Interviewing Advice

An interview is a conversation—but admittedly a bit of a one-sided (and unusually self-conscious) conversation. At Vermont Folklife we’ve been conducting interviews with Vermonters since 1984, and over this time we’ve developed an approach (and philosophy!) for doing it. 

Here are some of our suggestions for ways to think about interviewing.

Illustration by Eliza West

➣ It’s a conversation

    • The skills you need to do a great interview are the same skills you employ every day when talking (and especially listening) to people. There are rules you follow and these rules are culturally defined; those rules are different here from what they are elsewhere. The skills involved include: 

      • Listening

      • Reflecting on what you hear

      • Asking follow up questions

      • If you’re interviewing in person:

        • Eye contact

        • Body language

➣ It takes some work

    • A lot of things are going on in a conversation or an interview—turn taking, cues, emotional reactions. When interacting with people from the same cultural background we do a lot of this stuff automatically. However, in an interview we need to be much more mindful of these things than we would be in a normal conversation.

➣ It’s not about you

    • As you take the ‘interviewer’ role remember: The interview is fundamentally about the interviewee, not you! Your perspective and your questions do matter, but that’s not the primary reason for doing the interview. Your job is to listen and ask follow-up questions. When you’re done, if you want, you can switch roles.

➣ Give space and don’t be afraid of silence

    • Silence can feel awkward, but can be powerful. It’s never as long as you feel it is and staying silent can give the person you’re interviewing space and time to really share their story the way they want to.

      • Important technical tip: It’s also important to remember that you’re making a recording! Make sure to let the person you’re interviewing fully finish giving their answers before you jump in with another question. If you talk “over” their response, the recording won’t be clear.

➣ Show that you’re listening

    • Engagement is crucial in an interview. Active (passionate/engaged/empathic) listening, body language cues, eye contact—all the things that show that you are paying attention. Demonstrating these things is a sign of respect.

    • Remote interviewing: Of course if you are doing a remote interview and can’t see the person you’re talking with, body language doesn’t come into play, but you can still demonstrate your engagement:

      • Listen attentively.

      • Don’t interrupt or cut the person off. This is also important for the quality of your audio recording. You don’t want to be talking over the person.

      • Ask thoughtful and affirming follow-up questions that demonstrate you’ve been paying attention.

➣ Ask open-ended questions

    • How a question is phrased has a huge impact on the kinds of answers you will receive. Open-ended questions tend to yield more expansive, thoughtful, and personal answers. In general, open-ended questions:

      • Can’t be answered by a ‘yes’ or ‘no’

      • Are fail-proof (anyone can find a way to answer/succeed)

      • May not sound like a question (e.g. “Tell me about…”)

      • Presume nothing — they’re not ‘leading questions,’ which might subtly prompt or suggest a particular answer:

        • e.g. “Isn’t it awful being home alone?” — this question suggests an opinion about what it’s like to be home alone.

        • Instead consider: “What has it been like for you to be home alone?” This is an open-ended question, which invites the person to speak for themselves about the experience of being home alone.

➣ They’re the experts

    • The bottom line of an interview is that one person is valuing someone else’s experience. As the interviewer it’s your job to be genuinely interested. You are asking them to talk about what they know and what they care about. They are the expert. They should know that you are there to do a lot of listening and that will put them at ease.

➣ Want to learn more?