5 Best Interviewing Tips and Techniques
Whether you're running a journalistic Q&A session or preparing an oral history, it is important to prepare for an interview. Here are some guidelines that will assist you succeed with the interview session.
1. Be Straightforward
When you contact an interview topic, state your objective clearly and frankly. The essence of the interview you run should be the essence of the interview you explained to the topic. Diversions in the stated schedule may upset the topic and undermine the interview. But do not supply your questions to the topic in progress; inform them that any queries you prepare beforehand are just part of the interview.
The meeting subject's home or workplace is usually better than a public place like a coffee shop, with fewer unfamiliar distractions. A topic in the comfort of their own environment will offer you better material, and you'll be able to make light conversation about a picture, a memento, or any other object or feature to begin the interview off on a relaxed foundation.
Learn as much as you can about the individual before the interview. Be well prepared, and differentiate between opinions and facts so it is possible to question the topic appropriately about what you have learned.
2. Determine a Theme
Avoid treating a meeting as simply a set of general questions and answers. After conducting research, decide what the tone of this interview is going to be, and what you expect to escape it. Develop a narrative flow depending on the questions you would like to ask. The resulting content likely won't follow that strategy, but your interview should have structure, and the questions must be organized logically by subject.
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3. Prepare Questions
Write down each question you can imagine, whether you think you will have time to get them answered or not, in the order in which you want the interview to advance, then winnow the list to a manageable number of queries (but more than you think you will have time for).
Craft simple questions composed of one question, and ask the most important ones , in case the interview is interrupted or stopped. Be ready to jettison a few queries, and be flexible enough to digress if the subject goes in an unexpected direction. Continue to follow that lead until it is no longer productive and you have the ability to restart your line of questioning, rather with a smooth transition.
4. Record the Interview
If at all you can, use a recording device, but take notes in composing as well to help you form the interview and in the event the device malfunctions. Before starting the interview, inform the subject that you're recording it to boost the validity of the end product. Inform him or her that once you start recording but before the interview starts, you will request their consent so you have a record of it, then do so.
5. Ask Questions Just the Subject Can Answer
Do not squander the subject's time by asking questions which may be answered through research. Do, however, use quantitative information like age as a starting point. Rather than asking how old someone is, by way of instance, ask someone who's old enough to have lived through a particular period in the past about their experiences during that time.