This assignment has three goals:
Relationship-Building: This assignment is designed to facilitate communication between you and your direct supervisor and offers an opportunity to build a more meaningful connection.
Career Management: By understanding your supervisor’s professional journey, you can potentially apply their insights and lessons to your own career journey and learn about new opportunities for your professional and personal growth.
Informational Interview & Networking Practice: In your career, networking and conducting informational interviews will be essential. This assignment allows you to practice and build on your informational interview skills.
You will need to schedule 30 minutes to one hour with your supervisor for this assignment. It should be planned as soon as possible during your first few weeks on the job. We also recommend you take this opportunity to talk with your supervisor about the internship program and your progress in meeting your internship goals if you haven’t already.
This assignment entails two parts: 1) the supervisor interview and 2) an interview reflection essay. You will submit your interview questions AND the reflection essay to Canvas. Please submit this as one continuous document.
Watch this video on Informational Interviews (Links to an external site.) created by the Business Career Services team and/or read the following handouts on Informational Interviewing created by the Business Career Services team:
Informational Interview Tips
Actions
Professional Emailing & Interviewing Tips
Actions
Use the 5-point email detailed in the video to reach out to your supervisor requesting the interview.
Create a list of at least five interview questions for your supervisor. Use the TIARA (trends, insights, advice, resources, assignments) method detailed in the video to help you create your questions.
During the interview, follow the recommended interview format from the video.
Send a follow-up email summarizing your insights and thank your supervisor for their time!
Essay Format
There should be two sections to your essay:
Supervisor Interview Questions (list these)
Interview Reflection
Format:
Double-spaced and 12-point font
Length:
1 page: Supervisor Interview Questions
2-4 pages: Interview Reflection
Please note at the top of the assignment your name, date, and company where you are interning.
The essay should be submitted as a PDF or Word Doc.
Interview Reflection instructions
In your interview reflection introduction, include the name and title of your supervisor and his/her current job responsibilities.
The interview reflection should summarize your supervisor’s insights and answer the essential question: How can you apply your supervisor’s experiences, insights, and recommendations to your career goals and journey? The essay should not be a regurgitation of your supervisor’s answers to your questions.
