Informational interviews are opportunities for people to find out more about a job or a particular field. Essentially, someone in the field in which you are interested gives you some time to ask them questions about their job or the field in which they work. You can go about being granted an informational interview by simply asking for one.
These can be great value for someone who is thinking about seeking work in a particular field, but wants some first-hand views on it. People who like what they do often love to talk about their jobs and what they do, which can be of great value to someone who wants to know.
What informational interviews are not is an opportunity to ask about a job for you in any way, shape, or fashion. One of the reasons why informational interviews can be difficult to come by nowadays is because a lot of people have been burned by people who take advantage of the opportunity to shill for a job. That should never be the intent. Informational interviews are STRICTLY fact-finding opportunities for people who are uninformed about the field and not yet ready to enter the field.
It's really not acceptable to even bring a resume since you're supposedly still just trying to find out if that job/field is for you. As a hiring manager friend who ran into a resume-toting informational interviewee once told me, 'If she knew enough to about the job to push on me a usable resume for it, then why is she here for an 'informational' interview other than to look for a job in the first place?'
In all other ways, you should treat an informational interview like you would a job interview: be on time, act professional, be attentive and interested, have questions in mind before arriving, send a thank you note afterward, and so forth because this person is taking time out of his/her day to help you out. But don't shill for a job, that isn't ok.
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