Having done some with fairly important folks, and gotten a question of mine asked to 50 Cent in Time magazine’s interview a little while back, I’ve got a couple of favourite pointers:
Ask them about something many people will care about. Read around the industry and see what topics come up a lot. If you can get something original, it’ll be interesting to a lot of people.
Have them give you a bio to introduce the article and encourage them to link to their best content in it. If they’re at all good at SEO, and/or marketing they’ll be looking to link to the interview and thus reinforce their own backlinks.
Sometimes getting people to open up to you and start talking can be quite difficult. Here’s useful technique I learned a few years ago when I was working in sales.
When your client finishes their statement, repeat their last 3 or 4 words back to them as a question.
For example…
Person1 : “So why did you start this thread?”
Person2 : “I need help. I’m not very good at interviewing people.”
Person1 : “At interviewing people?”
Person2 : “Yes, I never know what to ask and I run out of questions.”
Person1 : “Run out of questions?”
You get the idea. It’s a great way to keep your subject talking before you throw in a new question. Just don’t over use it.
Get into your comfort zone. If you have trouble with the dynamics of an in person or phone interview, why not try interviewing people by email or instant message? It might be more comfortable for both of you, and the extra time that it takes to get answers back and send them will give you more time to think of follow up questions (and them more time to think of answers).
A phone interview could take less than an hour, and if there are awkward silences (Like when you take notes) you might feel rushed, or that you need to wrap things up although you don’t feel finished. A text format interview, on the other hand, could take a few days, so both you and the interviewee feel less rushed.
A big part of getting information from someone is establishing a rapport, and comfort plays a big part in that. Of course you might find ice-breaking on the phone much easier, or you might find some people are just easier to talk to on the phone.
You could also try a mix of phone and email, for more chances to establish a a rapport with your interviewee. Perhaps you could start with a phone interview to break the ice, ask a few questions, email the question list for their reference and ask if it’s all right to send some follow up questions in email, while reminding them that if they’d like to add anything they can email you.
I have interviewed hundreds of job applicants in my business career, so I think I have some contribution to make to this forum.
As previously stated, the interview process depends a great deal on the type of position you are trying to get. But let’s say for our purposes, that you are trying for a position with a medium size company, and the position is in sales and marketing.
The first step is to get to the right person to request an interview. Most medium size companies will have a human resource person that you can identify with a simple phone call to the company headquarters. Give that person a call and you will probably be asked to submit your resume. If that is the case, include a short upbeat cover-letter that is personalized to the particular company. I. E. “I would look forward to the opportunity to meet with you and learn more about ABC Company and tell you why I think I can make a meaningful contribution to……”
The next step, after you get an interview appointment, is to learn as much about the company you are interviewing with. If you demonstrate that you prepared for the interview, it will work in your favor.
Finally, in the interview, be yourself. A good interviewer can spot a phony a mile away. Do not be reluctant to talk about your strong points and qualifications. You are your best, and only salesman at your interview, and you have to sell yourself.
If the person interviewing you does not offer the information, ask about salary, company policy about vacations, and what benefits they provide employees. That demonstrates that you care about the details.
Be sure to get the interviewer’s business card and send a short e-mail to them the evening of the day you interviewed. Just thanking them for the chance to meet and that you hope to hear back from them soon.
make a list of the things you would like to know about him or regarding on something… first, inform the person when the interview is, what it is all about, why, the purpose of the interview and who you are, also inform the person that you will not be using the information gathered to harm anyone… dont think of interview as something which you should practiced, think of it as a casual conversation with friends…
As mentioned before (my post #6) this thread is about interviewing a person for purposes of writing an article. This is the content writing forum. It’s not about job interviews.
Dear Viperfish
Its really cool idea. I have tried this on my friends and the words come out from their mouths. It’s working amazingly.
The key feature of an interview is getting the most important info from the person. You have to decide “what is important”. It is generally the question “what people wants to learn about this man/woman/work/dog etc…”
Easiest way to find it is asking it to others. Asking to the people at the road. Ordinary people thinks different then a computer guy. If you are making an interview with Bill Gates you can ask questions about Microsoft’s future plans but people at the road doesn’t cares about this. Maybe they want to know how they meet to his wife.
Hope you understand what i mean.
-The first thing is that there is a problem and you have to demonstrate that you are capable of resolving the problem.
-The second issue is asking yourself if you are the right person to solve that problem?
-If you think that you are the right person to solve that problem, then, you go to the interview with a list of questions to ask the person conducting the interview to enable you understand what is at stake.
-In the process, you also prepare, replies to questions that the person conducting the interview might ask you.
And at the end of the interview, make it clear, that you will call them to know their final decision.
Make sure you don’t have too many questions for the interviewer because unless your going to compensate them, they won’t want do bother doing it because its a lot of work.
This is really good tread… thanks to ShyFlower to voice up the question. In fact I’m not a good interviewer but I got some valuable input from the participants in these threads… thanks again
No matter what rule #'s 1,2,3 and 4 are DO YOUR HOMEWORK. The last situation you ever want to find yourself in is when they mention something that you have never heard of. A good interviewer will not only know a majority of questions beforehand, but also the answers.
I have learned to not let them see your fear is best. You have to present yourself as being confident in yourself, your work and ability to do the job. Your time should be answering questions and asking any that you have. Knowing the company is a must and be prepared to talk about why you want to be part of there team and what you can bring to the group. Connecting with them on a subject any subject can be the key to them remembering this particular interview and they will see how you feel and handle yourself when talking comfortably. Confident but not to cocky but a little is okay. Neat, professional, prepared and on time. References and all paperwork they may need in hand. Follow up with a thank you letter for the interview.
The only interview that stump me was a online interview they had a computer you set in front of and asked you questions and it filmed your answer and after the interview I was just not happy. It was all my input and no input back and I was not prepared for that. I have never liked being filmed and not during the interview and felt not my best interview. I also didn’t like the idea of someone to busy to meet and interview themselves.
There are many things that you need to keep in mind while appearing in an interview. First of all you should be confident and then you should be nicely dressed up. It is good to have good knowledge for the job for which you have applied. If you are unable to answer a question then it does not mean that you cannot qualify. Show yourself that you can do the job better than anybody else.
It’s not a job interview thread. This thread is about conducting interviews, usually in written form – like you asking a famous person or expert (or both).
Consider this section is about content writing before posting. It’s article writing interviews not “for a job” interviews.
It’s working amazingly.
This is really good tread… thanks to ShyFlower to voice up the question. In fact I’m not a good interviewer but I got some valuable input from the participants in these threads… thanks again