Guide to Interviewing

Interviews
Interviews are in essence
guided dialogues to gain
information, made effective by
using a well prepared
interview guide.

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Three steps in successful interviewing

 Preparation: produce an interview schedule

and interview guides.
 Execution: conduct the interviews

 Review: write up the interview notes

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Steps in the interview process
Preparation Execution Review

Interview Interview Interview

Interview
schedule guides notes format

Who you are going What questions are • Structure What results were
to interview, why, you going to ask? • Rapport obtained?
when and where? • Listen • Information found
• Probe • Decisions
• Clarify • Actions

An interview guide should be created prior to all

interviews to ensure the interviews are focused and
efficient and enable comparison and summarisation.

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Preparing the interview schedule
• Identify what the objectives of the interviews are,
what information you need to find out and therefore
what areas of the business you need to obtain
information from.

• Identify who needs to be interviewed to obtain this

information.

• Create an interview schedule, allowing time to review

and record notes between interviews.

• Book the interviews and record them in the schedule.

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The interview guide
Section Question Sub Question
Introduction 1. Personal background  Education
2. Key mission of the department  Work experience
3. ……………..  Major activities
 Major interfaces


Body 4. Recent development in area x  Major products

5. Customer reactions  Competitor activities
6. ……………….  Switching costs
7. ……………….  Timing of change
8. ………………. 
Wrap up 9. Future trends
 Next S - curve
10.Restate key points
 Timing


To make the most out of an interview, a well thought

through interview guide is extremely helpful.
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Preparing the interview guide

• Determine the objectives of the interview.

• Plan the structure of the interview.
• Prepare interview questions.
• Prepare additional notes if they assist. For
example having an organisation chart helps in
clarifying roles and responsibilities.

The interview guide enables standardization of

interviews for effective comparison and summarization
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Guidelines for structuring an interview

Focused

Many interviewees tend to go ‘off on tangents’ during interviews.

Your interview guide should clearly state the boundaries for your
interview. These should be stated generally at the beginning with
more specific instructions to refocus when appropriate.

Quantifiable

Open questions tend to produce long answers that are difficult to

quantify and compare. If you need measured responses ask the
interviewee to assign a value to their answer so direct
comparisons to be made. For example How reliable is the
current system, what score would you give it out of ten?

Complete

Check that the guide addresses all the objectives of the interview
and have a colleague review it. 8
Interview execution
Interviews are exceptionally rich sources of information. However,
no two interviewees are alike: some tend to ramble, others are
suspicious and curt, some will need only the slightest
encouragement to speak their minds, while others will have to be
guided along.
The interviewer’s job is to conduct the interview to gather the
information required, which takes skill, practice and structure.
Once you have concluded your interviews, they must be
summarized to yield the ‘big picture’.
Your questions should therefore allow for valid comparison and
summarisation of your interviewee’s viewpoints.

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How to conduct the interview
Introduction
Conduct at their place of work where possible
Always state the reason for the interview and how it will be conducted
Put the interviewee at ease

Body
Ask the interviewee if they agree to you taking notes

Listen to the answers and request clarification if necessary

Avoid making criticisms or taking sides
Keep control of the interview: refocus the interviewee if they are
rambling or clarify if they misunderstood the question

Stay focused and follow your interview guide

Allow the interviewee to ask questions
Wrap-up
Thank the interviewee
Advise them what the next steps are and the timeframe
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Build rapport
Your interview needs to balance the building of rapport and collecting of required
information.

Introduction

Gain rapport first. Explain the context, set the tone, and make the interviewee feel
at ease. The introduction serves to:

• Introduce yourself

• Gauge the interviewee’s style, expectations and concerns

• Confirm the timeframe

Sequence the interview items

Items should be ordered by importance and sensitivity. The more sensitive your
interviewee, the more important it is to avoid an ‘inquisitorial’ interview tone. A
non-threatening format for interviews involves the careful arrangement of
interview topics:

• General before specific

• External before internal

• Historic before current

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Listen and question
Listen
To reassure the interviewee you are listening and to gain information:
• use non-verbal cues such as head nods to show you are listening.
• wait until the current question is answered before preparing the next one
• listen for emotions and attitudes as well as facts
• interrupt only if you sense avoidance of answering the question or if the
interviewee has drifted too far from the topic
• request clarification and ask follow on questions
Ask open questions
To initiate discussion on a broad subject and to encourage a comprehensive
explanation:
• use clear, direct phrasing that asks a single question
• ask how, what or when but avoid the intimidating why question
Ask closed questions
To elicit a specific reply:
• use this type of question sparingly to avoid appearing as an
interrogator
• ask in order to understand rather than impress
• be concise
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Open questioning
Examples:
“So what do you enjoy about the role?”
“Are there any other issues I should be aware of?”

Advantages
• Puts interviewee at ease
• Interesting for interviewee
• Provides depth of detail
• Reveals other areas of
enquiry
Disadvantages
• You may lose control
• May use up too much time
• Interviewer may appear unprepared
• Harder to analyse later
• Lower reliability of data

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Closed questioning
Examples:
“Is the new form better or worse than the old form?”
“Is it Mary or Jane who enter the application details?”
“Do you stamp the form before or after the details are
recorded?
Advantages Disadvantages
• Efficient use of time • Can be boring for interviewees
• Easy to compare interviews • Doesn’t provide the
opportunity to qualify answers
• Higher reliability of data
• Less interviewing skill needed
• You may miss other areas

• Focuses interviewee

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Probe questioning
Probe questioning is honing in on a particular area of interest and drilling
down to obtain more detail. It includes asking for more information to clarify
a vague phrase or statement made by the interviewee such as ‘quite high’ or
‘often late’. Probe questioning needs to be balanced with open and closed
questioning to avoid the interview seeming like an interrogation.
Examples:
“How does that happen?”
“How did that change impact your department?”
“What specifically do they do as a result of that?”

Advantages Disadvantages
• Provides data on new aspects • Can appear threatening
• Supplies detail in context
• Shows interest in conversation
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Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is a technique used to confirm or clarify something the
interviewee has said or implied. There are three levels of
paraphrasing:

1. The first level confirms or clarifies expressed thoughts and

feelings, for example: “so there are three factors that
determine the present situation”
2. The second confirms implied thoughts or feelings, for
example: “so you would really like to change this situation”
3. The third surfaces core thoughts or feelings, for example: “you
are afraid that it might make things worse for you” or “so you
think the strategy is wrong”
(Note that with paraphrasing of feelings you can trigger a
strong emotional response particularly with this third option )

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Interview review
A standard interview note format is useful in orienting interviews to results:

Key Steps Format

Interview
InterviewNotes
Notes
••Write
Writeinterview
interviewnotes
notes
as Interviewees:
assoon
soonasaspossible
possibleafter
afterthe
the Interviewees:
interview Interviewers:
Interviewers:
interview
Location:
Location:
••Outline Date:
Date:
Outlinekey
keyfindings,
findings,
note
noteemerging
emerginghypotheses
hypotheses KEY
KEYFINDINGS
FINDINGS

••Consider
Considerhowhowfindings
findingsfitfit
with BACKGROUND
BACKGROUNDAND
withearlier
earlierevidence
evidence SITUATION
AND
SITUATION
••Identify
Identifygaps
gapstotobe
be
filled in subsequent
filled in subsequent DISCUSSION
DISCUSSIONNOTES
NOTES
interviews
interviews
NEXT
NEXTSTEPS
STEPS

Interview notes are valuable when sharing

information with other team members.
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The interviewee may be
• Assuming no possible improvement
• Assuming they have the full picture
• Assuming knowledge on your part
• Describing work out of sequence
• Covering up their own failings
• Exaggerating
• Scoring off others

• Overwhelmed by you

• Protecting others

• Exaggerating the immediate problem

• Overestimating the importance of the job

• telling you what they think you want to

hear
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The interviewee can be

Inarticulate Shy

A jargoneer Loud

A familiarist A deceiver

A hypochondriac
An obstructionist
An empire builder
Too familiar with the job

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Adjust your style to suit the interviewee
The nervous interviewee
Be very explicit in setting the scene, tell why you are there and what they can
expect. Establish rapport and make sure you are relaxed and confident
The non-talker
Make a special effort to build rapport and find common language and
experiences. Avoid closed questions, use open questions to draw them out
The angry/hostile interviewee
Do not tolerate threatening behaviour.
If anger is directed at you:
• admit your mistake if you are wrong
• stay calm, avoid getting angry in return
If anger is directed at others:
• do not get involved and do not taking sides
• correct misinformation tactfully
ie do not challenge honestly held opinions

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Poor interviewing behaviour
Examples:
× Did not make an appointment

× Arrived late

× Was rude

× Exhibited one upmanship

× Did not explain the purpose of the interview

× Did not explain the scope of interview

× Used jargon

× Became confrontational

× Was inconsiderate

× Talked down to the interviewee

× Abruptly ended the interview

× Did not explain what happens next

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Do not
× Arrive without warning
× Forget interviewee’s name or role
× Show off
× Criticise
× Interrupt
× Be impatient
× Use coarse language
× Fidget, lounge or appear bored
× Go over time without agreement from interviewee
× Fail to thank the interviewee for their time

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Do
 Create rapport
 Make notes
 Be sincere
 Be objective
 Be courteous
 Verify your findings
 Separate fact from fiction
 Pitch the interview at the right level
 Keep within the scope of the interview
 Establish the option to ask follow up questions
 Wrap up the interview and thank the interviewee for
their time.

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