How to Conduct an Interview?

My father is not only a chess player by profession but also a chess teacher and a journalist. He writes about chess, too.

For this reason, I have been witnessing lots of interviewing sessions at home and on many other, outdoor occasions. This has been happening ever since I was a little kid. However, it never really comes to my mind that I would ever interview people by myself. 

Actually, I have a strong tendency to ruthlessly bomb others with questions.

It is not even because I necessarily need to get to know everything about them. Sometimes, it is simply for the pure fun of testing their personal boundaries.

I actually get occasional complaints from friends who got complaints from other people. These are people I happened to ask bizarre questions at social events, just for the fun of watching the reaction. 

Initially, I was concerned, and thought: ‘Natalia, why are you packing yourself into trouble… just stop this’. But right now, I think this is actually a good sign. It signals that there is a skill I enjoy developing so much that I would even risk for it.

So How Did I Get Into Interviewing People?

Perhaps, some latent hobbies or talents you inherit from your parents. For a really long time, though, you do not realize this.

So, I have recently discovered that I am actually fond of interviewing people, this time for real. It was an accidental discovery, and a by-product of a task I got: creating a mentee database for a mentoring program I coordinate.

Not much information can be found online about mentoring and career development, especially when it comes to switching between academia and industry. One obvious option, then, was to find people who had successfully switched between the fields. So I began carrying out a set of interviews with them, to be posted on our committee’s website.

I soon got to like performing interviews. Soon, I found out that it can go smoother than expected when you follow just a few general rules.

I even wrapped up an internal set of guidelines for other committee members, which I would also like to share here. Who knows – maybe these simple tips will turn out useful for more people, too.

We are not formally trained on how to interview people during a PhD program after all. So, here we go:

1. Thank you.

Thank the interviewed person at the beginning and at the end of the interview.

2. How Do You Build an Atmosphere of Trust?

This is not easy when you are interviewing someone you have never met in person before. It is even harder when you are interviewing online, since you still do not have any real face-to-face contact. Imagine needing to persuade this person to share their story with you under such conditions – it is not easy.

There are two extremes on the spectrum. If you are very serious and ask prepared questions in a dry way, the person might shut down and stay just as dry. According to Abbe and Brandon (2014), rapport-building tactics like active listening and self-disclosure are linked to greater cooperation and richer disclosure from the interviewee. 

On the other hand, if you goof around, joke, and tell stories, you might seem like you are not taking things seriously. That, in turn, means you might not be trusted.

You have to find a sweet spot between these two extremes, and somehow make the person open to personal questions. It is generally a good idea to start with an ice-breaker: praise the person for something small, and say a few words about yourself. Focus on what the two of you have in common. 

Furthermore, during the interview, throwing in some anecdotes in response to what the interviewed person is saying can help build trust. Just remember that you should stay the interviewer, and the interviewed person should stay in the spotlight. 

3. Adjust the tone of the interviewed person.

Personally, I use a ‘pull towards the middle ground’ strategy: if they speak formally, I speak formally too, just a bit less so. If they speak colloquially, I also speak colloquially, but I take a tiny bit more formal tone.

But I guess there are multiple philosophies here. The essence is: to let the other person decide what should be the tone of the conversation. According to Chartrand and Bargh (1999), subtly matching a partner’s style makes interactions smoother and increases liking. 

4. Listen to the other party.

It is good to prepare a set of questions you aim to ask. But also reserve 40% of the interview for questions that come to mind based on what the interviewed person has said.

For the interviewed person, it should sound almost like a natural conversation. Also, you can use phrases which underscore that you are listening to the other party, e.g. ‘Oh really? Then, let me ask you this: …’

5. Feel free to ask questions about the person’s personal story.

You do not need to know the whole CV of the interviewed person. People love talking about their stories, so with the right atmosphere (check: point 1), they will tell you about themselves eagerly.

According to Tamir and Mitchell (2012), self-disclosure activates the same brain reward circuitry as food or money. This helps explain why people are so often eager to talk about themselves once given the chance.

6. Is the State of Mind More Important Than the Preparations?

You should be relaxed, positive and have a clear mind to be able to react to what the other person is saying with reflex. Interviewing someone is a bit like dancing: you have to take steps back and forth in response to what the other person is saying. Also, smile a lot!

7. Do not rush.

Better to book a full hour for an interview; half-an-hour interviews can be rushed.

8. Wrapping up the text.

After the interview, write down the text as soon as you can so that you do not forget the details. You can merge some questions together and swap their order if the resulting text reads better.

The interviewed person cares whether the general meaning of what they said is correct, not the order of information in the text. Let the interviewed person authorize the interview via a shared Google doc, and give you a thumbs up once happy. 

Many people add content to the interview, so they will actively help you extend and improve the text.

Also, motivation drops with time. Give yourself no more than a few days after the interview to wrap up the text and send it over. They will be much more eager to read it and comment on it than if you send it, say, after three months.

9. How Do You Deal With a Lack of Satisfactory Material?

It can also happen that after closing the interview, you do not have enough material for a decent post. This can be because the person was not talkative enough, or because their job and daily life look completely different than you expected.

In that case, do not force yourself. Better to use a little white lie: tell the interviewed person that the initiative is too young, and that you might return to it later. Sometimes, an interview is just a failure for independent reasons, and don’t blame yourself for this. 

10. Act.

Sometimes, the interviewed person talks in a really dry manner, uses a lot of clichés, and is simply boring and frustrating to talk to. In that case, you need to use some acting skills, and hide the fact that whatever you hear now, you have heard thousands of times before.

Just treat this as an exercise. You will also notice that the better you get at interviewing people, the smaller the percentage of people you perceive as boring will become. 

Also, sometimes, the person you are interviewing has personal views you do not agree with. In that case, try not to get confrontational, and just report what they said without adding any personal opinions.

Journalists often manipulate published content by skipping the parts they disagree with. They may also do this by rapidly changing the topic during the interview – that’s why they are sometimes called ‘the fourth estate’. Try to stay objective, though, and avoid doing this yourself.

11. Train.

Perhaps, some regular courses in journalism would help you develop this set of skills. However, this is usually something you gradually grow into.

It helps to watch some interviews with celebrities and famous people. Analyze why the same interviewed person seems uninterested and hard to talk to with one interviewer, yet open, energetic, and amused with another.

You can also look at compilations of interviews that went wrong. It is actually fun to watch, and it makes you think about the false moves you might potentially make if you are not cautious. 

You can also train your interviewing skills on friends, by challenging them with unexpected questions that are out of their comfort zone. You might actually lose some friends in the process :) But at least you will learn how to better predict where people’s personal boundaries are. Moreover, you will learn how not to go over the top in a real interview.

There are two ways to bomb someone with questions: really trying to learn about them, or simply testing their boundaries. When you are training, you can run on the second mode. But when it comes to the real interview, you need to come back to the first mode.

12. Internal motivation.

If you do not enjoy the process of interviewing someone, simply do not do it. This feeling will not change no matter how many interviews you conduct. According to Ryan and Deci (2000), intrinsic motivation sustains effort far better than external pressure. 

Whoever you are planning to interview, good luck!