Appendix A: Competent Interviewing

The Opening

The opening of an interview is much like the introduction to a speech. As we discuss in Chapter 13, speech introductions help you achieve four goals: capturing your audience’s attention, introducing your purpose, previewing your main points, and connecting with your audience. Openings in both contexts establish the interaction that follows, so your success in engaging your listeners depends on your competency from the start.

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon’s interviewees are always welcomed with a grand entrance and audience clapping and cheering. But if you’re not a movie star plugging your latest project, you probably won’t have to worry about this. Whether you are the interviewer or interviewee,your interview will likely begin in a calmer manner, setting the tone for the discourse to follow. As you begin an interview, you should think about three interrelated issues:

The task: the nature of this interview and how it will proceed
The relationship: whether you like or trust the other party
Motivation: what you hope to gain by participating in the interview

For example, Eva is doing a telephone survey on student attitudes about parking on campus. The students she calls want to know about the topic of the interview and how long it will take (the task). They want to know something about her and how the information she gathers will be used (the relationship). They want to know how they (or someone else) will benefit from participating in the interview (the motivation). Eva needs to plan what she can say or do at the start of the interview that is responsive to these needs (see Table A.1).

Table :

TABLE A.1 SAMPLE INTERVIEW OPENING TECHNIQUES

Goal	Description	Example
Clarify the task	Orient the interviewee, who may not be well informed about the reason for the interview.	“As you may know, we’re looking for ways to increase productivity among our sales associates. I’m hoping you will help me jump-start this initiative.”
Define the relationship	Make a connection to a third party respected by the interviewee to put him or her at ease.	“I was referred to you by Liam Fitzpatrick, who told me that you’ve done great work for him in the past.”
Determine the motivation	Request the interviewee’s advice or assistance with regard to a problem.	“Perhaps you can give me insight into the way things work between your division and marketing.”