Interviewing

Good chum Devon Ellington has a terrific post over on her blog today about interviews and when to accept that some people just don’t want to be interviewed. That brings up a very good point – if your interview subject says yes to your interview request, do you have the first idea how to go about conducting an interview? If not, today’s your lucky day. I’m avoiding a deadline, and I’ve done a lot of interviewing. Because there’s a lot to learn, I’m going to break this up into a series of posts over the next few days. Today, let’s get to the attitude.

Attitude Matters
This past weekend, I was on the receiving end of a few interview questions. While three reporters did a good job, one barely registered a pulse. Her tone was that of someone who’d just discovered she’d put marmalade on her toast instead of jam – the Eeyore syndrome. “Oh deeeearrrr….” She was as excited as a stoic on a rainy Monday, and it showed in her questions. I gave her answers that would’ve led to some deeper insights had she bothered to notice. That she said, “I don’t even know if we’re going to run this story” seemed odd since she called me, not the other way around. Her enthusiasm was catchy – I felt like I was wasting my time, too.

Anyway, approach your interview with a bit more enthusiasm, please. If you’ve done your research and found the right source, that person has a ton of information that’s useful to you. And just remember – he or she took what may be a very interesting path in order to get to that point in their lives. You could learn something.

Start with how you greet your interviewee. Don’t launch into questions right away. Pretend you were just introduced at a party at your request. Thank the person for taking time to talk with you. Smile as you talk – it really does come across to the other person. Be yourself. If you’re a boring sludge, then there’s not much I can do to help. But most people possess some form of happiness, so convey that. You’re glad given the time of day that the person was available. You know someone in the city they’re working in. You’ve been there, or you heard they just had a huge blizzard. Ask how that person got into the business they’re in (if it’s relevant to the interview). Those are all comments that would help relax the person on the other side of the conversation.

Once you warm them up, make sure you ask them questions and remain interested in their answers. You’ve done research beforehand – enough to understand a little bit about the topic. Now’s the time to give this person the courtesy of asking smart, well planned questions. And that’s tomorrow’s post.

Tomorrow: Begging the Question