Informational Interview with Ron Koster

Prior to my interview, I felt pretty nervous. There is something about talking to people over the phone that gives me a kind of anxiety. I am also very soft spoken so I knew I would have to really speak up for this call. Despite all of my worries beforehand I was surprisingly comfortable after hearing the friendly voice on the other end of the line. The voice was Ron Koster, a good friend of my grandmothers. I have personally never met Ron so the mutual friendship didn’t make me feel much better at first. Going into the interview I was not too sure of the day to day routine of an accountant. I assumed that the job was more of an independent one. One where you may sit in your cubical unbothered by anyone else for hours. After talking to Ron I learned that in the office it is more of a team environment. when it comes to accounting, everything is information based so they must collaborate and make decisions collectively. As a team they complete projects and put together financial reports. One of my questions was about what the office was like physically rather than just the people there. He told me the office is often a comfortable place filled with computers and such. One thing he told me that I did not expect to learn was that certain types of accountants called auditors may travel various locations to perform their duties. Ron was able to elaborate off of my question to provide me with more relevant information. Giving him the freedom to talk allowed me to learn things I wouldn’t have if he would’ve only answered my predetermined questions. What I am trying to say is, I think to conduct a good informational interview sometimes we should ask less specific questions. Doing so will allow the person to give you some of their most useful knowledge on the topic that you might not have thought to ask about. I found this interview to be overall very useful. The answers Ron gave me are not ones I could find online or in the classroom which makes this special to me.