How to Analyze Interviews

Last week, I focused on analyzing the interviews I’ve already conducted, rather than scheduling more interviews with new professionals. I’ve conducted five interviews so far, and rather than spend any more time searching for more professionals to interview with the final purpose of finding a mentor, I decided that it would be best to consider the options I already have and reflect on my past interviews. I figured it would be most beneficial for me to concentrate on the interviews I’ve conducted, rather than get caught up and confused with more interviews. After all, my final goal is to find a mentor, not to schedule a billion interviews.

Over the course of two weeks, I had conducted five interviews, and four of them were civil engineers working for the City of Frisco. Although each of these interviews was extremely informative and pleasant, I had decided that I wasn’t as interested in public work as compared to working in a private firm. I still learned a lot from each of those interviews, and I am beyond grateful that these professionals took the time out of their day to sit down and answer my questions. I had one interview with a professional engineer who worked in his own firm, and I was definitely interested in learning more about his firm and how projects are run. I understand how demanding a civil engineer’s schedule is, but I’d love to be able to schedule a second meeting with him soon.

This week, I’d like to get started on those second meetings. I have two engineers in mind - the professional working in a private firm, and one of the engineers who works for the city. I need to do a little bit more research into specific types of civil engineering projects, and I need to come up with a few more, career specific questions that I can ask these engineers. I think I’m nearing the end of my mentor selection and interview process. I’ve enjoyed this stage of my research, but I’m ready to go on and get some more work done!