Course: CMM 128 Interviewing Practices

Lecture Notes

Go to page (2/2)
Opening an Interview (Continued)
The method used to create orientation and rapport will differ depending on the situation.

Journalistic (Probing) Interviews: Identifying yourself and your purpose are standard parts of a journalist's opening.  Often he or she is not able to provide a preview or an idea of the amount of time needed because of a lack of information about the subject (that's why the R is conductiong the interview).  Early on, the journalist needs to find out if the E knows something about the story.  Most journalists are reluctant to pay someone for a story so some other means of motivating the E is usually used.

Employment Interviews:  Identifying yourself is a common way to open an employment interview.  Because the greeting may occur in some place different than where the interview will take place (e.g., the lobby of the company), often there is some small talk while the two parties move to the interview location (e.g., a conference room).  Employers know a great deal about the information they seek so can easily include a preview in the opening (e.g., "I'll be asking about your education, experience, and personality today.").  Little explicit motivation is needed since it is presumed that the applicant is motivated by wanting a job and the employer is motivated by wanting someone to do the job.

Survey Interviews:  People are reluctant to take time to participate in a survey so the motivation needs to be stronger in these interviews.  Many surveyers establish the prestige of their company early on but give little information about themselves.  Some surveyers may even offer a small gift for participation.  At the Gurnee Mills Mall, in Gurnee, IL, shoppers are enlisted to look at ads in a marketing company's storefront and are paid for answering the questions.  A 20 minute interview might be compensated with $5.  Referrals are seldom used in surveys because these interviews are usually conducted randomly.  It would be highly unlikely for an E to be given control over the questions in this interview because using a standard set of questions allows the R to compare one person's answers with another's.

Persuasive Interviews:  Sometimes a salesperson does not want the E to know he or she is going to try to get the E to buy something so the purpose is omitted.  Some persuaders refuse to say how long the interview will last because they will keep going until you buy something (or call the police to remove the R from your house).

Here are some examples of openings.

Probing Interview:  "Hello, I'm Rick Soller, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune.  I'm doing a story on online communication classes and I understand that you created and teach one.  This sounds really interesting so  I would like to ask you some questions.  Could I have 10 minutes of your time?"

Employment Interview:  "Hi, are you Amy Johnson?  Great!  I'm Rick Soller, the head of personnel here.  Did you find the place okay?  How about this weather?  Well come on in and have a seat.  You're here for the technical writer position, right?  This inteview will take about 10 minutes and during it, I'm going to find out about your education, your experience and your personality.  I'll also be giving you a job description and explaining the benefits.  If you have any questions, I'll give you some time at the end to ask them.  This is a pretty important position and we have several applicants so I'm going to take some notes to make sure I remember everything about everyone and can compare them fairly. Let me begin by finding out about you.  Tell me about yourself."