answering interview questions

by Pamela Jaye Smith

How many times have you groaned in sympathetic or critical embarrassment over the sloppy or stiff performance of someone being interviewed about their company, their product, themselves, or a position they hold? Too often.  Whether a person tends to go on and on and on, or to give clipped answers – they do not get their message across. Whether a person's replies do not answer the interviewer's questions or go off on a tangent – they do not get their message across.

Learn to use these simple tools of good interviewing and you'll be much more effective at your goal – to get your message across to the audience.

If it's just going to be you on-camera, always restate the question in your answer.

For example:

Q: Why did you get into this business?

A: I got into the business of software analysis because I've always loved solving puzzles and there was a need in the marketplace for this type of service.  

Q: How many people are affected by this situation?  

A: Based on customer interviews and analysis of website traffic, we estimate about ten thousand people are affected by service slow-down.

If the Interviewer is also on-camera, your replies can be more conversational.

For example: 

Q: Why did you get into this business? 

A: Good question, Bob. Like a lot of people, I enjoy solving puzzles, so software analysis was a perfect business for me. 

Q: How many people are affected by this situation? 

A: Well, we are really concerned about service slow-downs so we decided to find out the answer to that question. We conducted customer interviews with people like yourself, and analyzed our website traffic. How many people? About ten thousand is our best estimate.

Next issue: Body Language – What are you really saying?