nonprofit networking question

[2eclipse]

i called 2nd harvest today and found out that the position i interviewed for last week has been put on hold.
margaret, the office assistant is pretty much up in arms about this. she told me she is thinking about taking some time off and seeing how much their perspective changes after they have to take care of her work for a week or two. i don't blame her. they do a LOT of good work, but that means there is a lot of work to be done and she and her assistant are at the center of a lot of it.
she says i am one of the top candidates and will get called for a second interview - if they take the job off hold.

this does me exactly no good, although it is nice to have my ego stroked.
the interview monday went well but i am not terribly excited about this job possibility. it is with the national kidney foundation. i know they are well respected and will take the job if they offer it, but a) it is a long commute b)it is office admin work that is very high profile(read: formal - i HATE formal) and c) i don't care very much about who gets a kidney and who has kidney disease. i recognise that it is important work. it is better than say, purchasing bearings (what i did at my last job). but on a scale of 1-10 my interest is about a 3. feeding people, AIDS work, affordable housing initiatives, GBLT work, interfaith work, homeless shelters and anything else that falls into the category of social justice and does NOT involve book-keeping is a 9-10.

so i have decided i need to take a more pro-active approach. have any of you conducted informational interviews before? how did you go about it? did you get results?
what other networking techniques have worked for you?

Comments

[zankoku-zen.livejournal.com]

i miss you, little miss picky. :P

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

i am picky about what will make me happy, not what i will accept.
i think it is important to know what you want to do ultimately and not just stick yourself in a job that doesn't satisfy. i have good skills and good passion. i get along with people well and am a great employee for the right organization. i would be selling myself short to settle not to mention putting myself in a position where i am not motivated to get the most out of my motivation. and all of this is arrogant. but i HAVE to be in that mindset or i will never get a job.
i miss you too.

[pixiecup.livejournal.com]

no advice. just saying hi and giving a hug.

[kurosawa2005.livejournal.com]

I have done informational interviews before. There are a couple of ways of doing it. As you are in a specific field, you look to find people that are well known in the field and ask them if you can meet with them to discuss what they do, the job market, and get general advice. You usually make it clear that you are not looking for a job from them, but you think that their input would be valuable and would appreciate it. It is easiest to do this if you have friends that could "recommend" people for you to talk to.

This hopefully accomplishes a couple of things. First, it gets you some advice about how to present yourself and what people are looking for. You get better prepared. Second, if they do have a job open or have a friend/associate with a job opening, they may recommend you for it. There is then a likely interview with a recommendation that they talk to you.

One of the people I met with when I did this was talking to a friend of his while golfing. His friend soon became my employer. I am sure it does not work as well for everyone, but it is certainly something to consider trying.