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Interview ‘Tips’
We appreciate that being interviewed on camera is not a ‘natural’ process for most people. Although our interviewers are very highly trained to ensure that people are guided carefully through the process, there are a few ‘hints and tips’ that are helpful to keep in mind when preparing for an interview.
- Talk in lay terms, using as little professional or technical jargon as possible.
- Tell stories and anecdotes that illustrate your point and give examples.
- Keep the answers short.
- Speak in complete thoughts. The interviewer’s question may be edited out and your response should stand on its own. By this we mean that if an interviewer asks you “Are people important to your organization?” try not to answer “Yes they are”, but include the main point of the question in your answer, e.g. “People are important to our organization because…”.
- Be confident. You are the expert!
- Remember, the interviews we take will never be used in full – on average a 45-minute interview will actually compose around 1-2 minutes of used footage. If you make a mistake or misphrase something, don’t worry, we’ll edit around it. More often than not we borrow different parts of sentences to form the final ‘quotes’ that we put on screen.
- Mention your “subject” by name several times during the interview, rather than saying “it” or “they.”
- If you do not understand a question, ask for clarification rather than talking around it. If you do not have the answer, say so – if we ask a stupid question, we deserve a stupid answer!
- Your work is interesting, but you must talk to people who aren’t specialists in what you do! You do it all the time – family dinners, with your dentist, on airplanes. Interviews are just the same.
- An analogy or image – even if it is flawed – can really bring a point home; “[Subject] is a lot like…” etc.
- Just answer the question – sometimes an interviewers will ask off topic questions just to work out your language patterns or your body language, so don’t be afraid to tell him/her what you had for breakfast this morning or which football team you support!
Above all, an interview shouldn’t be something to worry about, we are there to make you look good, not to trip you up! Our intentions are always to get the best responses from you that bring your subject to life.
Article by Miles Latham B.A. (Oxon), Managing Partner, Affixxius Productions
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