Tag Archives: effective interviews

How to Do Interviews Part 2

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by Michael T. Shishido

Mic 2 by MatthewThe key to good interviews is preparation. Use the preparation to guide your questions. Unless you’re on Meet The Press, you don’t need to arm yourself with expert-level knowledge. You don’t need to make yourself look smart by rattling off all the info in your head about a given subject. You have the expert right in front of you. Ask them a “softball” question and pull that info out of them.

Here’s an example of a poor question: “I understand Ebola is a virus that’s highly contagious. The virus is passed on by contact with bodily fluids. Is that correct?”

A better question to ask, especially with an Ebola expert in front of you, is: “What is Ebola.”

In the first example, you’re wordy and pretending to be knowledgeable about Ebola. In the second example, you leave it to the expert to fill in the important information. In this case, if you’re looking for an answer the expert doesn’t provide, you can then follow up with another question that addresses that.

You want to put the guest in the spotlight, not steal the spotlight away from them.

Larry King, the famed radio and TV talk show host, had an interesting practice. If he were interviewing an author, he said he would not read the book. He might familiarize himself with the subject matter. But Larry said (paraphrasing), “Why read the book when you have the author right in front of you?”

Similarly, watch Monday Night Football. Host Mike Tirico has been covering sports for more than 25 years. Mike knows sports. But when he’s on MNF, he’s got former player and coach Jon Gruden standing next to him providing football analysis. Mike makes it a habit to ask the “dumb” questions. “Why did they pass on that down?” “Why not go for a field goal here instead of punt?” Mike knows the answer. But he defers to the expert Gruden to provide the answer. And why not? Gruden has coached and won a Super Bowl in the NFL. There’s your expert.

If you want to call it “playing dumb,” so be it. Nothing wrong with a little feigned ignorance when it comes to effective interviewing. You get to ask what’s on everyone’s mind and you leverage the expert in the room.

How to Do Interviews Part 1

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by Michael T. Shishido

In my line of work, I get to listen to a lot of interviews. Some are good, some are better. I’ve done a bunch myself. There are definitely things that go into a good interview. And there are things you should avoid as well.

The first thing you have to do is prepare for the interview. You need to research your subject thoroughly enough to have several questions formulated. Always prepare more questions than you need. It’s much easier to scale back the questions than to come up with new ones in the middle of the interview.

As an interviewer, the first thing you want to do is make your guest feel as comfortable as possible. It starts with the greeting. A smile and friendly handshake set the tone. Throw in some small talk if that’s appropriate. Then review the general format of your interview so they have an idea of what to expect. That has the advantage of giving your subject the feeling that they know what to expect.

Ease into your interview with easily answered questions about their background or the nature of their job, things that will get them talking.

Your preparation for the interview should result in several questions to ask your subject. Order your questions in a logical sequence. If you do that, your meatier, detailed, and hard-hitting questions will come later.

Bags an Hands by Alejandro Escamilla from UnsplashAsk one question at a time. So many times I’ve heard interviewers ask two or three questions at once. Inevitably, the only question that gets answered is the last one in the question. Or the easiest question.

In many interviews, I hear the phrasing of the question in backward form. The interviewer might say, “What’s the reason for the job growth this quarter? I know it’s December and there’s lots of seasonal hiring going on. What’s the real reason?”

In this example, the interviewer may be answering his own question. But if they just flipped the phrasing around, they would still have a viable question. “It’s December and there’s lots of seasonal hiring going on, but what’s the real reason for the job growth this quarter?” That’s a better way to phrase it. The best way to answer the question, however, is to just come out and ask it and not lead the guest into an answer. “What’s the reason for the job growth this quarter?”