Informational Interview and Personal SWOT/Gap Analysis Paper
Exploring and Evaluating Life Options - BA 243
Background. This assignment is worth 40% of your final grade in this class. That shows that
it is a fairly important element of the overall course objectives. It is also very dependent on your
developing and executing a plan for contacting someone who is probably even busier than you
are, so you cannot procrastinate in doing it.
By now, you may be beginning to narrow down some ideas about what you might enjoy doing in
your future. We have discussed both the value of and approaches for conducting informational
interviews. It is time to apply what you’ve learned and take it to the next, more personal level.
In short, it’s time for you to go learn from someone you respect by “doing one for real.”
You should also use this informational interview to help identify skills, abilities, and traits that
will generate a higher probability of success for you in your chosen career goals. You will apply
a time-tested analytical tool to yourself to identify your personal and professional strengths and
weaknesses so you can identify the most important gaps you need to work on filling to make
yourself the best, most competitive candidate for your career goals.
Assignment. This assignment has two parts and can be adequately covered in 7-8, 1.5 spaced
pages (not including the list of questions and/or resources used).
Part one – Informational Interview. Identify a small pool of people (2-3) that you would
like to interview and briefly discuss your reasons for including each one and how you think they
could help you refine your career plans. I will not accept a relative, neighbor, or friend… unless
you make a very good case for how they can provide a useful perspective on your actual career
plans. Recognize that for your ultimate job search, you would most likely expand this pool size
to 6-7 people. Meeting in person is always best, but these can be done over the phone if
someone you want to interview is not in the immediate area. I will be evaluating your candidate
list and your rationale for including each person.
Schedule and conduct an informational interview with one of the people in your pool.
Prepare for it by following the guidelines in the informational interviewing checklist passed out
in class. Describe what questions you want to pursue with the subject and how you would group
them into logical categories. Script out your personal phone call request and practice it with me
or a friend before you call so it becomes more conversational when you make the call. Then,
schedule and conduct an informational interview with one of your targets.
Conduct an honest critique of the entire process and results. Describe what you learned and how
it will help you pursue your career goals. Critique and discuss your own performance and your
subject’s responsiveness. Include a discussion of how you prepared, what you want to do
differently in preparing for and conducting your next informational interview, and why you need
to do it that way. Include a list of the questions you asked your interviewee and a copy of the
thank you note that you sent your target as attachments to this paper.
Part two – SWOT & Gap Analysis. You should have a much better perspective on what
skills, traits, and abilities are required to be successful in your chosen career field. Think about
your own set of technical skills, soft skills, and personal traits. In completing this part of this
assignment, you will go a process of self-analysis and assessment, culminating in a critical
analysis of how you match up to the needs and wants of the target market (potential employers or
graduate schools). In order to do this in a structured way, you will perform and document the
following activities.
1. Briefly describe your personal and career desires/dreams. This effort should result in
considering and documenting answers to questions like the following suggested list… feel
free to address other personally significant questions related to personal and professional
goals. If you don’t have completely developed answers to these questions, it’s high time
you start to think about it. This is an ongoing process. You should revisit your analysis
periodically in life and adjust accordingly. These are questions that can’t really wait until
after you graduate from college… they should also be (or should have been) an integral
part of your educational goals.
 “What are my personal and professional goals… and how do I weigh them against
one another? Is geographic location important? Is there an industry or career that
I’m particularly interested in? Is the job most important? How do relationship
and family issues weigh in? Am I most interested in a specific functional area an
industry segment, or the nature of the work I will perform?”
 “What kind of job and/or career will I likely pursue?
 “Where do I see myself and what will I be doing there 2-3 years from now?”
How about 5-10 years?
2. Perform a personal and professional SWOT Analysis. What specific skills, work habits,
and traits are indicators of success for your chosen career? The list from NACE we
discussed in class is a good starting point, but it should be augmented by your own
research and what you learned during your informational interview. What Strengths and
Weaknesses do you have that relate to your goals? What Opportunities and Threats can
you identify? What strategies can you identify for converting your weaknesses into
strengths? What strategies can you identify for converting identified threats into
opportunities? Discuss how your strengths (current or “under development”) match up
well with specific opportunities and how you would match specific strengths to
opportunities you want to pursue. This is hard work, but it very important work in your
ongoing efforts to be the best (whatever) you can be. If you just go through the motions,
you will only be short-changing yourself, so give it the time and attention you deserve.
3. Perform “gap analysis.” Compare what “is” (in terms of your SWOT Analysis) with what
“should be.” For example, if your SWOT analysis suggests that you need skills at a
specific level in written communication to seize an important opportunity and you don’t
currently possess that skill or possess it at a lower level, this would be a “gap” that you
need to consider filling in. The hardest part of this exercise is that you are the one
identifying what “is” and specifying what “should be.” A candid self-assessment at this
stage is a powerful foundation for future growth. A wise person once observed that, “If
you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”. In this effort, you are
beginning to identify where you want to go and even some of the particular things you
want to do to make your journey more productive… and enjoyable.
4. Develop objectives for personal growth and development. Consider which of your
identified “gaps” is/are most important for you to fill in order to achieve your personal and
professional goals. Prioritize them so you have a clear understanding about which ones
must be filled first and which ones can wait… you may not be able to get to all of them at
once. Briefly discuss the top three gaps on your list with specific objectives to “fill” it and
tie a specific timeline to each objective if you can (e.g. develop ability to author and
publish web pages that incorporate secure database management and manipulation by the
end of my senior year). These should be short, concise statements of what you want to do,
how/when you will know you’ve done it, and the timeframe you hope to do it in.
This is an important effort, not just for this class… but for the rest of your life. It’s
challenging, too. It should make you think critically about many things you may not have
had to think about in this way before. It also forces you to candidly address more about what
you want out of life and what you can do to increase your probability of achieving those
dreams than you may be comfortable doing. I want you to put forth an earnest effort and am
available to discuss each step of your personal efforts along the way. I want you to do it
well… and benefit greatly from the process.
My goal for this assignment is for you to develop a higher level of confidence in networking,
explore what it takes to be successful in pursuing your chosen career field, and lay the
groundwork for creating your own personal “brand identity.” This should equip you with the
tools and confidence needed to do more extensive research for your personal career management
process. I don’t want you to be uncertain about what I’m looking for or be frustrated about what
you’re doing. If you have any questions about how to proceed, please get in touch to discuss
them… early, so you have time to react constructively. Remember, you can visit me, email me,
or call me at home to resolve any questions or uncertainty.
Assessment Plan. I will be looking for the following from your efforts.
1. Informational interview
a. selection of sources & rationale for each one
b. preparation for and conduct of your interview
c. reflection on your interview
2. SWOT & gap analysis, including objectives
3. Writing style, grammar, and organization of information
Points
200
160
40
400
Percentage
50%
40%
10%
100%