Transcript - slide 7

Informational Interview Questions

Question 1:
Do employees have duties that take time away from their main areas of expertise?

Question 2:
Are there busy times of the day or week when you could use extra help?

Question 3:
Do you have any tasks that employees do that could more efficiently be done as a separate job?

One way to assist potential employers and for that matter you, with thinking about restructuring a job, is to conduct an informational interview. This gives you an opportunity to gather information about general business practices and operations. It also gives you the chance to ask certain questions to determine if job restructuring is feasible.

Hagner and DiLeo, authors of the book Working Together: Workplace Culture, Supported Employment and Persons with Disabilities, recommend asking employers the following questions to help identify business needs and potential work opportunities. Some real life examples of jobs that have actually been created are offered, too. The following six questions could be asked when negotiating a customized job.
1. Do employees have duties that take time away from their main areas of expertise?
2. Are there busy times of the day or week when you could use extra help?
3. Do you have any tasks that employees do that could more efficiently be done as a separate job?
4. Do you routinely pay for overtime work or temporary work services?
5. Are you able to maintain production or are you behind schedule?
6. Are there tasks that you would like to see done more often or are not being performed at all?

Question one: Do employees have duties that take time away from their main area of expertise? For example, attorneys and paralegals at a law firm were taking valuable time away from case preparation when they had to locate and copy briefs from the law library. After learning about this practice, the employment specialist approached the librarian about the possibility of creating a position for someone to locate and copy the information. The librarian presented a proposal to the partners, and a clerk’s job was formed.

Question two: Are there busy times of the day or week when you could use extra help? For example, an employment specialist learned that certain times and days of the week were very busy at a grocery store. Although the store’s policy was to deliver the customer’s groceries to their automobiles, this was not always possible during the busiest times of the day. The employment specialist suggested hiring someone who could perform this primary activity during the busiest times of day, and a job was created.

Question three: Do you have any tasks that employees do that could more efficiently be done as a separate job? For example, a general manager at a large hotel identified the need to hire more housekeepers. After observing the housekeepers and collecting some production data, the employment specialist proposed hiring a worker to strip the beds and remove the set of linens from the guests’ rooms, and deliver these to the laundry room. This position would improve overall efficiency or the productivity of the housekeeping staff, as they no longer had to take time to travel to and from the linen room.