Re: Interviews

Today is an interview day.
Fortunately, I need not leave my office this Sunday, all these interviews can be done by phone because I am sorting through a long lost of potential witness to determine who saw what.
Once I find people I think are key witnesses, I set up an in-person interview...
my ultimate goal being a report of interview, a statement, declaration or deposition.
Of course, getting a phone call from a P.I. on a Sunday can be disconcerting to some, so the job is not as easy as it may sound.
Credibility must be established, then trust and rapport.

And often, finding those interview subject isn't easy.
Many are rarely home.
I find many people on Sundays, especially Sunday nights. I think of it as my magic locate day.
The religious might say, the higher power is with me on Sundays.
However, interviewing is work, not worship.


Not only do you have to take  word for words notes at the speed of light...
you have to be able to professionally elicit information from a wide variety of people with a whole slew of personality types.
Your list of questions has to be at hand, you have to know what you need and what you don't.
And everything you do must be done right so it can stand up in court.

The key to interviewing is as much physical as it is psychological.
Sometimes it requires a soft touch, other time, a more assertive one. 
Ad very often, it requires acting.
You must get every bit of info you need from a subject...
and be able to chillax even when the person you are talking to is "difficult" or  "different"

I have walked into rooms where people have instantly hated me "just because."
I employ techniques to turn those people from haters to allies.
In other cases, I have interviewed people with a few screws loose and I have to figure out how to screw them back in enough to find out what they know.
Which is why I included the You Tube below.

For those "House" Fans, yes indeed, that is Hugh Laurie.
I think its a good representation of how a very simple interview can turn out no so simple after all.
And besides that, it's a hoot.
So here's your Sunday funny.... while the 24/7 shift of a self employed P.I. continues ever onward.