An interview is where a person (or people in a group situation) sit down and ask questions to get information from another person(s).
Interviews can take place for all sorts of reasons:
The first thing is think about WHY we are doing one.
Then you can prepare a list of questions based on your purpose. For example, if you were to be doing an interview to find a new worker you would ask questions such as:
If you were doing an interview because you had received a complaint about one of your employees, the questions might look a bit like this:
Then you need to think about how you will start and end the interview - you can't just sit down and launch into questions or get up and walk out when you end the interview because that would be odd. You could:
TASK:
Because it is your mission to get as much information as possible out of your interviewee, you need to consider the different types of questions that you can use. Watch these videos to find out about them.
What you want to think about is if your questions aren't getting you the answers you need, or your interviewee is shutting down because they feel nervous and only saying yes or no, how can you change your questioning style so that you get more information?
TASK:
Rapport is where you make your interviewee (the person being interviewed) feel relaxed and comfortable. This is important because if interviewees feel relaxed you, the interviewer, will get more information and if you get more info, you'll be able to make a better decision on who gets the job, what to do next, or what the situation is.
This video is a Monty Python (a very old comedy group from the UK) parody sketch which shows NOT how to build rapport. There is also three videos on what you should do.
There are many ways to make someone feel comfortable. Smiling and saying a cheerful hello is the easiest way to make someone feel more at ease. Remember, your interviewee is going to be really nervous - this could be their only chance at getting a job - so building rapport helps them feel more at ease.
Task: write down FIVE ways to build rapport
Interviews are also about the interviewee finding out information as well. They will want to know if this is the right company for them, will they be supported in any disciplinary measures, how their information will be used by the interviewer. There are some really simple ways to get an interviewee to participate including asking them if they have any questions, nodding in response to their answers and maintaining eye contact.
Task: Write down on your list of questions ways that you are going to encourage your interviewee to participate.
Interviews can fall prey to communication barriers - things that get in the way of the flow of information.
These could include technology freezing if you are using video conferencing software, language barriers - perhaps the interviewer is deaf and uses New Zealand Sign Language; how would that change the interview?, perhaps the interviewee is so nervous that they can't say much more than a very short answer.
It's important to think about these communication barriers ahead of time so that you can overcome them. For example, New Zealand Sign Language could be sorted with an interpreter, a shy person could benefit from having a support person in the room with them.
Read these tips on how to overcome communication barriers and these ones as well.
Task: Identify 5 or 6 potential communication barriers that could happen during your interviews and say how you would overcome them.
An important part of interviewing is realising that you will do more than one interview in your life. It is important that as you do each interview you consider what you did well and what you can do better on next time.
Have a look at these interviews and write down what went well and what could be improved and how using these focus questions:
Check out these examples of job interviews so that you can see how interviewers structure their interviews, use their questions to get the interviewee to participate, build rapport and overcome potential communication barriers.