I was at an event a week ago and struck up a conversation with a CEO-level executive of a big firm (someone everyone on here would know but I won’t disclose). I asked for advice and surprisingly he gave me a business card and asked me to call him in the next few weeks. I wasn’t expecting that, but he seemed sincere and I think we’ll actually have a conversation.
Any tips / thoughts on how to maximize this opportunity? Would you just straight out ask for a job? Appreciate any thoughts, thanks!
Make sure you let him know ahead of time when you will be calling him. Send him a meeting request via Outlook/Gmail if possible.
I would just ask general questions like how he got to his position, what qualities are valuable in his industry, what problems he has faced, what the future of his industry looks like.
Oh and absolutely do your research on the firm, industry, economy in general! The worst question you could ask is “so what does your company do?”. Instead ask “Oh I see your company recently expanded to Asia, what do you think are the benefits/challenges”. Also do a Google search on what types of questions are good for informational interviews like this one.
I would not ask for a job outright. Maybe ask in a general way what open positions they have and if you can have the contact info of an HR person.
What field are you looking to go into? And what stage are you at? HS? College?
Thanks for the advice! Bumping in case anyone else has words of wisdom.