CHAPTER 6

Principles of Interviewing

Chapter Objectives and Integrator Guide

The opening page of each chapter in Communicating at Work lists desired learning outcomes.
The Integrator Guide will assist you in locating activities and resources relevant to each
objective.
.

Integrated Objectives Resources

Prepare for each stage of an interview: opening,
body, and closing.
Key terms: highly structured interview; interview;
moderately structured interview; nonstructured
interview
In the text:
Page references: 173-179; 183-191; 193-195
Activities: 1,2,4
Career Tip: Conducting Telephone Interviews
On Your Feet:
Planning Your Dream Interview
Self-Assessment: Rating Your Interview Skills

Instructor's Manual online:

Personal Reflection for Journaling
Discussion Launchers: 1-10
Classroom Activities: 1-4
Video Activity: 1
Demonstrate knowledge of the uses and limitations In the text:
of each type of interview question: open, closed, Page references: 179-183
fact, opinion, primary, secondary, direct, indirect, Activities: 3
hypothetical, and leading. Ethical Challenge: Handling Difficult Questions
.
Instructor's Manual online:
Key terms: closed questions; critical-incident Discussion Launchers: 11-13
questions; direct questions; factual questions; Classroom Activities: 5-7
hypothetical questions; indirect questions; leading Video Activity: 2
questions; open questions; opinion questions;
primary questions; secondary questions
Describe and observe the ethical obligations of In the text:
interviewers and interviewees. Page references: 191-193
Activity 5

Instructor's Manual online:

Discussion Launchers: 14
Classroom Activities: 8

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Other resources found on the Online Learning Center:
Student online center
Glossary
Key Term Flashcards
Key Term Crosswords
Self-Quizzes
Instructor online center
PowerPoint Files

About Chapter 6
This chapter introduces interviewing skills and strategies, and it demonstrates how these
communication skills are essential for career entry and advancement. Chapter 6 explains how
interviews differ from other interpersonal communication situations, and it emphasizes the
importance of goals, analysis, and structure in interviews. Different approaches to structuring
interviews are presented, as are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach for achieving
different goals in various contexts. The chapter illustrates the importance of planning,
organizing, and asking questions, and it assesses the outcomes that usually result from various
interview strategies. The phases of the interviewopening, body, and conclusionare analyzed
in a way that helps students plan for and conduct each part competently. The chapter closes with
a discussion of the ethical obligations of interviewers and interviewees and a sample
interviewing plan.

Personal Reflection for Individual Journaling Assignment

Most jobs require the employee to conduct interviews. For example, a plumber will
interview her customers to diagnose what is wrong with the malfunctioning fixture; an
accountant will interview his clients to determine which expenses need to be tallied.
Select a job that interests you. Explain the type(s) of interviews you'd be most likely to
conduct in this job. What do you think your own greatest challenges would be in
conducting effective interviews of this type?

Discussion Launchers
1. Consider a career field you might want to enter. What types of interviews are conducted
in that field? What interviewing skills might help you in succeed in that field?

2. What is the most enjoyable interview you ever participated in? What made it so?
3. Describe the worst interview you ever participated in. What made it so?
4. Can you think of some situations that you might not ordinarily think of as interviews
but that fit the definition? What makes an interview different from a conversation?

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 5. Imagine that you are about to be interviewed by a three-person panel as part of the
process of applying for a very competitive scholarship. What could the interviewers do
to put you at ease? What might the interviewers do that would increase your anxiety?
Which approach would be most effective for the purposes of the interview? Why?

6. Based somewhat on your own experience, what can an interviewer do to help establish a
high level of rapport between interviewer and interviewee?

7. Do you think its necessary for all interviews to follow the three-stage pattern of opening,
body, and closing? If so, why? If not, why not?

8. What is the relationship between the amount of control an interviewer has and the
interview structure?

9. Who should assume responsibility for the structure of the question-response phase of the
interview, and why?

10. Have you observed any interview styles not mentioned in the text? If so, provide an
example, and explain why this style is or isn't effective. Identify situations in which it
might it be useful to combine various styles.

11. When do you like being asked open questions? Why? When do you like being asked
closed questions? Why? Have you ever responded to a closed question as if it were an
open question, or vice versa? Explain.

12. Observe your conversations for a day. What types of questions do you usually ask?
Which types of questions elicit the most interesting answers?

13. How do you typically handle leading questions? As a class, try to achieve consensus on
three most effective ways of answering leading questions. Try to demonstrate these
responses as the instructor asks you some leading questions.

14. Consider situations you are aware of when an interviewer or interviewee has not adhered
to the ethical principles outlined in this text. What were the consequences? What advice
would you offer to the person who did not uphold ethical expectations?

Classroom Activities

1. Preparing for Interviews

Objective: This activity acquaints students with resources through which they can learn
more about interviewing.

Procedure: Divide students into several groups, and give each group a list of websites and
published materials that offer information and advice about interviewing. Several possible

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 resources are listed under the Resources section at the end of this chapter. Groups will assign
each member one resource to investigate and summarize. Groups will compile the individual
members summaries in an annotated bibliography of resources to distribute to the rest of the
class.

Class Discussion: When groups submit their bibliographies of interviewing resources,

discuss their findings:
Which resources did your group find most useful? Why?
Did any groups find resources that were not on the original list your instructor gave
you? How did you find these additional resources?
Which information corresponds to material found in your text?
Did any resources contradict material found in the text? If so, how would you explain
the discrepancy?
Did you find any supplementary material not covered in the text? Describe.
How could you best apply these resources in your own lives?

2. Choosing the Best Interview Structure

Objective: Students will learn the strengths and weaknesses of various interview structures
by selecting the best structure to use in various situations.

Procedure: Review the distinguishing characteristics of each type of interview structure.

Then, give students a list of various interview situations, or have them compile their own list.
Ask them to choose the most appropriate structure for each situation. Some example
situations follow:
a professor is confronting two students who submitted papers with a number of
paragraphs that show very similar wording
the members of a community college department of communication are interviewing
the five top candidates who have applied for a teaching position. Assume that the
college is governed by EEO rules guaranteeing equal treatment to all applicants.
a manager of a large department store is conducting annual performance reviews
a newspaper reporter sees a local politician on the street and hopes to get her attention
long enough to hear her stand on the public transportation system that has just been
proposed
a national company that sells electric razors wants to find out which characteristics
customers would pay more for

Class Discussion: For each situation, compare students suggestions, and ask them to explain
their choices. If there is disagreement about the best structure for a situation, explore the
differences.

3. Planning the Interview

Objective: This exercise gives students practice in the steps of planning various types of
interviews.

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 Procedure: Divide the class into several groups. Review the four interview situations
discussed on the opening page of the chapter (Daniel and Cecelia Loren are interviewing
other booksellers; Sharon is interviewing a convention coordinator; Carol is interviewing
restaurant employees; Lloyd is interviewing his new accounting employee, Susan). Ask
students to select one of these situations. Their task is to assume the role of the interviewer
and create a plan tailored to their interview situation. They should consider each of the
planning steps: define the goal, identify and analyze the other party, prepare a list of topics,
choose the best interview structure, consider possible questions, arrange the setting.

Class Discussion: Ask groups to share their interview plans and explain their rationale for
each step. Allow the class to critique and expand on each groups interview plans. You can
follow up by presenting discussion questions such as:
Does this plan create a threatening or a supportive climate? Explain.
How might the climate impact the outcome of the interview?
If the class suggests an alternative structure, setting, etc., how might those changes
impact the climate of the interview?
If you had to limit your interview to only five minutes, which of the topics and/or
questions would you eliminate, and which would you keep for sure?
If you did not include some of the question types described in the chapter (e.g.,
factual, opinion, indirect, hypothetical, leading), why didnt you? If possible, think of
at least one example of each type that you didnt include. Could you add these
questions to your interview without changing the tenor of the interview?

4. Openings and Closings

Objective: Students will increase their comfort level in conducting interviews by planning,
practicing, and analyzing the opening and closing phases of interviews.

Procedure: Arrange students in pairs. Each pair will think of a specific interview situation.
They will then plan and practice a smooth opening and closing for the interview that includes
all the elements suggested in the text.

Class Discussion: After students have had time to plan and practice their openings and
closings, elicit some volunteers to act out their role plays in front of the class. Ask the class
to identify each element of the opening and closing. Then discuss the quality of the role
plays.
How did the interviewer establish rapport?
Did the rapport step seem gimmicky or sincere?
Did the opening lines include an adequate orientation? Was the orientation
informative, yet not too mechanical?
Was the interviewer successful in sincerely motivating the interviewee without
sounding obsequious?
How did the interviewer clarify the results of the interview in the closing?
Did the interviewer clearly establish future actions?
Did the interviewer conclude the interview with appropriate pleasantries?

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5. Types and Combinations of Questions

Objective: The purpose of the following activity is to demonstrate that not all types of
questions are mutually exclusive and to have students develop various combinations of
questions and rationales for their use.

Procedure: Provide students with a list of the types of questions discussed in the text. First,
discuss how some types are mutually exclusive and some are not. (For instance a question
can be both open and opinion or opinion and leading, but it can't be both open and closed).
Second, have students construct other combinations of questions and, more importantly,
describe the situation (goals and context) in which each combination would be useful.

Class Discussion: Generate class discussion during this activity with questions such as:
Which types of questions are mutually exclusive? Which types are not?
Which types of questions do you think are the most difficult to generate? Which types
seem the most difficult to answer?
How would you generate questions that are mutually exclusive?
Why would you want to use a mutually exclusive question? Why wouldnt you?

6. Observing a Professional Interview

Objective: The purpose of this activity is to provide students with an opportunity to watch a
professional conduct an interview.
Procedure: Invite one or two professional interviewers to visit your classroom to discuss
their strategies and/or to conduct some mock interviews with student volunteers. Types of
interviewers you might invite include professional recruiters who visit your college campus,
career counselors from your college placement center, human resource specialists who
conduct performance appraisals, legal assistants who conduct information gathering
interviews, and sales representatives who conduct sales interviews.

Class Discussion: After the discussion and mock interviews are completed, discuss what the
students observed:
What kinds of questions were asked?
What information should have been prepared?
What was the interviewer looking for?
What questions were the most difficult to answer? Why? Which were easiest?
Ask the interviewer/recruiter to comment on the interviews, particularly on how
students could have improved their performance.

7. Conducting an Interview

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 Objective: Students will analyze a real-world interview using the texts guidelines for
conducting the body of an interview.

Procedure: Review with students the strategies from the text related to interviewer and
interviewee roles for conducting the body of the interview. (This exercise does not include
an analysis of the introduction and closing, because published transcripts often omit these
stages.)
Divide the class into several groups. Supply each group with a transcript of a real-world
interview (you can give them a hard copy or a URL). Transcripts should include at least 15
substantive questions. An excellent source of information-gathering interviews is
http://www.npr.org, where you can browse the site daily to find interviews of interest. (Scroll
to the bottom of the NPR webpage for a link explaining how to get permission to use
transcripts for educational purposes.)
Each group should prepare a brief analysis of how well the interviewer and interviewee
managed each facet of their roles as suggested in the text (e.g., controlling and focusing the
conversation, listening actively, probing with secondary questions).

Class Discussion: Give each group an opportunity to share their analysis with the class.
Encourage the class to ask questions of the presenting group. You could follow up the
presentations with additional questions:
Which techniques for control and focus seemed most effective?
How could you tell from a transcript whether an interviewer is engaging in active
listening?
Did you notice any similarities among the probing questions that were asked? Which
probes seemed to elicit the most relevant responses? Why?
Which interviewees gave the most clear and detailed answers? Compare the
responses of interviewees whose answers were clear and detailed with those whose
answers were unclear and vague.
o If you wanted to give detailed answers, what techniques would you use?
o If you wanted to use strategic ambiguity, what tactics would you use? Why?
Identify at least one situation in which an interviewee (or an interviewer) corrected a
misunderstanding. Was this accomplished smoothly? Was it done in a non-
accusatory manner?
How did various interviewees ensure that their own agendas were covered? Did they
behave ethically? Did they behave professionally?
Which of the interviews seemed most informative? Why?
Which seemed most intriguing? Why?
If you could give advice about interview strategies to one of the interviewers or
interviewees, to whom would you give it? What would you say? Please be specific.

8. Ethical Obligations

Purpose: This exercise emphasizes the importance of ethical communication during

interviewing.

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 Procedure: Ask students to locate professionals who conduct interviews as part of their job.
Instruct students to ask these professionals what they consider to be the most important
ethical obligations of interviewers and interviewees and what advice they might have for
conducting ethical interviews. Students could also ask the professionals whether they have
ever witnessed any ethical violations that they feel free to talk about. If so, have the
professional describe the violation, why it occurred, what the consequences were, and how a
similar violation might be prevented in the future.

Class Discussion: Try to categorize ethical guidelines mentioned by the interviewees in

terms of the ethical guidelines in the text. Ask students to relate what they have learned from
these interviews to the information in the text. Elicit consequences of unethical behavior and
reasons why ethical behavior is desirable and important.

Video Activities

1. Observe an Interview
Objective: Students will differentiate effective and ineffective communication behaviors
in an interview.

Procedure: Videotape a short interview conducted on television. Show the interview to

your class, pausing for discussion after each section of the interview.

Class Discussion: Discuss elements of the interview.

The setting:
Is the setting conducive to this type of interview? Explain.
The opening:
Was there an identifiable opening?
Did the interviewer build rapport, orient the interviewee, and motivate
the interviewee?
The body:
How was the interview structured?
Did the interviewer maintain control of the flow of the interview? If so,
how?
Did the interview follow any identifiable sequence of questions?
What types of questions were used most frequently? Were the questions
appropriate for this type of interview?
The closing:
Did the interviewer clarify the results of the interview, establish future
actions, and conclude with pleasantries?
Overall assessment:
Did it appear that the interviewer had prepared questions ahead of time?
What nonverbals did you observe? Were they appropriate for this
occasion? Why or why not?
How do televised interviews differ from most workplace interviews?

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 (Suggested answers: goal is to entertain a third party;
teleprompters are used; content must be acceptable to the
sponsoring organization)
What have you learned from observing this interview that you can apply
to improve your own communication when you participate in an
interview?

2. Types of Questions Used in Television News Interview Shows

Objective: The purposes of this activity are to illustrate that different types of questions may
necessitate different types of answers and to give students the opportunity to prepare questions on
content-specific areas.

Procedure: Videotape two or three five-minute segments of interview news shows such as Today,
Larry King Live, Meet the Press, and Face the Nation. Distribute copies of the handout titled Types
of Questions, located at the end of this section. Show the video clips in class. As students watch,
have them write down the questions that are asked and the kinds of responses that are generated.
Students should then categorize the questions according to type.

Class Discussion: After students have completed this activity, class discussion could focus on their
ability to distinguish among the different types of questions.
Can you make any generalizations about the types of questions that are most prevalent?
Which types of questions do guests seem to like the most?
Which types of questions do guests seem to like the least?
Which types of questions elicit the most information for viewers?
Which questions are guests most adept at dodging?
Compare the kinds of questions you and your classmates observed. Can you make any
generalizations?
Were there any questions you had trouble classifying? Why?
Did any questions break any of the guidelines from the text? Explain.

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 Types of Questions
Instructions: Watch a 10- to 15-minute segment of an interview news show such as Today,
Larry King Live, Meet the Press, and Face the Nation. As you watch, take notes, and jot down
the questions asked and the kinds of responses each generated. Categorize the questions by types.

Types of Questions

Open vs. Closed Direct vs. Indirect

Primary vs. Secondary Opinion vs. Fact
Leading Hypothetical
Verbal and Nonverbal Probes

Question Type of Question Purpose Response

Now, prepare questions that are the opposite of or different from those asked during the
interview. For example, if the question was an open question, write a closed question on the
same material. Speculate on the kind of answer the opposite questions would evoke.

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Additional Resources

Print
Allen, J. (2000) The Complete Q and A job interview book. New York: John Wiley &
Sons.

Austin, N. K. (1996, March). The new job interview: Beyond the trick question. Working Woman,
2324. [JK: Need volume number?]
An interesting article for students because it helps interviewees see that getting the job involves
convincing the interviewer that you can do the work.

Brady, J. (1977). The craft of interviewing. New York: Vintage Books.

The editor of Writers Digest discusses topics of interest to anyone who is interviewing: research,
writing questions, hazards, notes, taping, concluding, and difficult interviews. Written and
telephone interviews are included as well.

Graben, S. (2000). The everything online job search book. Holbrook, MA: Adams Media
Corporation.

Payne, S. L. The art of asking questions. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.
Discusses various types of questions and the challenges encountered in phrasing questions
effectively.

Ralston, S. (1995, July). Teaching interviewees employment interviewing skills. Journal of

Business & Technical Communication, 9(3), 36270.
This article provides background and resource material for instructors.

Smithson, S. (1989, Winter). Interviewing: A triadic exercise. Speech Communication Teacher

3(2), 12.
Introduces a teaching technique to reinforce skills for interviewers and interviewees.

Video
The Four Stages of Interviewing. 30 min. Cambridge Research Group.
Begins with the worst interview in history and goes on to cover reception, interrogation, your
turn, and leave-taking stages. Advice for interview dos and donts is included, as are follow-up
activities.

Video Guide to Interviewing. Cambridge Career.

Web
Free Management Library
http://www.managementhelp.org/evaluatn/intrview.htm
This article explains the steps of planning for and following up after an interview.

Lynn Meade, Instructor of Communication, NW Arkansas Community College

http://lynn_meade.tripod.com/id44.htm
Provides notes for a lecture about interviewing and resumes (with examples). You will have to
ignore a lot of pop-up ads to use this site.

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