The twenty-minute conversation that beats a job board
How to ask someone about their job without asking them for one, and what to do with what they tell you.
The most useful research into a new field is a short conversation with someone already in it. Not a networking coffee, not a pitch: twenty minutes of questions about what their week actually looks like.
Asking
Keep the request short and specific. Say who you are, why their work interests you, and that you would like twenty minutes by phone. Offer two times. Most people say yes.
In the conversation
Ask what they did yesterday, what surprised them in their first year, and who else you should talk to. Do not ask for a job. Take notes.
Afterwards
Send a thank-you the same day. Then write down one thing that made the job sound better than you expected, and one that made it sound worse. After five conversations, those notes tell you more than any listing.