interviewing

is a task for which one should prepare for by having only the elementary of knowledge, for knowing a subject about which one studies is actually a disadvantage. By repeating and even fumbling a respondent's answers, one encourages people to embroider on a topic.

When McPhee conducts an interview he tries to be as blank as his notebook pages, totally devoid of preconceptions, equipped with only the most elementary knowledge. He has found that imagining he knows a subject is a disadvantage, for that prejudice will limit his freedom to ask, to learn, to be surprised by unfolding evidence. Since most stories are full of unsuspected complexity, an interviewer hardly needs to feign ignorance. (John Mcphee reader : xii) . . . . 'By repeating and even fumbling their answers, McPhee encourages people to embroider a topic until he has it entire. In an ideal interview he listens without interrupting, at liberty to take notes without framing repartee or otherwise entering the conversation' (John Mcphee reader: xiii)

is based on rapport, which takes time. One-hour is hardly enough time to get to know a person. The answers themselves are not what is looked for, rather, it is the meta-data.

Recruiting is hard. It's just finding the needles in the haystack. You can't know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it's ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person' What are they like when they're challenged' I ask everybody that: 'Why are you here'' The answers themselves are not what you're looking for. It's the meta-data. Steve Jobs

is best conducted without using tape recorders. Rather, the writing process must begin with words - a scrap of talk, bits of description, odd facts and inferences-- and only a pencil and notebook will answer these needs with literacy and economy.

He never uses tape recorders when interviewing, for they inhibit some people and are too subverbal for his purposes. The writing process must begin with words-a scrap of talk, bits of description, odd facts and infernces-- and only a pencil and notebook will answer these needs with literacy and economy' (John Mcphee reader: xiii)

is an activity in which the interviewer's presence necessarily runs counter to a person's best interests. And it always does : Writers are always selling somebody out.

My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does. j(8) That is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out. (didion 'slouching towards bethlehem' (6-7)

interviewing, n.Definitions

interviewing