Interview like a journalist (2)
As promised, my next installment of how to interview like a journalist.
This pro tip is about how to listen and how to set aside your own mental models to do it well.
People talk about “active listening” without saying what it means. The most you’ll get is “lean in.” Like, literally, lean in, nod your head, “look” interested. Also, “EMPATHY!”
But that’s kind of an act if you haven’t been taught how to do it. The best you’re going to get with that vagueness is the ability to know if the person is excited or sad or angry about something they’re telling you.
In journalism it’s called “listening for the next question,” and in research it’s called “following up” or “digging deeper” or something like that.
A really good interviewer will listen patiently and catch that thing you mentioned three and ten and thirty minutes, then smoothly go straight back to it.
We have a practiced instinct for where there’s “more” to a topic for someone. Meaning we’ve practiced, and are not just winging it.
In all cases, it’s about sinking into a place where it’s not only about you.
Where you are really hearing what someone is trying to say, asking questions when you don’t understand, and listening without projecting your own value set onto the person speaking, which is really hard to do in an interview situation.
It’s hard because you arrive with a set of things you need that person to be able to do, therefore a set of things you need to hear them talk about, in order to feel certain this person you’re talking to can do those things.
That’s when things get really sticky because of mental models.
Your way of describing a particular skill or experience or perspective you’re looking for might be different than the way the candidate will explain it.
In fact, it probably is. You have a bunch of internal reference points for what you need. Every company has its own slightly different lexicon.
Words they avoid, words they embrace, and words that trigger them. Words that are okay today but not next month. I’ve noticed over time that the worst ones are the consulting words.
Let’s take the word agile as an example.
Saying “agile” to me in an interview could mean at least two totally different things:
you’re using a simple adjective to describe a way something was done
or it could be referring to agile methodology/lifestyle/ whatever it is now
I almost never use it in the first sense because people assume I mean it in the second one.
You might also get a variety of emotional reactions when you use it, depending on a candidate’s experience. If you ask me about “being agile” or have I “done agile” I would tell you this:
I have worked in companies that have been trying to use agile for 15 years with a lot of variance
I have studied the actual methodology and been able to help influence better use of it
I believe it can work when done well, like anything in life
For some designers it means “everything that is currently wrong” with their jobs.
So how do you do better?
I am going to keep telling you to both consider and write down what you are really looking for before you talk to a single person or even evaluate an application.
It’s much easier to refer to, or switch up terms within, a written list than to try to have the recall ability to “know it when you see it.”
Take the time to make your own life easier, is what I’m saying.
Think about the different types of experience that might add up to what you need from this new hire. What kind of agency experience would connect with in-house? Or in-house with civic tech? Or financial services with healthcare? (because OF COURSE you don’t only look for people with only one precise set of experiences…)
and in that spirit, look for similarities, not exact matches, in applicable work experience. Learn what they are if you don’t know.
Write down what is in a design, research study, or content strategy that would signal to you that a portfolio piece contains the kind of work experience you need this person to have. A portfolio is really about skill signals, not precision about the exact team they’d fit well within in some untold, unknown future.
Be aware of the amount of experience you really need in a specific skill. Do you need someone who can facilitate anything, or someone who is interested in doing more workshops? Do you need someone trained as an illustrator, or do you need someone who can draw when it’s needed?
Really, I’m telling you to take the time to be truly prepared, engaged, and present for the hiring process. If you are someone responsible for hiring, it is likely the most important and highest impact thing you do in your job. It’s one of those things that truly and literally pays off when you do it well (and can backfire spectacularly for everyone when done poorly).
