Pt. 6 in the “Interview Insights” Article Series
By ACN Past President Elaine Shein
Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t know at the time what my high school guidance counselor really thought of my goal to go to university to be a journalist.
Years later, he told a former roommate of mine he was surprised I actually was now working as a journalist. In fact, he was surprised I even got through university at all.
His true opinion of me? The gist of it: Why was a shy, introverted farm girl from a really small town applying to university to be a journalist? She’ll never make it past the first two weeks in university!
When I decided to become a journalist, it was because I loved to write and tell stories. It was not because I wanted to be a TV or radio star, or yearned to be a public speaker, or desired to throw myself into press conferences or interviews for an adrenaline rush.
Secretly, I knew I had to overcome being shy and nervous about asking questions. After all, the role of a journalist is to ask questions and seek answers.
My very first day in journalism school, I saw my fellow 24 students as being so confident of who they were and wanted to be in life. I think more than 80% of them said they wanted to be foreign correspondents. I merely wanted to be a newspaper reporter, perhaps for a small newspaper, because I loved to write.
The professors on that first day were blunt about the challenges we’d face as journalists as we sought to find the truth, balance careers and personal lives, and meet endless deadlines. Journalists have high alcoholism and divorce rates, we were warned. Before the end of the week, two of my classmates dropped out.
I still remember one of the professors giving our first assignment: a handout with a long list of questions. Research was needed, but no lessons yet on how to do the research. Find out about a certain building at a certain address and what is done inside that building. Try to reach a certain person who was in prison (bonus points for the last one).
I felt sick to my stomach. I felt panic. I felt I just couldn’t start phoning strangers and asking questions, and I didn’t have a single clue where to start. I thought I must be the only one that felt that way. I was ready to quit within that first 24 hours.
However, I was very lucky. A friend of mine had entered the same journalism school a year before me. She had done these questions — and survived. I called her up to share how I was afraid I couldn’t do the assignment. Maybe I shouldn’t be a journalist.
Fortunately, Sadia Zaman was kind, patient, and had great advice for me. Take one question at a time, don’t feel so overwhelmed; think carefully of different options to get the information to answer the questions; write down my questions before I called my sources. She didn’t give me the answers, but she gave me hope and a roadmap to think differently about the assignment.
She saved me that day. She went on to become an award-winning journalist for Vision TV, CBC and TVO in Canada; she also has been very successful in the arts and not-for-profit world, and is currently CEO of Inspirit Foundation.
Meanwhile, I went on to … attend Day Two of journalism school, determined to move forward because she believed I could do it. She encouraged me to believe I could do it.
Fast forward through my years at journalism school, a months-long internship, and a part-time job at a city’s daily newspaper while I was a college student. I did piles of stories, interviewed lots of people, even interviewed famous musicians, like Eddie Rabbitt.
So did I feel more confident and less shy about interviewing people?
No. I just hid better how I really felt about doing interviews.
I spent extra time psyching myself up before each interview. (“You can do this!”) I wrote down lists of questions in my notebook, usually inside my notebook covers. I would take several big breaths before I’d pick up a phone or enter a face-to-face interview, press conference, etc.
Do I still feel like that? No. So what changed and when?
I was fortunate after journalism school to be selected for a traveling scholarship that allowed me to work overseas for a summer in London. I worked at Gemini News Service’s small office on Fleet Street, where there were several other people in that office from different countries. From my first day there, I got my assignments — and deadlines. There was no time to waste.
The first few calls I made, I felt that old panic/anxiety kick in. I’d nervously pick up/put down/pick up again the phone. With trembling hands, I flipped through my notebook to double-check my scribbled questions in front of me. I took extra deep breaths. Then, I’d ring the numbers of strangers with unfamiliar areas codes.
That was when I learned that even though, yes, the sources did speak English — the same language as me — English is NOT the same language for all of us. People use different words, or words had different meanings. Depending on where they were from, they’d drop letters at the start of words or middle of words or have accents so heavy I had no idea what words/sentences they were saying.
I had to focus more on what they were saying to my questions rather than think of my own fears. I did more research to be better prepared, thought of the clearest ways to ask my questions, and gained confidence in my own ability to do the interview.
There actually came a day that summer when I went straight to the phone, dialed a number, did my interview and it wasn’t until hours later I realized I was no longer afraid to ask questions.
The GNS office was a great classroom for me. It was such a small office that we could hear each other’s calls or see when other people came to visit. I listened carefully to how other people did interviews, what was their style, how they mixed humor and seriousness most effectively. I was spellbound as I listened in on interviews with foreign correspondents from Asia, Africa, Europe and South America — whether on the phone or as they came through the office. One day, it might be someone talking passionately about the changes taking place in South Africa to free Nelson Mandela; another day, it was someone talking about what it was like to be tortured as a journalist in a South America prison.
By the time I finished my job in London, I realized I had matured a lot as a journalist but I also no longer was afraid to start conversations or do interviews with strangers. I began to truly enjoy doing interviews.
LIST OF TIPS
Anyone else out there still feel shy or anxious about doing interviews?
Here are some of the tips I’d suggest:
Give yourself extra time before doing your interview. This will help settle yourself down, gather your thoughts and even rearrange your notes.
Give yourself extra time after your interview. Allow yourself to decompress, gather your thoughts, jot down what struck you during the interview as most important or summarizes your discussion. This will help you to feel better overall about what you just did, but also make it a more rewarding experience that you won’t dread as much in the future.
Think of something you can ask as an icebreaker question from the start to help both you and the source be at ease. (Have index cards, or notes on your computer, about some of the sources you might use frequently. Names, where they live, any other work/personal details about them that might be good for icebreaker questions later for interviews.)
Just. Breathe. Take a few deep breaths — slowly release them — this will help calm you down. This also prepares you; you won’t catch yourself short of breath as you begin your questions.
Do some research prior to your interview. This will give you confidence in the topic material, as well as prepare you for what your source might say or where you might want to dig deeper.
If you feel better with a list of questions in front of you, that’s fine. Jot some down, whether it’s an open page in front of you or in the inside of a notebook you can occasionally glance at. Another reason I do like the inside of a notebook is I can add extra questions that come to mind while I am doing the interview. I can focus more on the current discussion and then get back later to those questions.
Be aware of time for the interview. Check with the source before the interview how much time is available. That way, both of you know what you’re working with and you won’t feel rushed. You can structure the interview using the time to your best advantage, and make sure sure certain questions get priority; you can use extra time at the end to circle back to any questions you forgot earlier.
Don’t be afraid to ask a source to repeat an answer if you didn’t understand what was said, or you found you were distracted because of nervousness or trying to look through your list of questions.
If you’re going to ask a question at a press conference, or a meeting where you will be up at a microphone, you will have limited time for your question. Scribble down your question on your notebook including a follow up one just in case you need it.
Consider joining a local Toastmasters group or other organization that helps teach more about communication or public speaking; they will also help build self-confidence.
Last, remember that the other person might not have experience doing interviews and may be as nervous as you!
This week’s challenge: Think of how you approach an interview. How confident are you? What do you do to overcome your shyness or anxiety about asking your questions? What tips would you offer others?
Remember to post your answers on ACN’s official Facebook page!
Shein is DTN Associate Managing Editor in Omaha, Nebraska. She has formerly worked for Capital Press in Oregon, The Western Producer and Regina Leader-Post in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Gemini News Service in London, England.
Elaine Shein can be reached at [email protected]