How to level up your interview skills by learning to listen better

Credit: By Mimi Thian on Unsplash

Jen Maxfield is an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist and anchor and adjunct professor of broadcast journalism at Columbia University in New York. She estimates that in the last two decades, she has interviewed more than 10,000 people.

And even she sometimes finds herself hoping that a prospective interviewee will not answer her door-knock so that she can avoid the difficult conversations, she shares on the Journalism.co.uk podcast.

"Sometimes it’s very hard to ask someone for an interview [...] but by giving them the opportunity to share their story, sometimes very positive things can come out of that," she adds.

Whether this is simply ensuring that someone's story is told, raising awareness that leads to support or even systemic change, Maxfield says that journalist have a responsibility to try to get those difficult interviews.

And conversely, she notes that if you do not manage to interview the people who directly experienced the story you are reporting on, you run a higher risk of producing a less accurate story, or omitting crucial context.

Among the most difficult interviews in her own career came when she had to speak to the parent of a victim in a 2017 terror attack in New York. Because her team was the first to arrive, and no other family members were around, Maxfield and her photographer stayed with the victim's father after they had completed the interview and turned off their cameras, simply to offer support.

In any interview with someone who has experienced trauma, she recommends making sure to ask how the interviewee is feeling and whether they need any extra time to feel ready, before launching into questions about the story itself.

And another tip which helps not only to treat people in a more human way, but can also lead to more interesting stories, is to avoid over-preparing.

"Don’t try to list your questions in such an organised way that it makes it hard to actually listen to what someone’s saying to you, because I think sometimes when you go in and have too many set questions it means that in some way you’ve already decided what the person’s going to say to you, and it’s good to go into an interview with an open mind because I find that the best questions are follow-up questions."

At a breaking news scene, opening questions could be as simple as ‘tell me what that was like’ or ‘can you describe the moment when…’. Maxfield opts for these open-ended questions over anything too leading or with a yes/no answer, and sometimes focuses on specific senses (‘what did it sound/look/smell like’) to build up a more vivid description of the moment.

In situations where she can sense that someone is reticent or nervous, she will open with smaller biographical questions, or other "warm-ups" (asking people about their job, hometown, or what they were doing on the day/how they came to be at the location) rather than going straight into the news story.

She also introduces herself and her photographer by name and may share something about herself, "so it feels like more of a conversation and less like they’re in the spotlight".

All in all, Maxfield warns that when speaking to someone who has not chosen to be in the spotlight and has been through an upsetting or traumatic experience, the worst thing a journalist can do is to amplify their trauma or make a situation worse.

She recently wrote a book, More After the Break, in which she followed up with interviewees she spoke to during ten of her most memorable news stories, and says that she was surprised by how many people remembered even short interviews years on from the event.

To ensure that this is not an upsetting memory, Maxfield reverts to a mantra she was raised with: treat other people the way you would like to be treated.

"I do put a lot of stock in our position as journalists and the privilege in telling people's stories. We make an impression on people because we are there during those days that people remember forever."

READ ALSO: Audio, the least stressful medium for news? Yes and no

Three quick tips to get better answers

• Prioritise making your interviewee feeling comfortable, for example by briefing them, introducing yourself, and listening and responding to what they say. Give them time if they need it

• If you are reporting as part of a team, take advantage of that: at the end of an interview, Maxfield asks her photographer if they have any additional questions, the same way that a photographer would generally ask the journalist if there are any other shots they think would be useful

• And one practical piece of advice: Always take down people’s contact details if you can, just in case you need to confirm or fact check anything

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