findable wastes the goodwill.
Ask about their path, what surprised them, what they would do differently, and what they wish they had known.
Ask who else you should speak to, which is the question that makes it compound.
Keep to the time you asked for.
Follow up with thanks, and — crucially — tell them what you did with the advice some weeks later. Almost nobody does this, and it is what turns a conversation into a relationship.