Informational Interview Paper, Career Essay Sample

The interviewee was my dad, Joe Klug, who works at Lake Shore Company as a manufacturers representative. He has worked for the company for more than 35 years. My major goal of undertaking the interview was to understand this career because I have always wanted to follow the footsteps of my dad. Therefore, I aimed at determining the necessary skills essential for success in this career. Consequently, I asked him questions that would enable me to achieve this goal. I asked him questions that would enable me to understand how he joined the career, his education background, major duties, and responsibilities, his likes and dislikes in this career, the skills necessary for this career, how to join the career, and also his advice to a person wishing to pursue this career. From the interview, my dad revealed a substantial volume of information that would enable me to focus on the major areas within this career. My dad, who was introduced into this career by one of his friends, studied sociology in City University in New York. Before joining college, he undertook several part-time and low paying jobs to pay for his college education.

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After college, his first job was selling American-Indian jewelries after seeing his friend succeed in the same business but things did not go as expected. This is when he realized that he needed more education to succeed in the field. Joe pointed that his major duty is selling products, which means that if he does not sell the products he cannot be paid. Dad mentioned autonomy, friendly relationship with customers, client engagement, and passion in this job, as the major reasons why he likes it. His major dislike in this job is the long travel time involved. Additionally, he cited communication, being friendly, and being sociable as the major skills necessary in this career. My dad also explained that it would be hard for a young to sustain himself in this career because one is not paid for the first 3 to 4 months. He advised the college students wishing to pursue this career to be patient, be on time, use of personal relationship to further their careers, and taking all advises and keeping them rather than throwing them away.

From this interview, I learnt several issues that would enable me to shape and undertake the necessary measures to ensure that I succeed. I understood that being a manufacturers representative involves a lot of sacrifices and effort. For instance, as a young or a new entrant into the career one can run for approximately 4 months without any pay. This means that one should put a lot of effort to raise money to sustain him or herself. Additionally, I realized that in this career one should not rush or be greedy for money. It can take even more than 20 years to be established in this career. Therefore, I realized that patience is a vital factor for success in this career. Another thing that I learnt from this interview is that one should follow his or her heart and not following what suits other people. People have different talents and skills in different fields, and therefore, one should venture in a field where his or her heart likes. For instance, my dad had first ventured into jewelry business but later realized that it was not in his favor, despite his friend being successful in the business. Time management is another thing that is important for a manufacturers representative career.

To achieve success in this profession, I realized that I needed to improve my communication skills, be more sociable and understanding. Therefore, I should start perfecting these skills early enough to ensure that I succeed in this career. Moreover, I learnt that I should learn how to sustain myself financially without burdening other people. I should start undertaking various part-time jobs because this would enable me to earn some money, and prepare me for the work environment in my career. Another important issue that I learnt from this interview is ambition and persistent. My dad is ambitious and persistent because, in his early years in the job, it is my mother who financially supported him. He did not give up despite this lack of enough money to sustain himself. Therefore, I learnt that I needed to have goals that I need to achieve in this career.

In addition, I learnt that I needed to pursue other minor courses such as communication skills, critical thinking, and customer relations, and marketing to equip myself with the skills necessary to be successful in this career. Acquiring these skills would enable me to handle my customers appropriately, and also create a long-term relationship with them. Moreover, since the career involves selling, pursuing a minor in marketing and customer relations would provide me with the essential expertise in making a sale to the customers. Consequently, this interview equipped me with substantial information that I believe would help me to prepare and pursue my career successfully.