Interviewing Participants

The interview report form can be found within the IC Resource Center.

• Review applications prior to the interview. Then, you will already have notes on what an applicant is missing or needs to change.

• Ask relevant questions for specific skills but don’t simply repeat what they already wrote on their application. You can use the Skill Question guide to help you gather detailed responses.

• Don’t feel that you need to go through the sections of the interview report as they are listed. Skip around and use whatever order feels comfortable.

• Avoid yes and no questions as much as possible. Instead of feeding answers to applicants, sit back and listen to their explanations.

• If possible, try pulling information from their application that is totally unrelated to camp. (“I see you are studying engineering. Would you tell me a little bit about your classes?” or “You wrote that you have two older sisters. What kind of work do they do?”)

• Confirm contact information on their application. Remind the applicant to check email (including their “spam” or “junk” folders) frequently! Camp directors will be contacting them to set up interviews and ask additional questions. Responding in a timely manner is key to a successful placement.

• Include notes about the applicant’s personality, intentions, mannerisms and anything else the camp director might want to know before hiring the applicant, but also keep it concise.

• If English is not their first language, try to speak English throughout the entire interview. This will also serve as their Language Assessment. Be honest!

• Interview Reports need to be signed and dated.