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August 13, 2024 12 mins

Here’s how you can take your interview skills to the next level! In this episode, I share valuable tips and insights for interviewers looking to improve their skills. After conducting hundreds of interviews with clients and guests on our podcast, I developed a core set of best practices easy enough for anyone planning to conduct an interview can follow. I discuss the importance of having a goal, pre-interview research, effective questioning techniques, and more. If you didn’t watch the last episode, make sure to catch Part 1 where I shared tips for interviewees. Tune in to learn how you can better your interviewing skills and create more engaging conversations.

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🎙️ Welcome to the Shoemaker Lab podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and actionable tips in the world of business, entrepreneurship, and creativity!  This podcast explores stories of local businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives, while also offering solo shows where I share valuable knowledge and advice on video marketing, social media, and navigating the digital landscape.

At Shoemaker Films, we focus on crafting professional video content that can help your businesses thrive online. Whether you're looking to launch a new product, tell your brand story, or engage with your audience on social media, we're here to help!

Looking to elevate your brand? Let's work together!
Visit our website at https://shoemakerfilms.com/
Follow us on Instagram @shoemaker.films and Tiktok @shoemakerfilms.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dane Shoemaker (00:03):
Welcome to Shoemaker Lab. I'm Dane
Schumacher. This is the officialpodcast of Shoemaker Films. On
this podcast, what we do isshare marketing tips for
business owners. We ofteninterview local entrepreneurs
and creatives in the GreaterPhiladelphia area as well as,
beyond.
We often share thoughts andexperiences on our own
entrepreneurial journey as well.So if that's something that's

(00:25):
interesting to you or valuable,please subscribe to our YouTube
channel. Make sure you alsofollow us on Instagram,
shoemaker.films. So today'spodcast, what we're doing is
talking about, really it's acontinuation from last week,
which was around interview tipsfor people being interviewed by
a company like us. Right?

(00:45):
So that might be some video thatwe send to people that we might
be interviewing for brand story,maybe a documentary, maybe
social media content. Right?Today, we're gonna be talking
about tips for interviewers. Soif you are a video producer or a
filmmaker, or you're, you know,maybe you're a marketing person

(01:06):
at your company and you wannainterview stakeholders at your
business, these are some tipsthat we've picked up along the
way, in interviewing hundreds ofpeople for, you know, either our
clients or even guests for thispodcast. Right?
We're gonna go through them.There's 9 tips that we're gonna
be talking about. So let's jumpin. So the first one is really
to have a goal or direction inmind. Obviously, if you've

(01:29):
gotten to the point where you'resitting down to interview
someone, you know, you alreadyhave a a a video that you're
doing this for, right, or a filmor a documentary.
Right? So by that point, thereshould be a goal in mind with
identifying who you areinterviewing. Right? What are
the stakeholders? So let's sayfor a brand video for a company,
you know, we would usuallyinterview the the owners or

(01:51):
owners.
Right? Presidents. Right? Keyleadership. We might also be
interviewing specific departmentheads.
Maybe there's just, you know,somebody at the company that's
really enthusiastic aboutworking there, and they have a
great story about how theystarted working there, and we
wanna interview that person.Oftentimes, there's gonna be a

(02:12):
lot of customer testimonials aswell, so we bring in a customer.
Maybe they have a great storyabout working with a company
that we wanna capture on video.Right? So really think about who
you're who is the you know, whoare the people that we're
interviewing?
Why are we interviewing them?And then from there, you wanna
do a lot of research. Right?What's their role? What do they

(02:32):
care about?
What's their story? Typically,having a pre interview is is a
really good idea. So whetherthat's the production company is
actually doing the a preinterview with somebody or maybe
it's the the contact of thecompany we're working with,
like, the marketing team willoften kind of vet people. What
we will have already decided onthe questions on the day of the

(02:53):
interview. So typically a coupleweeks in advance, we're trading
emails around, hey.
What are the 10 ish questionsthat we're gonna be interview
asking this person? And thoseare already vetted. And they're
kind of they're not generic.Right? They're very specific to
that person's role, their story,and it's meant to kind of elicit
kind of the key things that wewanna get out of that interview.
What are some good sound bites?You know, what what are some

(03:16):
things that we're expecting toget from this interview? So
research, do a pre interview,and have a goal in mind, right,
for this person. You know, whenyou actually sit down with the
person that interviewing, it canbe very uncomfortable. Right?
And we talked a little bit aboutthis, last week's podcast. But
for someone being interviewed,there's a there's a couple
cameras. Right? There's lights.There's a microphone.

(03:38):
You might have, half a dozenpeople standing behind you while
you're being interviewed. Thatcan be very intimidating. It's
not natural. It's it might bevery uncomfortable for them.
Right?
So your job as the interviewerreally is to make them feel
comfortable. Right? So you wannahave just a couple couple tips
here. So what we like to do,this is something that I've

(03:58):
picked up over the years, isafter that person is sitting you
know, they're starting to sitdown, you might want to kinda
show them around a little bit.Hey.
Here's the main camera, butyou're gonna be looking at me,
so don't worry about the camera.Maybe show them, you know, a
little bit, hey. Here's thesetup. Here's a light here.
Kinda have a conversation withthem.
And almost you might even wannapretend like you're tweaking

(04:21):
things and kinda go like, hey.This is looking great. By the
way, how you know, how's yourday going so far? You know, try
and, you know, maybe crack somejokes. You know, you wanna be
professional, but you also wantto make them feel at ease.
Right? So a good way to do thatis to kinda do like a a almost
like a fake check on the on thecameras. Right? Looking at
things, you know, okay. That thethings are looking real good

(04:42):
right now.
And then you sit down. Right?You you're gonna sit down, maybe
start just kinda askingquestions. So how's your day
going so far? What are yourplans for later?
Things like that. Maybe maybejust a nice comment. Oh, I like
that shirt, by the way. That'sthat's nice. Or your earrings
are nice or whatever.
Right? So, just something niceto kinda make them feel at ease.

(05:02):
Right? You might also wannaintroduce them to the team. So,
you know, if I'm I'm if I'mgonna be the one interviewing,
I'm gonna be, hey.
My name is Dane. Right? Oh, bythe way, there's, there's John
behind me. There's Susie. Right?
There's Bob. Right? Just kindaintroducing the team. Make them
feel comfortable. Right?
We're all humans here. Sittingdown to be interviewed is not a
normal thing. So do your best tojust be a human. Right?

(05:25):
Introduce people, Ask them howtheir day is going.
By that point, the camera isalready rolling. Right? And you
wanna get into your questioningat that point. Right? So, again,
you know, the key here, makethem feel comfortable.
You know, if we go to standard,you know, best practices around
questioning, it it's kind oflike a funnel. Right? So you at

(05:46):
the top, you're gonna be askingquestions more open ended.
Right? So, you know, we'll callopen questions.
Right? So question is designedto get them, you know, talking.
You know, you might wanna startoff with a couple easy question.
Hey. What's your name?
What's your role at the company?Simple things to get them
rolling, but then get you know,ask those big questions to and

(06:07):
kinda say, so tell me about yourrole at this company. What's
your, what is your thoughts onthis topic that the video is
about, right? Really get them toto to talk, and then from there,
you kinda 0 in. You go to openended questions.
You go to probing questions, andthen you go to the closed
questions where it's really ayes or no question at that

(06:27):
point. Right? After you kindaget them talking a little bit
more, they're they'recomfortable. They're they're
they're talking about, you know,kinda openly about what their
whatever the topic of the videois. Right?
Then you wanna get into somemore probing questions. Right?
You wanna 0 in on stuff. Right?Follow-up.
Right? Don't just ask a questionand then just move on to the
next questions. You really gottazero in on stuff. Now granted,

(06:49):
it depends on how much time youhave with this individual. You
might have a a tight timeline.
If you get the song bites,hopefully, the director is
behind you or producer, andthey're saying like, okay. We
got what we need here. But, youknow, don't don't be afraid to
ask follow-up questions. Canyou, you know, clarify that a
little bit more or tell me moreabout that? Or if you're the

(07:10):
interviewer, you might wannasummarize something.
Did I get that right? You know,just kind of, you know, clarify,
you know, oh, so, you know, whatcriteria did you get to get to
that point? Or how did that makeyou feel? Right? Or tell me why
you did that.
Just ask questions and kinda getthem talking a little bit more.
Then we get to the closedquestions. So if you're looking
at this funnel again, right,open ended questions, probing

(07:32):
questions, and then closedquestions. Closed questions
really are essentially yes or noquestions. Now in a documentary
or a brand film, that's notreally you don't want you don't
need footage of people sayingyes or no.
That's not gonna do anything todrive the story forward. But, if
you can ask them a question thatsays where they can agree with

(07:52):
that, yes, that is, you know sofor example, a closed question
would be, do you like workinghere? Yes. The answer is yes.
Okay.
Well, they need to repeat thatas a sentence. Right? So, you
know, you basically have to feedthem the answer. Hey. I love
working at this company.
And just get them to repeatthat. Right? I love working at

(08:14):
this company. And then you'vegotten to the point where that's
a closed question. It's reallyjust a a sentence at that point.
The next thing is really morewhy questions. Right? Just kind
of underline the importance ofasking more why questions.
Right? Essentially, you know, ifwe're telling a story, you know,
it's a documentary.
We we want people to feelsomething when they're watching
the video. Right? So just beinga a journalist, right, what,

(08:38):
who, when, how is not reallygonna drive the story forward.
You need to be asking more whyquestions. Why did you do that?
Why did you feel that way? Whydo you feel this way about the
company? You know, how does thismake you feel when you're
working here? Right? We reallywanna dive into more probing,
but really just the why behindsome of these answers.

(09:00):
Right? Another tip. So dead airchicken. If you're familiar with
this, it's actually you know,this is something that we would
practice in sales, you know,years ago. I mean, basically,
you might ask a question andthen the interviewee gives you
an answer, then that's it.
So instead of that instead ofyou asking the next question or

(09:20):
even asking a probing question,you know, it might just be you
just shut up. You just don'ttalk. You ask a question, they
give a response, acknowledge it,and then they might that it
might incur them to keeptalking. It's just a tactic. You
don't wanna abuse that.
Obviously, you know, we have awe have a job to do. Right? We
have a goal to hit. You don'twanna be sitting there in dead

(09:42):
silence making it awkward. Butoftentimes, if you are quiet,
they will keep talking.
You don't want it to be aninterrogation. Kinda you know,
we kinda brought this upalready, but, you know, ask
follow-up questions,acknowledge. Right? So when they
say something, be like, oh,that's really interesting. Okay.
Can you tell me more about that?Right? You're having a
conversation. This isn't aninterrogation. Right?

(10:03):
They're not in trouble. You'renot sitting there, just asking
question after question afterquestion. Sometimes it can feel
like that, and I'm definitely atfault of doing that in the past.
But, again, it it's gotta be aconversation between 2 human
beings. Active listening is veryimportant.
So that's the next thing. Sobasically you wanna be
acknowledging. Right? I justmentioned that. You wanna be

(10:24):
acknowledging the responses,nodding your head, smiling, you
know, commentary when it makessense.
Oh, that's really interesting.Oh, that's that's amazing. Wow.
That's great. You know, beauthentic.
Right? You wanna be energetic.Don't just be sitting back like
you're, you know, like it's ajob. Right? It's boring.
You know, you wanna be genuinelyengaged, generally interested.

(10:45):
Right? Leaning forward, nodding,smiling. Right? You know, again,
you're having a conversation.
You wanna make them feel like,you know, you're being listened
to. And that's really important.The more comfortable they feel,
the more they feel like you arelistening, the more they're
gonna share, about, you know,whatever the the film is about.
Right? The last tip is is keepthe camera rolling.

(11:07):
Right? You actually wanna, youknow, get the camera recording
before they even sit down andyou wanna keep the camera
recording long after the the theinterview is officially over.
Right? Because oftentimes whatwill happen okay. That's a wrap.
You let the the camera rolling,then they might actually share
something else. Like, maybesomething a little off the cuff

(11:27):
or, you know, someone elsebehind, you know, the
interviewer might start askingquestions or they start, you
know, recording as soon as theinterview is done. Let it roll
for a little bit until recordingas soon as the interview is
done. Let it roll for a littlebit until they're up out of

(11:47):
their seat and out of the room.So that's really important.
Hopefully, this was, somehelpful tips for, for
interviewing, individuals for adocumentary or a brand story or,
you know, any type of video.Right? So, 9 tips, we'll
summarize them here. And, again,if you have any questions, for
Shoemaker Films, if you wannawork with us, please make sure

(12:09):
to get in touch,shoemakerfilms.com. Please make
sure to subscribe to our YouTubechannel for future episodes.
Thanks a lot. Thanks forlistening today. Shoemaker Lab
is an original production byShoemaker Films LLC. If you
enjoyed today's content, pleaseconsider subscribing on YouTube,
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, andwherever you get your content.

(12:33):
Follow us on Instagram atshoemaker.films.
If you're a business that'seither interested in our video
production services or wouldlike to be a guest on the show,
get in touch by using thecontact form on our website,
shoemakerfilms.com.
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