In an informational interview, you are the one asking the questions, so an AI interview assistant is useful mostly before and after the conversation rather than during it. Before: to turn a vague list of questions into specific ones, and to rehearse the two-minute version of who you are and what you are looking for. During: to keep live captions and a saved transcript as your notes, with the other person's knowledge. After: to turn those notes into a follow-up and a next step. Live answer suggestions, the thing the tool is best known for, are rarely needed in a coffee chat, and leaning on them would make you a worse listener.
Informational interviews are low stakes in theory and badly run in practice. Most people arrive with "tell me about your career" and leave with pleasant impressions and nothing to act on. The fix is preparation, and the preparation is small: five good questions, a tight intro, and a way to remember what was said.
What an informational interview is, and what it is not
It is a 20- to 30-minute conversation, usually over video, with someone who does the work you are considering or works where you want to work. You asked for their time, so you set the agenda and you watch the clock. It is not a job interview, and the fastest way to end the relationship is to treat it as one by asking for a job in minute five. The ask, if there is one, comes at the end and is small: another name to talk to, a look at your résumé, or permission to mention their name when you apply. Our guide to getting a job referral covers how a chat turns into a referral without pressure, and the logic applies well outside engineering.
Preparing questions worth their time
Good informational questions are specific to the person, cannot be answered by their public profile, and tell you something you would act on. A workable structure is five questions in three tiers: two about their day-to-day, two about the path and the field, one about what they would do in your position. Here is an example set (examples we wrote), with what to listen for:
| Your goal | Question to ask | What to listen for | Natural follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Understand the real job | "What took most of your time last week?" | The gap between the title and the work | "Is that typical, or was last week unusual?" |
| Learn how people get in | "How did the last two people who joined your team get there?" | Referrals, internal moves, specific backgrounds | "What did they have that others didn't?" |
| Calibrate your fit | "Given what I've told you about my background, what would worry a hiring manager?" | A frank answer, which is the most valuable thing you will hear | "How would you close that gap in six months?" |
| Learn the field's direction | "What has changed about this work in the last two years?" | Tools, team shapes, what is being automated | "What are you learning right now because of it?" |
| Get a next step | "Is there one other person you think I should talk to?" | A name, and whether they offer an intro | "May I mention you reached out on my behalf?" |
Notice that none of these is "what do you like about your job". That question produces a pleasant minute and nothing you can use. Our collection of questions to ask a recruiter has more that convert well to a coffee chat with small rewording.
Sharpening your list with a typed question
The AI interview assistant has a button for typing your own question, and the answer comes back structured, key points first. That makes it a quick way to stress-test your list before the chat. Type something like "I am a data analyst meeting a senior analytics manager at a logistics company for 25 minutes; which three questions would tell me most about whether to pursue that path?" (example we wrote), and compare the key points against your five. The point is not to take the tool's questions; it is to notice which of yours are generic. The same works for the awkward ones: "How do I ask whether the team is likely to hire in the next six months without sounding like I am asking for a job?"
Rehearsing your own two minutes
The other person will ask you something early, usually "so tell me a bit about yourself and what you are looking for". That is the one answer you should rehearse. It should run under two minutes, end with a specific thing you want to learn from them, and not sound like a job-interview pitch. The AI mock interview on the free plan can rehearse it: paste a short description of the role or field you are exploring in the job-description field and your résumé as usual, and the AI interviewer builds questions from them, reads each aloud, and scores your spoken answer out of 10 with what worked, what to improve and a model answer. Treat the first question of the round as your coffee-chat intro and ignore the rest if you like. The browser demo at /try grades a typed answer, which is a faster way to tighten the written version of the intro before you say it out loud.
During the chat: captions as notes, not a script
If the chat is on Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, the desktop app can run beside it, show live captions of what the other person says, and save the transcript in your own Documents folder when the session ends. For a conversation where you are listening more than talking, that transcript is the useful output: the names, the team structure, the one frank sentence about your gaps. Tell the other person you are keeping notes; it is courteous, and it is the right way to handle any transcript of someone else's words. Audio is streamed in short encrypted segments for transcription and is not stored on CoPilot Interview's servers; the saved file lives only on your computer.
Why live suggestions are rarely needed here: a coffee chat is a conversation, and a structured answer appearing about 2 seconds after each thing they say is a distraction from the listening you came to do. The exception is when the other person flips the chat into a mini-interview ("walk me through your résumé"), which happens, and in that moment the key points can keep you brief. If you want to understand the live mode before deciding whether to run it at all, the real-time interview copilot page describes it. One practical detail: an idle pause stops recording after 10 minutes with no voice, which will not matter in a 25-minute chat but is worth knowing if you step away.
After the chat
Within a day, send a short note that names one specific thing they said and what you did about it ("you suggested I look at the analytics engineering role; I read the posting and I'm applying this week"). Our guide to the thank-you email after an interview has the structure; keep the coffee-chat version shorter. Then open the transcript and write three lines: what I learned, what I will do, who I will contact next. Those three lines are the whole return on the conversation, and most people never write them.
What it does not do, and the rules
The honest limitation: the tool cannot tell you whom to reach out to, whether the person is being candid with you, or whether their experience generalizes beyond their company. It also does not help in person; a coffee chat in an actual café is you, your questions and a notebook, with the Android companion app not suited to a room. For most informational interviews, the free plan is enough: $0, no signup, 15 minutes a day in sessions of up to 15 minutes, which covers the question prep and the intro rehearsal, and a $5.99 one-hour pack that never expires covers a longer chat you want transcribed. If you are comparing tools mainly for note-keeping, compare AI interview assistants on where transcripts are saved and whether audio is stored on anyone's servers.
Follow the rules of the employer or assessment you're in — many people use it only to practice, which works on the free plan.
Tighten your two-minute intro
Paste a description of the field you are exploring and your résumé, say your intro out loud, and get it scored. Free, no signup.
Start a mock interviewFAQ
Should I use an AI interview assistant during a coffee chat?
Usually only for notes. You are the one asking questions, so live answer suggestions are rarely useful and would distract from listening. Running the app for captions and a saved transcript, with the other person's knowledge, is the practical use.
What are good questions to ask in an informational interview?
Ask what took most of their time last week, how the last two people joined their team, what would worry a hiring manager about your background, what has changed in the work recently, and who else you should talk to. Specific questions beat generic ones like asking what they enjoy about the job.
Can the tool help me write my questions?
Yes. Type your situation and ask which questions would tell you most into the assistant's typed-question box; the answer comes back structured, key points first. Use it to spot which of your own questions are generic, not to replace them.
Where does the transcript go?
Session files, including the transcript, are saved in your own Documents folder. Audio is streamed in short encrypted segments for transcription and is not stored on CoPilot Interview's servers. Tell the other person you are keeping notes.
How do I practice my introduction for a coffee chat?
Use the AI mock interview on the free plan: paste a short description of the field you are exploring and your résumé, and rehearse the first question of the round as your two-minute intro. Each spoken answer is scored out of 10 with what to improve. The browser demo at /try grades a typed version.
Does it work for an in-person coffee chat?
No. The desktop app captures the audio a meeting app plays on your computer, and the Android companion app is not suited to a room. For in-person chats, prepare your questions beforehand and bring a notebook.