Notes from an Editor: How to Get the Interview You Want 2!

Posted by Lima Al-Azzeh May 6, 2009

Last week, Business & Finance Section Editor Lisa Nichols shared with us some valuable insights on how to get the interview you want when you don’t know what to write about. This week, Lisa follows up this advice by giving us tips on how to approach an interview when you’ve already decided on what you’d like to write about.

“Scenario #2 How to Get the Interview You Want: You Know What You Want to Write about Already.

A more efficient way to approach an interview is to have a specific idea in mind of what you want to write about before you contact the subject matter expert (SME).

I usually approach it like this: write the article and then leave some spots that say ‘insert quote here.’ Contact the subject matter expert and let them know the angle of your article when you set up the interview. During the interview, ask questions that will help you fill in the blanks in your article. This is more than fine to do and in fact it’s expected – SMEs are wise to the fact that you have an angle and they’re usually more than willing to work themselves into your writing however you see fit.

It’s a simple way to approach getting the interview you want – and it works.

Since I posted the first interview tip on the Suite101 writers' forum, some Suite members kindly stepped up to the ‘share your favorite interview tip’ plate and offered some additional thoughts on interviewing SMEs.

Mia Carter, Suite101’s Mind & Soul Editor, suggests that writers ‘learn how to take notes at the speed that people speak. This will make your life so much easier. You can practice while watching TV, especially if you have DVR, which allows you to rewind if you want to check your accuracy.’

Christiane Birkett, Suite101’s Eastern Europe Travel Feature Writer, often finds interviewing SMEs challenging since they frequently speak different languages! Christiane shared her favorite tip for getting the interview she needs: ‘I compiled an interview sheet – three pages of standard questions with big gaps between them for the answers. I find that people really like that because it's so very professional. It's also a reminder to me not to forget important questions!’”