Bad Language » How to interview

Dutch writers and journalists

Matthew Stibbe — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:08:51 +0000

I met René van der Meer last year when I was in Amsterdam. He writes Aanhetwoord.com, a website about journalists, the working methods and ambitions. It’s a great resource for Dutch writers and I was very pleased when he published the interview he did with me. Of course, we mostly spoke in English during the interview. Although we spoke a little Dutch I would love to speak it as well as he speaks (and translates) English! It would be great if there were a similar site full of interviews with English-speaking journalists.

How to get the job you really want

Matthew Stibbe — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:06:08 +0000

I ran a computer games company for more than ten years. I read thousands of CVs and did hundreds of interviews. Now, I’m writer-in-chief at a technology marketing company, Articulate Marketing.

This article is based on first-hand experience as a hirer and as a professional writer. I hope it will help readers maximise their chances of getting a good job in these difficult times. Good luck!

If you find this useful, let me know, leave a comment, Digg it, Tweet it, Stumble It and generally spread the word! Use the Share This button at the bottom of the post.

Finding the right employer

Do your homework. Use the internet and trade magazines to make a list of companies you would like to work for. You can get anonymous feedback from existing employees on Best Companies Guide.
Talk to your network. Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites are a good way to find people who already work in your target companies. Reach out and ask for information, advice and help.
Don’t wait for vacancies. The job pages of newspapers and trade magazines may be a good source of vacancies or candidates for your short list, but the best jobs and the best leads come from personal contact. I placed an advert in the Guardian in 1991 and got over 500 replies. For one job. I’m far more likely to pay attention to an existing employee’s recommendation.
What do you want? Write your own job description and your own specification of your ideal employer. What are you going to do? What kind of company is it? How big is it?
Think rifle not shotgun. Better to focus on a handful of good matches than shotgun hundreds of badly copied CVs through an agency.
Agencies. Recruitment agencies can be very effective at getting you in front of lots of employers. Back in the day, online recruiters like Monster.com didn’t exist. Most agencies fax-spammed CVs to every company on their books. I suspect that online agencies are just more efficient at doing the same thing. Not good.
Be committed. My view of agencies is that it’s okay to use them but it’s your job and you need to be fully engaged with the process. Don’t let someone else decide what’s best for you. Especially when their only motivation is a commission.

Writing an excellent cover letter

Write a personal letter. A cover letter is your chance to personalise your application. Be brief but be specific. For me, a cover letter was a good chance to see if the candidate knew anything about my company and to gauge their enthusiasm. It was a rare treat to find someone mention one of our games or having looked at our website.
Don’t make mistakes. Spelling mistakes alienate 77 per cent of business people, according to research by Hertfordshire University. Use a spell checker. Get someone you trust to proofread it. Hire a proofreader on Elance.com to check it for you.
Don’t be a bozo. Occasionally, I would get real howlers that damned a candidate’s chances. Several named the wrong company. Mis-spelling my name was very common. One included the immortal phrase “I’m looking for a job in the insurance industry.” (Applying for a job in computer games!) Many were flippant or weird, for instance “This job is right up my street. Hell, no! It’s right next door,” or my favourite: “I’m not as fit as my dog although I work well in a team and alone.”
Professional presentation. Don’t go crazy with the design. Look professional and conservative. A good cover letter is short – about half a page – neatly typed, grammatical, and properly spelt. It is polite to write the salutation (“Dear Mr. Manager,”) and the sign-off (“Yours sincerely”) by hand. Double-check who you are applying to – telephone if you have to – and put their name, title and address correctly at the top of the page. Debrett’s A-Z of Modern Manners has helpful advice about writing proper letters and other old-fashioned virtues.
Prepare an email version. Emails must be shorter and more focused than letters. Use short, declaratory sentences. Don’t waffle. But do still include the recipient’s name and something that personalises it.
Apply direct. Remember that agencies don’t include cover letters and generally fax CVs, so a direct application with a good cover letter can make you look like a better candidate simply through better presentation. Even if you think you are certain to get any job you apply for, it is worth using every opportunity to make a good impression, as it will help your case when negotiating a salary and people’s perceptions of you once you start.

How to write a compelling resumé/CV

Get good advice. Ask your friends. Ask your current employer’s HR department (but only if they already know you’re leaving!). Find mentors. Read advice online (e.g. Guy Kawasaki: What employers want to see, How to use LinkedIn to find a job etc.)
Professional presentation. Programmers used to apply with CVs that were riddled with typos. Not a good sign in a profession that rewards attention to detail. Graphic designers’ CVs used to look like they were DTP’d by a five-year old. Crazy. As with the cover letter, CVs should be neat, grammatical and properly spelled.
Be brief. Unless you have had a very illustrious career, there is no need to use more than one page for a CV – second pages are rarely read.
Get a second opinion. It is well worth getting an honest friend to review your CV so that you can avoid saying something that does not say what you meant it to say. A classic example of this was one candidate who claimed “I have a close and loving relationship with my two sisters.”
Don’t be glib or scary. People don’t always share the same tastes or humour so keep it straight – don’t include a picture of yourself in Star Trek costume, for example. In one case, I read: “I am interested in the triumph of justice.” I’ve seen a few candidates who claimed to have worked for Mossad, MI5 or MI6. Trust me, the applicants in question definitely did not work for these agencies. In general, try not to amuse, scare or bullshit your prospective employers.
Don’t exaggerate. Some of the more extreme claims I have seen include “top secret research work for NASA,” “testing elasticity on incontinence knickers,” and one candidate who claimed to have written an entire hit game for a well-known developer on their own in a two month summer internship. Another claimed that “I am a world class Rubics Cube champion as well as winning the world mathematics championship in Hungary 1993.”
Don’t job-hop. I was always very, very wary of candidates who seemed to be ‘job-hopping’. More than a couple of jobs of less than 12-18 months looks pretty bad. It indicates some serious problem with their work or their attitude. The worst example I have seen was eight jobs in less than seven years. Needless to say, we didn’t hire him. If you have a lot of jobs on your CV, have a very convincing reason.
Use references wisely. Opinion on naming referees is divided. Generally, we didn’t take up references until after we make an offer but before someone started – mainly, we wanted to make sure that the candidate was who they said they were. If an employer wants a reference, they can always ask. The games industry is a very small one and quite often if we are uncertain about making a candidate an offer we will talk to someone at a previous employer informally. Occasionally, I I got a call from other people warning me off certain candidates – a bad reputation can follow you. If you do give references, it is better if they are people who can claim some sort of independent judgement – for example, previous employers, tutors, lawyers – and not “my mother” as one hapless candidate offered.
Get yourself referred. There’s a big difference between a reference on a CV and someone who actively champions your cause. If you can find a mentor, rabbi or champion who can get you in front of the right people, do it. And be very grateful.
Clarify your name. If, like me, you are blessed with a memorable but unpronounceable name, it is a good idea to say how you pronounce it somewhere in your CV or cover letter. Also, if it isn’t clear which is your first name and which is your surname, it is helpful to underline the latter.
Don’t make stuff up that we can check. I’ve seen extraordinary claims of Olympic victory, Rubik’s Cube championships, hit games written in a weekend, implausible job titles at friends’ companies. In the immortal words of Sir Humphrey Appleby from Yes, Minister, “never conceal something that the press can discover for themselves.”
Check your application before you send it. I saw many applications with the names of competitors in the covering letter. Mailmerge failure is a sign that you lack attention to detail.
If you want a reference, don’t punch your boss. Luckily this didn’t happen to me. In general, however, threats of litigation, sabotage and violence by departing employees are likely to result in a less than favourable reference.

How to get a interview, even if there isn’t a vacancy

If you’ve done your research, you should have a list of target companies and individuals within those companies. You could spam them with your CV but there’s another way – the 15 minute chat and introductory email. This is modelled on a sales technique in “Sales on a Beermat” by Mike Southron and Chris West.

What you are trying to do is get a brief face-to-face meeting with someone at your target company. It isn’t a job interview but it is a good step towards one. Remember – the best jobs are the ones that aren’t advertised and the best way to get them is with personal relationships.

So, what you do is this:

Find the right opportunity. Monitor your target companies using Google News or other media so you can spot a good hook for your email.
Find the right person. Ideally, you’d like to get an introduction or referral from someone in your network to someone in your target company.
Send an introductory email. Short and sweet. Like thisSubject: Referral from Ann Other Dear Mr. Smith, Good news about the acquisition of Megacorp. I guess this means you’ll be needing more programmers at SuperSizers. Ann suggested that I contact you because I have been working as a programmer at WidgetCo. and now I’m looking for a new challenge.
Ann would be happy to give me a reference: Ann.Other@Megacorp.com.

I’d like arrange a short meeting so I can learn a bit more about SuperSizers and ask for your advice about how I could become part of the team there. Can you spare 15 minutes sometime next week?

Best wishes,

John Doe
Introduce yourself, be liked, ask for help. And leave after the allotted time. This isn’t a job interview. It’s about finding a friend in your target company, learning more about it and showing that you have some initiative. If you pull it off, you’ll have an insider helping you out. This has got to be a better investment of time than spamming a hundred companies with a me-too CV.

Interviews

At my old games company, we would tend to do two or three rounds of interviews. The first would be a short interview to make sure that you would fit in and to see if you are the person you say you are on the CV (in part through a programming test and discussion or portfolio review). A second interview would be more specific and lengthy. It would focus on your suitability for a particular project or position and you would get to meet prospective team members. I always liked to meet anyone we were considering making a job offer to, so a final interview with senior management would indicate that you were on the home straight. The whole process might take two or three weeks, and occasionally longer if there were changes in the project schedule.

Dress conservatively. One candidate sent a 10×8 picture of herself in a Star Trek uniform. I’m a fan but it just looks weird in a job application. Another candidate for a graphic designer’s job turned up in a cape, beret and cane (actually, I think we hired him). We didn’t expect people to dress up for an interview but it doesn’t hurt to look reasonably smart – clean jeans and a pressed shirt is going to look better than a creased, mouldy old suit that doesn’t fit any more. Of course, different jobs have different dress standards. If in doubt, call ahead and check. A good suit and tie is going to work for almost all interviews as a default.
Don’t bring your mother to the interview. One candidate did this. We didn’t hire him.
Be punctual. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the interview.
Prepare. Call ahead and ask what might be involved. For example, we usually gave programmers a C programming test. Anyone who knew this in advance would have an advantage. Unlike one candidate who asked “what’s C?” despite having it on her CV.
Be friendly (but not unctuous). Be enthusiastic, affable but not pushy or sycophantic. Pay attention but don’t treat an interview like the boardroom in The Apprentice.
Always shake hands. If you suffer from nerves and sweaty palms, discreetly wipe you hand on your clothes before the handshake is required. There’s nothing worse than a wet fish handshake.
Hygiene matters. Candidates have created very bad impressions on me and my colleagues by not attending to basic hygiene, like bathing, brushing teeth or wearing clean clothes. Such people are not nice to share a room with.
Be respectful. Slagging off previous employers is also a no-no. This is entertaining gossip but it is very easy to imagine that they would do the same about you.
Write a thank you letter. After an interview a short, polite letter to the main person who interviewed you can be a good idea. You should say ‘thank you’ and highlight anything you felt you might have missed in the interview (e.g. ‘I think that I may have forgotten to mention that although I dropped out of Harvard without graduating, I do run the world’s largest software corporation’) or anything you want to emphasise (e.g. ‘I feel my experience with 3D graphics in my last job would be very relevant to your project’). Very, very few people do this and it is a good way to make a strong, positive impression.
Call if you’re going to be late. If you can’t get to an interview or change your mind about going, please let the company know in good time. There is nothing more irritating that waiting around for someone to show up and not know whether they are coming or not.
Ask your own questions. You should come prepared with questions. Here are some of the good questions I have been asked over the years: How do you organise training? How will my work be assessed? (this is better than saying how often do I get a pay rise) How do you ensure projects come in on time? How are games designed? Who does the design? Describe a typical team?
Show some interest. As with the cover letter, an interview a good opportunity for you to show some interest in the company. Look at their website before the interview and think of a couple of company-specific questions. In the first interview you may not get a lot of time for questions, but you should make sure that all your questions are answered before you accept a job offer. You are interviewing them at this stage.
Get a hobby. I asked one woman ‘what do you do in your spare time.’ The answer was “I smoke a lot.” It wasn’t meant as a joke and she didn’t get the job. You need to look like you have life so if you don’t have any hobbies, get some.

Update: check out this guy’s tips about interview technique. He and I disagree about a couple of things, such as cover letters but agree about many more. What’s great is the video clips that he uses to illustrate his points. (Hat tip: Seth Godin.)

Salary negotiation

Pick your moment. The right time to negotiate salary is after a job offer has been made. This puts you in the strongest position – you know they want you – and it also avoids prejudicing the interview process with money talk.
Know what you’re worth. However, you should expect to give some indication of your expectations, if asked – perhaps as a range based on the responsibility required by the job or by reference to your previous salary – during the interview process so that the company can make sure that you are likely to fit into their budget.
Do your homework. You should think about this carefully beforehand and don’t do what one naïve programmer did and ask for an outrageous amount and then immediately climb down to an absurdly low figure in minutes. That just looks silly. Any negotiation you make should be based on some kind of reasonable basis – for example you can use the seniority of the position, the level of responsibility or the level of skill required as grounds on which to base a request for more money. This sounds like you know your business better than simply asking for more money without a justification.
Take the money and run. If you are offered what you want, don’t feel that you have to negotiate for more. If you negotiate an above average salary you may find yourself low-balled at the next pay review – it’s swings and roundabouts. Companies will generally try to offer you an attractive package, with a ‘bid out premium’ to get you to change jobs, but a package which balances their desire to get you with the budget they can afford. Remember that they will have a pretty good idea of what is a reasonable salary for a given level of experience and skill – they do hundreds of interviews and pay reviews a year! I guess what I am trying to say is that you shouldn’t feel shy of asking for a good, but realistic, salary – negotiating if you have to – but equally, you shouldn’t automatically haggle on principle.

Accepting an Offer

Get an offer in writing. Don’t hand in your notice or stopping job-hunting without written confirmation. It should set out the basic terms and conditions of your job – salary, holiday, perks, job title and so on. Generally, I wouldn’t send out a formal offer until the job had been accepted in principle on the phone or in person.
Confirm your acceptance in writing. You should confirm your acceptance in writing too. Besides the contractual side of things, this is creates an obligation on both sides.
Tell people if you change your plans. If you change your mind, you should let the company know as soon as possible. I’ve had two or three cases of ‘no shows’ where people don’t turn up for their job on the first day without a word of explanation. This causes real inconvenience and also means that someone else who would have really wanted the job gets passed over. Also, I can remember the names of all the people who do it and would never offer them a job again – and you’d be surprised how many people re-apply over the years.

Handling your Existing Employer

Be professional. Most people’s tendency when looking for a new job is to be secretive about it and only discuss it with the current employer once a new job has been secured. This is sensible in most cases. However, I have had some bad experiences of people taking large numbers of sick days, or simply not showing up at random, while going for interviews elsewhere. This is unprofessional and is likely to lead to a very poor reference at the very least. Better to take the time off as holiday.
Don’t go into ‘exit mode’. Similarly, once some people are in ‘exit mode’ they behave badly. For example, they come in late, work poorly, or bad-mouth their colleagues or the company. Again, this reflects very poorly on them and can affect references. More importantly, it isn’t professional. You should judge yourself by how you behave when you don’t have a good reason to behave well.
Don’t revenge-quit. If you want to leave your present job because of a problem, such as feeling under-paid, under-trained or whatever, I think it is courteous to give your current employer a reasonable chance to make amends before you start looking. My experience is that once people start looking for a job pride makes it very hard for them to pull back so the time to raise your voice is before you start looking. At IG we did exit interviews with people in their last couple of days and it was frustrating to find that a few people had left for reasons that could have been easily remedied had we known about them. Talk to your supervisor and explain your concerns and judge the company on its actions.
Don’t bargain by resignation. Do not; however attempt the dangerous game of wage bargaining by resignation. This feels a lot like blackmail and, in my experience at least, doesn’t work.
Quit with dignity. The proper way to resign is to seek a personal meeting with your boss as soon as you have formally accepted another position and tell him or her that you are leaving. You should have a written resignation note to give them at the meeting. It is pretty craven to leave a note in a pigeon-hole – you wouldn’t like to be fired that way! It is likely that they have seen a lot of people quit over the years and will not react unpleasantly. Mild shock was the worst experience I had in the last few years. Again, this is an opportunity to show some professionalism and dignity that will be remembered after you leave.

No related posts.

Quotable quotes and nameable names

Matthew Stibbe — Mon, 12 May 2008 06:55:57 +0000

I’m starting a new feature on Bad Language – an agony column. This is inspired by guilty pleasure Dear Prudence on Slate. If you have any pressing problems, please send them to me and I’ll do my best to answer them. Feel free to add your own advice and comments to this post. (And Digg it too please!)

Dear Uncle Matthew,

I have an ongoing debate with one of my suppliers regarding quotes. Of course, I win since he’s a supplier, but I don’t want that to be the only reason. He always insists that the quote should begin with the name of the person being quoted. Smith said, etc.

Says it helps the reporter or editor see at a glance who is saying it. My position is that it’s more important to start a line with something interesting being said and the reporter or editor can find who is being quoted without any problem (unless we’ve written a shamefully long quote).

Also, I like quotes to be two short and interesting phrases or lines, with “said Smith” as the breather in between, not a solid block of copy. Do you have an opinion on this or does it seem silly to you? Thanks.

- Unquotable

Dear Unquotable,

“I agree with you,” said Matthew Stibbe, Writer in Chief at Articulate Marketing. “Sometimes a run-on quote can be useful too.”

Your supplier says that putting the name before the quote makes life easier for a report or editor. But who are you writing for? Never forget the readers! Your job is to make their life as easy as possible.

- Uncle Matthew

Press release Frankenquotes

How to be a really lousy interviewee

Matthew Stibbe — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 06:50:00 +0000

The most popular search term on Google for this site is “How to interview.” I thought it would be fun to subvert the usual ‘how to…’ post with some some top tips for really screwing up an interview.

Arrive late. Shows disrespect and/or incompetence. Also it irritates the other person. (See How I trained myself to get up earlier.)
Fidget during the interview. Confidence is attractive whereas nervousness can be misinterpreted as boredom or irritation, which creates negative feeling in the interviewer.
Wet fish handshake. This will make the interviewer think you are a) nervous, b) untrustworthy, c) too lazy or weird to subtly dry your hand on your trouser / skirt beforehand.
Waffle. Don’t give them a chance to change the subject or get through all the questions they have.
Don’t listen to the questions. Just say whatever comes into your head. It’s bound to be more interesting than whatever the interviewer wanted to know about.
Recite pre-scripted answers. This is particularly good in a journalist interview if you are a big-shot executive with days of media training under your belt. Under no circumstances give them any information they can use.
Treat the interview like a test. Try to assume the interviewer is trying to score points and that the interview is a zero-sum game.
Lie. It’s fine to lie on job applications and in politics, so why not do it in interviews as well (try not to be caught).
Insult down competitors / previous employers. This is always a good one. The interviewer will know that you can stick the knife in properly and he’ll treat you with more respect.
Don’t give examples. There’s a big difference between “I am a highly motivated individual with a great sense of personal responsibility,” and “I got up at 6am every day to train for the London Marathon.” Always speak in generalities and fake pieties. Say the same as every other interviewee.
Don’t prepare in advance. There’s nothing worse than a know-it-all. Like the chap who won the Apprentice in the UK this year – he was the only candidate who had read Alan Sugar’s biography. Creep.

Interview transcripts: curse or blessing?

Matthew Stibbe — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:08:25 +0000

When I do an interview I tend to write near-verbatim notes. This is an old habit from my days as a journalist. However, it gets me into some interesting problems when I do it for corporate clients. For example (and without naming any names!):

One client who, on hearing that I did this, tried to claim that they should get copies of all the transcripts automatically. (I did this once with another client and I ended up having to rewrite a case study three times because different people liked different quotes from the interview. Ouch. More importantly, there’s a big difference between my unproofed, unedited transcripts and something I would be happy to show a client. Also, there’s still something of the confessional about an interview and I don’t like to share notes like this.)
Another client who asked for summaries of all the interviews I did, by way of contact reports. That’s fine but it was the best part of a day’s work. It’s one of those things that easier to ask for than to do.
Another client who wanted me to send all my interview transcripts (done for a general business article, not case studies) to another agency so that they could produce case studies out of them. It’s hard to explain that an interview for an article isn’t necessarily the same thing as an interview for a case study.

Also, on reflection, it’s obvious that transcripts involve a huge burden of typing and note taking. A 30m call will generate 1200-1500 words of notes. I do a lot of interviews so this is by far and away the biggest chunk of my typing. Even thinking about it gives me RSI.

So, am I being over-punctilious taking transcripts? Do they open me up to more trouble than they save? What do other folk do?

Weird interview

Matthew Stibbe — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:01:04 +0000

Since I’m being mean to PR companies this week, I had to mention something that happened to me in April.

I was writing a supplement for The Independent about eBay. I had put out a request on ResponseSource to find companies who used eBay in their business and a certain PR firm got in touch to say their client was the perfect case study.

We booked up an interview with the boss.

I rang him. His secretary tracked him down and put the call through. He said:

You *%£$!”s. eBay has all the ethics of a barrow boy with kleptomania. I don’t know why you’re calling me. I don’t want to speak you. You’re the scum of the Earth. Now, f*** off!

Or something like that. I stopped taking notes after the first two words. He hung up on me.

Why did he agree to do the interview? Why did his PR firm put him forward?

I would have thought that after this call either he would sack his PR firm or his PR firm would resign the account.

How to interview someone

Matthew Stibbe — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:06:44 +0000

Interviews matter. Interviews are the foundation of good reporting. They are the best way of understanding a complicated situation and seeing it from someone else’s perspective.

A wise, old editor of mine used to say “report it out.” She meant ‘go talk to people, don’t rely on your own opinions and judgment.’ It’s a good maxim. One of my rules of thumb is to do one interview for each 250-500 words of final copy.

So here are my top tips for a good interview. Your mileage may vary and I’m keen to hear any other suggestions. (See also how to give a good interview and why interviews go wrong.)

Preparation

Choose the right format. Sometimes a face to face interview is good. More often, for me, a phone interview works best.
Face to face. For a feature about an individual, I like to do several face to face interviews. The first is really a get-to-know session without notes and off the record. It is a reconnaissance. Then the major interview. Finally a follow-up interview around the time I’m writing the piece.
Phone interviews. I love phone interviews. There’s something confessional about them and it’s easy to strike up a rapport with someone. I type quickly enough to take a more or less real time transcript during a phone interview which makes this form of interview particularly efficient. Also, a phone interview cuts out travel time and waiting around for people to turn up. Also, it makes interviews much easier to schedule as most people can find 20 or 30 minutes in their diary but a face to face interview seems to require an hour and a lot more commitment.
Avoid email interviews. I’ve done two or three email interviews in my time and they’ve all been unsatisfactory. The results have been stilted and unnatural.
Have a backup. For face to face interviews, I prefer to use two recorders or one recorder and hand written notes. Nothing could be worse than getting back from an interview and finding that you didn’t have any record. Mind you I ended up spending 15m of an interview with Google’s Sergey Brin talking about digital Dictaphones instead of Google’s future.
Have enough time. I was promised an hour-long interview with an airline executive for an profile I was writing for a UK magazine. On the day, the PR involved said it would have to be a 15 minute phone interview. I talked to my editor and we agreed that I should do it but the three page feature would be cut to a half page news item. Left to my own devices, I would have pulled out altogether.
Manage PR people. PR minders are a frequent nuisance when I interview people. They’re helpful when they book up an interview and make sure that the people turn up. However, I find their silent presence on phone interviews oppressive and I suspect that it intimidates the interviewee as well. Generally now, I won’t do an interview unless it is a one to one deal.
Don’t give questions in advance. I don’t prepare questions in advance and I always say no to people who ask me to send them a list of questions. Partly, this is because I don’t work that way and partly I don’t want people over-preparing. Also, my interviews tend to be quite free-ranging. Similarly, I don’t give copy approval to interviewees. Apart from anything else, it would be logistically impossible for most of my work. (The exception is for certain corporate assignments where the work is being published by the company that employs the interviewee.)
Avoid group interviews. An interview is essentially a one-to-one situation but many interviewees like to have a colleague in on the interview. Often they do this if they feel that their technical knowledge isn’t up to scratch. If I interview two people, it becomes harder to properly attribute quotes. Also, you miss out on potentially valuable contributions. Only one person can talk at a time. I would rather do two separate interviews. Again, I am increasingly against doing this.
Prepare and research in advance. I don’t usually prepare a list of questions, although I’ll sometimes have a list of topics to cover. However, I do like to Google the interviewee, look up their employer and review other related interviews for angles and questions. I have an interview template in Word and I usually set this up before the interview with all the contact information and some initial thoughts and topics for the interview.
Avoid the word ‘interview’. Most people think an interview is a scary thing. They think of job interviews or the kind of TV interviews that politicians do. Neither model works for a good journalistic interview. I prefer the words ‘chat’, ‘conference call’ or ‘conversation’.
Confirm the time and date in advance and send reminders. One in four interviewees don’t turn up or aren’t available when I call them. I’ve started sending Microsoft Outlook meeting invitations which form a sort of contract because they have to be accepted or rejected by the interviewee. It’s also helpful to send an email reminder the day before. I am researching ways to offer interviewees a choice of interview slots on a self-service basis so that I can semi-automate the process of booking interviews. At the moment, arranging the interview usually takes longer than actually doing it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The interview itself

Introduce yourself. I like to introduce myself at the start of every interview. I tell people who I am, my relationship to the publication I’m writing for and what the piece is about. I call it the Government health warning. It’s a courtesy but it’s also a kind of protection. Doing it consistently means that any interviewee knows exactly where they stand.
How to record interviews. I like to do interviews on Skype and use HotRecorder to record them to MP3. A headset is a must and I use a Plantronics USB CS60 handsfree headset for Skype calls. This leaves both hands free for typing notes. I also have a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard which is quieter than my old Dell keyboard so that the sound of typing doesn’t intrude on the interview.
Observe the legalities. In the UK, you have to tell people you’re recording a conversation because of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, or RIPA as it is charmingly known. I tend to say ‘I’m keeping a record of this conversation to make sure I don’t forget anything.’ Even if it weren’t a legal obligation, I think it is a courtesy to say so. I don’t record all my interviews.
Be yourself. My interview style is discursive, subjective and personal. My favourite interviews are the ones where I find common ground with the person I’m talking to and we have a fun, stimulating conversation. This means I have to come to the party dressed as myself. I interviewed Stephen Bungay a while ago for this blog and I had expected to chat for an hour. We ended up talking for four hours.
Be enthusiastic. People like people who like them. They are also conditioned to think of an ‘interview’ as a potentially hostile situation and be on their guard. Consequently, you should be upbeat and positive. Do this genuinely if you can. Otherwise, engage your sincerity simulator.
Shut up. You should be talking about 10-20% of the time at most. (This is my biggest weakness – I often end up interviewing myself!)
Listen hard. Sometimes you can pick up a word or a phrase in an answer which you can play back to the interviewee and get something much more intimate, interesting or honest. Interviews aren’t scripted Q&As, they are intense professional conversations and you need to concentrate.
Capture the basic information. I use a template form for all my interviews that captures: name (get the spelling right), job title, contact details, time and date of interview and intended publication.
Job titles can be difficult. Sometimes people have very long-winded or obscure titles. These don’t work well on the printed page. If this is the case, I like to get a more informal job description agreed with the interviewee. Tech companies are notorious for acronym-laden job titles. The important thing is to get the interviewee’s agreement to whatever you use. I like to ask: ‘how would you like me to describe you in the article.’
Get past the canned speech. If an interviewee has been media trained, my heart sinks. Usually, it means I have to listen to 10-20m of self-important waffle prepared for them by their PR department. Sometimes you have to let people do their duty and then you can get to the interview. Sometimes asking the same question three times will elicit, on the third go, a more honest, human answer. Building a rapport with them on non-controversial subjects (like their job title or their recent career history) can put them at their ease. I’m not trying to trick people into saying something they don’t want to say. I’m trying to trick them into saying something in a natural, human way. A good interview sounds like an intelligent conversation over coffee not a standup PowerPoint presentation.
Don’t lose control. Sometimes, especially with self-important interviewees, you can get into a bit of a tug-of-war over who is in charge of the interview. Never forget that you are the CEO of the interview. You don’t have to be bossy but its important that you get what you need from the interview and you steer it in the direction you want to go.
Focus on what you need. Sometimes people get absorbed in details or get too waffly and abstract. Sometimes you need a specific quote or a good story. A timely intervention is sometimes required to redirect the interview. Phrases like ‘do you have any stories that illustrate that point,’ or ‘how does this relate to the bigger picture’ can be very useful ways to do this.
Respect the interviewee’s privacy. Although I make transcripts of all my interviews, I don’t like to share them with anyone else. I know this is an ironic position but corporate clients often ask for the transcript as well as the finished article. There are three problems with this. First, redacting a transcript for public consumption is a task in itself, not a freebie. Second, it encourages clients to start rewriting my piece. Third, I think it’s not fair to the interviewee because an interview has some usable bits and a lot of filler.
Be courteous. Say thank you afterwards. If you can provide a copy of the final article, do so.

When is ‘off the record’ really off the record?

Matthew Stibbe — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:35:18 +0000

In my fulltime journalist days, I was only asked once to treat a whole interview as ‘off the record.’ When my article came out, the interviewee rang me and complained bitterly that he wasn’t quoted in it at all.

This story popped into my mind when I saw this cartoon on the super iScatterlings blog.

Like my interviewee, a lot of people don’t understand the basic concept of ‘off the record.’ This is what I think:

It guarantees nothing. Journalists do not have a magic ‘off’ switch that is activated when you say the words ‘off the record.’ If you want to keep a secret, don’t tell anyone.
A journalist may still record the conversation or take notes. It means – to my mind at least – that what you say will NOT appear in print.
Journalists can’t unlearn something they know off the record. If they have the information it may shade or spin their story even if you aren’t quoted.
It has a different meaning to ‘background,’ ‘non-attributable’ and ‘anonymous’. Reputable organisations and reporters will have detailed, highly nuanced guidelines on how to treat different categories of information.
You can’t use ‘off the record’ to grab editorial control of what quotes are used. Either it is off the record or it is not. Either it is quotable or it is not.
It is not the cure for interview nerves. (See my post: How to give good interview).
Asking for something to be off the record isn’t even a speed bump to a disreputable journalist but creates several kinds of difficulty and stress for a reputable one. Don’t do it unless you really have to.

I wouldn’t say that you should NEVER trust a journalist. If you know them well, have confidence in their track record, if they have something to lose by betraying a confidence then you might consider telling them something off the record, as background to help them understand the story.

On the other hand, you wouldn’t trust a complete stranger with the keys to your car, so why trust a journalist you’ve never met with a secret? There are definitely lazy, immoral, stupid, corrupt journalists out there. There are also honourable, decent, trustworthy, respectable ones. Just like people in any profession.

Luckily, now most of my work is through Articulate Marketing for corporate clients and the issue doesn’t affect me so much. The little journalism I still do is not controversial or I tend to know the people I’m interviewing before I interview them.

Tony Benn interviews the interviewers

Matthew Stibbe — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 19:31:38 +0000

I‘m watching a fantastic program on Channel 4. Tony Benn, the left-wing politician, interviews four of Britain’s top TV and radio journalists.

He talks to Jon Humphrys about interrupting interviewees. “I do sometimes get a bit irritated, and a little bit annoyed, and then, if I interrupt unfairly, and I do sometimes, I overdo it sometimes, I am aware of that and cross with myself,” says Humphrys. All four interviewees are convinced that uninterrupted politicians will spin and dodge and not really give any new information.

“A crucial role of anyone doing my job is to expose and report and reveal what people in power are doing,” explained Nick Robinson, in answer to a question about who should have access to the media.

Benn asked all the interviewees about whether local politicians or union leaders get enough air time. The general response was that with limited air time, interviewers naturally go to the organ grinder not the monkey. “The internet has democratised the media,” added Robinson in response to Benn’s question about whether people with radical ideas have access to the media.

What is the mission of journalists? “Sometimes it’s a question of holding to account, sometimes it’s a question of finding out what makes people tick,” says Jeremy Paxman. “Shine a light,” said Jon Snow.

I’m writing this in real time as I watch the programme. I don’t want to form instant judgements for the sake of it. Overall, I think the interviewers – who are really the top guns in the UK – come over pretty well and have a good understanding of their profession and their role in society. Benn asks challenging questions and I really enjoyed and welcomed the airing of the issues.

I’d love to find a transcript but Benn trailed the programme in an article in the Guardian.

Why interviews go wrong

Matthew Stibbe — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:32:30 +0000

Iwas talking to the marketing manager of a technology firm last week. She asked me about interviews that go wrong. My experience is (perhaps surprisingly) that very few interviews are wasted. Generally people are interesting. I like talking to experts in any field and I’m pretty curious about things.

The best interviews are like really intense, slightly one-sided conversations (you talk more than me, otherwise what’s the point) where interesting insights and observations emerge. If I’m doing my job then you’ll end up coming up with the goods.

However, interviews do fall below their potential sometimes and here are some of the reasons why, at least in my experience.

Interviewer problems

I’m insufficiently prepared. Usually I haven’t researched enough.
Technical difficulties with my call recorder, dictaphone or PC distract me.
Someone else calls or interrupts me while I’m in the interview.
I’m tired. It’s the end of a long day and I’ve done twenty interviews. I try to schedule people who I think will talk on autopilot or be extra-interesting for the end of the day but sometimes after eight or ten interviews I sort of lose the will to live.
I haven’t had enough tea. Try to avoid scheduling interviews with me before 10am.
(Rarely, I think) I get a diary failure and call at the wrong time. A typical article will require a dozen or so interviews and each one requires half a dozen emails. I’m usually working on a bunch of assignments at once. I don’t have a secretary so it sometimes happens that I slip up with all this. If this happened to you, I’m sorry.
The urge comes upon me. Sometimes (again, rarely) I get the urge to dig into some random, peripheral topic and pursue it like dog with a bone. This gets people’s defences up and, in turn, I sense their anxiety as defensiveness and redouble my efforts. It’s a bit of a vicious spiral.

Interviewee problems

You didn’t turn up. About one in five of my pre-arranged phone interviews fail to happen because the interviewee forgets or doesn’t take the call. I try to avoid face to face interviews, mainly because the same failure rate occurred but instead of wasting five minutes trying to get someone, I’ve wasted hours schlepping to the interview place.
You get distracted or interrupted. Typical problems: mobile phone calls, Blackberries, meeting room intrusions.
You’re on a cell phone and you keep going into tunnels or you’re on a train. Don’t do interviews on your cell phone. It sounds like an efficient use of time but it’s actually a monumental pain in the arse for me.
You get your timing wrong. One airline executive promised me an hour long interview and ended up giving me fifteen minutes. This is why they got a one page article instead of a three page article. They probably wouldn’t have got anything if the magazine hadn’t already commissioned photos.
Two interviewees are not better than one. A common PR belief is that if they can get two people into the interview, it will be better. Wrong! It makes my job harder – I have to figure out who is saying what and attribute each quote. Since I transcribe all my interviews in full, this is an extra burden for me and if I’m confused I can’t use the quote. Also, only one person can talk at a time so I still only get one interview’s worth of stuff.
You talk rubbish. This rarely happens but I get very journalist-cynical when people talk up their achievements or glibly puff up their business. “I was the CEO’s right-hand man” – so why didn’t we see your name in the FT? “We doubled our turnover in a year” – against what baseline? Etc. Get my hackles up and I do get quite Paxman.
You’re boring. Sometimes, perhaps one interview in a hundred, I get someone who could bore for England. Either they stick to their script (too much media training) or their expertise (too much detail) and the interview becomes a genuinely painful experience. I know this is happening because I find myself repeating the same question two or three times and getting the same answer. Generally the best thing to do here is to end the interview as soon as possible. It’s surprising how few people are genuine bores when they talk naturally about a subject they know well.