A fifth-year PhD student asks—
I did an informational interview and part-way through the person asked me what I’m interested in doing. I used to be really interested in infectious disease research, but after a rough time finishing my PhD, I don’t think I want to do that anymore. I froze and didn’t have anything to say. What was I supposed to say given that I’m still figuring it out?

You do not need a firm career direction or clear sense of what you’re interested in to get a lot of value from informational interviews, and most professionals will understand that you have some level of uncertainty—that is why you’re asking for their advice! It is easy to get stuck thinking that you need to have a specific job title in mind or clear 5-year plan, but you can always give a more open and individual answer. They are asking because they want to be helpful—it is ok to say you are interested in finding alternatives to your recent research where you can still do interesting things x, y, z, or that you are trying to understand more about what it is like to work for their specific organization, or just that you’re trying to map out all the options that would keep you employed and happy staying in the Bay Area. The point is to give them enough specifics that they can feel helpful in giving a tailored response, even if you don’t know what exactly (if anything) you are planning on right now. 

It is incredibly common to be uncertain about your career trajectory, and most people will try multiple positions before figuring out what they want to do at major transitions like graduating. And even more people will have their career interests change over time! Sharing that uncertainty can actually help the people around you be more helpful as you figure things out, as long as you do it in an open and constructive way. 

-David Blancha, Assistant Director, Career Development Team for Researchers