We will start with the interviewer. Clear pronunciation and a pleasant tone and pitch are very important as far as surface features go. This, I believe, is mostly for the audience, as it must be easy and enjoyable for them to listen to, but as well, the interviewee must be able to fully comprehend the questions so they can answer them as best they can. We have all watched obnoxious interviews where the interviewer has chosen a loud location and both must yell over the noise, and these are simply hard to understand and not pleasant on the ears of viewers. As for the questions themselves, I never really thought about how much thought has to go into them. They should be well researched, first of all. If you are interviewing someone, you should make sure that you know a bit about them so you can ask interesting and, more importantly, relevant questions. They should be open ended, as well. Simple yes/no answers are boring and don't provide any extra interesting information, and usually don't add much to the interview. And finally, I think this is the most important point, the interview should sound candid and not scripted and rehearsed. The interviewer must ask questions based on the previous responses
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Many of the same surface features apply to the interviewee as well. A pleasant tone and good volume are ideal if they wish their responses to be understandable to viewers. Often interviewees can use a public interview to sell themselves to viewers, and promote some of their work. This is great, but it gets terribly annoying when all they do is talk about their upcoming work and never answer any other questions. Interviews aren't usually meant to be one big advertisement, the interviewee has to entertain the viewers as well. They should also prepare for the interview so they are not caught off guard by questions. Interviewees can think about the likely questions that are going to be asked, and prepare suitable answers for them in advance.
Even though I have never considered a career where public or media interviews would be commonplace, this information is great for interviews to get into school or for jobs. Many of the same features and tricks apply. I think the most important tip I took away from this is be prepared! Always come up with questions or answers ahead of time so you are not a deer in the headlights during interview time. And in case you're still interested, I found some more handy tips for anyone preparing to give a media interview!
I'm in the same boat as you on not realizing how much thought has to go into structuring and asking appropriate questions. One thing I liked about the lab assignments during this interview week was that students were put in the position of an interviewer, something we rarely, if ever, experience in our young lives. We are usually the ones responding to questions whether it be for a job interview, a volunteer position, or something as terrifying as the veterinarian school interviews (I hope yours went well by the way!). It's a whole different aspect when you have to be the one thinking of solid questions that require thinking and give you information on the person you are interviewing.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Interviews are so much more complex than they seem on the surface. It is amazing the difference it makes when the interviewer is unprepared or not experienced. Even qualified and experienced interviewees would have difficulty highlighting themselves if the interviewer's questions are unclear, uninformed or redundant. However, it is equally important for the interviewee to be well-informed. Nothing looks worse than having a job interview and being unable to answer a simple question about the company. You could be a perfect candidate for the job, but an incorrect answer to a question like that would likely cost you the job.
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