Ten Killer Interviewing Tips
Posted March 31, 2008 in Uncategorized 7 Comments »
As a Technical Writer, I have had to interview hundreds of computer professionals to better understand the technology that I would be documenting. Programmers, Quality Assurance, Implementation, Sales, Management, Customer Service, Training… I have interviewed them all! The following article reveals tips you can use to optimize your interview experience and get the information you seek.
- Interview in the morning. The morning is the time when people are fresh and are most willing to really give you good answers to your questions.
- Ask questions when you don’t understand. Sometimes to maintain our professional image we say “yes” to someone who wants to make sure that we have understood. Don’t do this…this will bite you back in the future. Make sure you truly understood what the interviewee has said.
- Prepare your questions well beforehand. Never arrive at an interview to get information on the fly, this is a disaster waiting to happen and others will feel that you are wasting their time. Get organized well beforehand.
- Use a tape-recorder if possible. With the interviewee’s permission, you can record the interview. It is hard to copy verbatim text as people speak – very difficult indeed.
- Verify what you have heard. Don’t be afraid to repeat what the interviewee has just said, to clarify the accuracy of the information.
- Submit your write-up to the interviewee before publishing. Once your interview is done and you have written your documentation or article, give them a copy to make sure that you have correctly recorded their input and ideas. This will also help you build a great bond with them professionally, knowing that you wrote a nice article about their work.
- Use visuals, if possible. In not only software, but other businesses too, images or screen shots, where possible, complement a nice information interview. It allows for the information to become clearer to the reader and the reader can more readily assimilate the article’s utility with images.
- Interview the interviewee’s manager, if possible. For bonus points, it is good to spend five to ten minutes to verify the information you received from the interviewee with his or her manager, who also has worked hard to produce the software or whatever product is being documented or recorded. Sometimes the manager has a unique perspective that the employee does not have.
- Submit your write-up to the interviewee’s manager as well. Also let the interviewee’s manager see your article before publishing. In this way, you have cleared all obstacles necessary on the level of information and also management approval.
- Back-up your work after completion. There is nothing worse than losing your work and having to interview someone for the same material twice. Highly unprofessional! Be organized always and stay on top of your virtual turf.
Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. :)
Keith
******
About the author: Keith Johnson is a Technical Writer from South-Florida with over ten (10) years of experience writing on-line and hard-copy software user manuals. Keith practices affirmations and meditation to stay well – mentally and physically – and has written a book on each of these areas. The books’ websites are: Sacred Syllable and Great Affirmations, respectively.
About the author: Keith Johnson is a Technical Writer from South Florida who has more than ten years of experience documenting software and business systems. Outside of the office, Keith enjoys practicing affirmations and meditation to relax. He has written a book on each of these subjects. The books are available at the following websites: Great Affirmations and Sacred Syllable
-
Taking a gig as a freelancer is often times much more than a temporary decision. A freelance project can involve…
[Read More...] -
So far at FreelanceFolder we’ve had a showcase of 20 Must-Read blogs for Freelance Writers, and also a showcase of…
[Read More...] -
You’ve worked hard looking for a freelance project. Finally, it looks like all of your hard work is about to…
[Read More...]
The Unlimited Freelancer is Now Only $19
Unleash the true potential of your business. Get The Unlimited Freelancer and start transforming your freelance business,
now only $19.
Try searching "Getting Clients" or "Productivity"
FreelanceCommunity
Free Resource: Massive Web UI and Button Set
This is a free photoshop set provided by MediaLoot with hundreds of free buttons, boxes, and other useful web elements.5 Fresh and Useful jQuery Plugins Were Born in November 2009
In November 2009, 5 jQuery plugins were born that are new and useful for web designers. Read this post to learn more.How Well Do You Understand CSS Positioning?
The css position property seems easy to grasp, but it works a little differently than it appears on the surface.
Free Report
Sign up for our product discount list to get a free copy of Why Some Freelancers Thrive and Others Barely Survive. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Popular Articles
- SEO Techniques All Top Websites Should Use
- When a Client Can't Afford You: Why It's Still Better to Bid High
- How To Stop Scrambling For Clients And Get A Steady Stream Of Paying Gigs
- A Simple Way To Stop Clients From Rejecting Your Proposals
- 3 Reasons Your Rates Are Still Low (And How To Start Raising Them)
7 Comments
Adam Donkus
March 31st, 2008 at 12:29 pmHow about video taping the interview if it is possible? Good advice about preparing the questions ahead of time.
Keith Johnson, Author "Ten Killer Interviewing Tips"
March 31st, 2008 at 12:40 pmHi Adam: Well, most people I have interviewed don’t like too much visibility and the feeling that what they say is “the final word” so videotaping can actually make the interview less effective. Nobody wants to be the final authority on anything…such is the challenge of Technical Writing and “finding the truth”. Videos are best only for marketing, sales, and promotional ends. For me, an audio-recording is sufficient to ensure accuracy in my write-ups. Cheers, Keith
Stefanie
April 1st, 2008 at 5:02 pmGreat list. The only thing I can possibly think to add is that I occasionally send over a brief note with a couple of hints on what I’ll be asking. I like to make sure the interviewee knows what’s coming, but not so well that the answers are totally stiff and prepared.
Tei
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:10 pmGreat post, very good practical advice. I’m going to link to it in my blog – apparently something’s going around, myself and two others have been blogging on this topic. Mine’s a few things for people who hate conducting interviews, the link’s above there. Words on the Page is doing a great series on this topic.
Daryle of Art Palaver
April 6th, 2008 at 3:44 pmThanks for this post. I have been interviewing people for a couple of years now and it is always difficult to find writing about interviews. Your advice is spot on. When I started doing #6 my interviews really improved. As well as my reputation in the community as a writer. Because I let people read what I wrote about them before publishing they trust me more. A trust makes for a good conversation.
Roger
February 17th, 2010 at 12:17 pmThere are a couple points mentioned here with which I disagree. First of all, never give the interviewee editorial control over your copy. Tip 6 says just that. It’s fine to verify the facts, but what happens when you give an interviewee the article is that they start to change their phrases to make themselves sound better and the honesty of your article disappears.
Tape recorders can be a liability as well as an asset. People immediately tense when they see a tape recorder that is duly recording every syllable they utter. It becomes worse if the interviewer holds the microphone a couple inches away from the interviewee’s mouth. If you must use a tape recorder, you should set it to one side and not in between you and the interviewee. You should set down the microphone. You should also keep taking notes as though there was no tape recorder because there can be technical glitches–batteries failing, background noise (including recording the noise of the recorder itself). Internal microphones are the absolute worst.
I’m also not certain that I would interview the boss after I have interviewed the person. It’s going to create immediate anxiety because the employee is going to wonder what is being said about him to his superior.
Trackbacks