The Importance of Rapport, Empathy, and Probing Questions - Essay Example

An Interview with a Realtor: The Importance of Rapport, Empathy, and Probing Questions May 30, Conducting a career interview can help gather relevant information about one’s target job position. I interviewed Lisa Lee, a Sales Associate at the Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in California. She has been in the real estate business for six years. Despite the real estate industry being a highly-competitive, male-dominated job market, she was able to become one of the top sales realtors and has been recently awarded the Presidents Club Award in the company (which is only given to the top 4% realtors nationwide). I conducted the interview at Mrs. Lee’s office on May 10, 2015. The objectives of the interview are to learn more about how to get a real estate job and to understand the workplace experiences of a real estate broker (also called a realtor). I believe that I have properly conducted the interview with rapport, empathy, and good choices for primary questions, but I believe that I did not fully motivate the interviewee to be more open and I was not able to maximize probing questions to learn more about the interviewee’s job and hiring experiences. I would improve the interview by including more small talk that can help the interviewee relax and share more workplace/hiring information and by preparing for more probing questions. I attained good rapport and empathy levels through small talk, being empathetic of her weary physical state, and giving supportive verbal and non-verbal expressions throughout the interview. Rapport is essential to building and sustaining a relationship through promoting “feelings of goodwill and trust” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.81). I built rapport immediately during the opening stage of the interview by adding small talk and empathizing with her tiredness. In the beginning, I told her: “Good evening, Mrs. Lee, How’s everything going?” My introduction intends to make her feel like we are going to have a conversation, and not an interview. Ken Metzler suggests that interviewers should avoid using the word “interview” and treat the interview as “a conversation, talk, discussion, or chat” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.108). I mentioned the word “interview” at the opening stage of the interview, but I made sure to make her feel that we are having a conversation by empathetically responding to her. For instance, I showed empathy to indicate my respect for her time. I told her, “…can I interview you now? So we can end up early because I saw you look tired!... And really thank you for your acceptation of my interview again.” I indicated to her that I understand that she is tired from work and that I appreciate the time she has given me to interview her. I treated her with empathy because it “communicates genuine concern, understanding, and involvement” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.36). I understood her demanding job and that I must not waste her time and energy. To further show empathy, I gave supportive nods and comments as needed. For example, when Mrs. Lee talked about the benefits of being a realtor to her as a mother with a baby and as a married woman, I told her that being a realtor “sounds like it is a really perfect job for [her] and [her] family!” I nodded and smiled at the same time. I projected my admiration for her through these nonverbal expressions. She responded positively too when she said that I was right and that she loved her job. She smiled and I saw her eyes brighten up. Empathetic listening is essential to interviews because it “reassures, comforts, expresses warmth, and shows regard” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.36). I practiced empathetic listening when I reassured her that she has a good job, if it allowed her to be with her family, which seemed significantly important to her. Empathetic listening sustains rapport because it builds goodwill between the interviewer and the interviewee (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.81). Another form of sustaining rapport is through using nudging and reflective probes as needed. Rapport is not limited to small talks. It must be sustained throughout the interview to improve the interviewee’s trust in the interviewer (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.81). I could not easily decrease the relational uncertainty that comes from being a student, but I tried to encourage her through nudging and reflective probes (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.81). For instance, when she said that problem-solving skill is “very important” during the interview stage, I said, “very useful. I see.” I combined a nod and affirmative nudging probe. I indicated that I wanted her to continue if she wanted me to tell me more, which also builds rapport through encouraging open communication. Furthermore, I used reflective probes to “clarify” if I understood everything (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.55). For example, when I asked her about what made her want to work for the company, she answered, “…knowledge and support from the upper management and office make jobs a lot easier.” I asked her, “So did you mean you can work in any different branch?” This is both an informational and reflective probe. I believe that asking reflective probes sustains rapport because it exhibits that I am interested in her experiences, since I am making clarification questions. Clarification questions can also help interviewees to possibly share more ideas and feelings about the original primary question. Unfortunately, Mrs. Lee no longer expanded her answer. Sustaining rapport can be done through using nudging and reflective probes as needed, but the primary questions continue to be the basic, critical foundations of a good interview (Stewart & Cash, 2011). Besides good rapport, I think I chose the proper primary questions because they are focused on my objectives and avoided leading questions. One of the questions concentrated on the interview process for a realtor. For instance, I asked about “What questions did they ask you during the interview?” I avoided the tell me everything question that can give the interviewee “a difficult time determining where to begin, what to include, what to exclude, and when to end” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.61). I focused on somewhat more specific primary questions to provide sufficient boundaries for her potential answers. Another important highly open question is: “How is your experience working for this company?” I asked this question because I want her to narrate workplace experiences. I want long answers because “[l]engthy answers reveal what respondents think is important and motivate them to provide details and description” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.50). I do not seek to limit her to good experiences, and I hoped for her to open up about her difficult work experiences too. In addition, I avoided leading questions. I did not want to ask questions that are based on my assumptions and beliefs. For illustration, I asked her “How do you like your work now?” instead of a leading question like, “Do you feel that you are unjustly compensated in this job and would you leave it if offered a better-paying job?” I think this question is quite loaded because it uses “emotionally charged words” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.59). I did not use leading questions because they can create unease and anxiety, which is exactly the opposite of the relationship and atmosphere that I wanted to attain. Good primary questions without loaded questions are essential to turning interviews into great conversations. Despite the good question types, I believe that I lacked providing more motivating responses by not asking additional probing questions to maximize the information that I can get from the interview. For example, when I asked Mrs. Lee about how she likes her work, and she talks about her family, I did not probe anymore how she balanced her family and work life. I know that this is a sensitive question, but I am also interested on how she is successful, despite being married and having a young child. Someday, I will be engaged in a similarly demanding work, and I want to know strategies and tips on how to balance work and life goals. I should have asked her, “I know this work must be quite flexible, but, how about any challenges? What do you think are the challenges of the work itself?” These moderately open questions, which serve as informational probes, can motivate her to tell more about her other work experiences and feelings. Another example is when I asked her, “What questions did they ask you during the interview?” and she answered, “How long have I been in the business and what was the desirable commission split,” I did not follow up with more probing questions. I should have asked, “I hope you can tell me more about this, how did you know what a desirable commission split is?” This question could have made her think more about her answer and share tips on how to determine fair compensation. At the same time, I should have also asked the informational, moderately open question, “Did you find any question difficult to answer, what was it and why was it difficult to answer?” I could have made her think back more clearly though by saying first, “I know that the interview happened a long time ago, and I’m just wondering, about difficult interview questions.” I think I did not get much more informative answers because I did not encourage her to go back to the time of the interview. In other words, I made good primary questions, but I was not quite skilled in asking probing questions. I believe that skillful probing is essential in generating more complete information: “Skillful probing discovers more relevant, accurate, and complete information and may heighten the other party’s motivation because you appear to be interested and listening” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.56). I have not fully prepared on how to be a skillful prober. These questions and putting the interviewee to the storytelling mood would have led to more detailed work experiences and hiring memories. To resolve these interviewing weaknesses, I would improve the interview by including more small talk that can help the interviewee relax and remember more information and by preparing for more probing questions. As mentioned, I believe that I needed to put the interviewee more at ease through small talk that can truly make the interview as conversation-like as possible. For example, when I asked her, “How was your interview?” she answered, “I have been a realtor for 5 years, Brokers would like to know how long and the annual sales volume,” and then I asked “alright, so did you do well on your last interview?” I think that I should have added some small talk there to help her open up more or remember more details about her interview. I could have said, “You sure do have quite an experience already as a broker, was there any particular question that you can remember that you think you answered quite well? I am asking this because I also want to know how it feels to be asked questions as an experienced realtor.” Through this inquiry, I added some of my feelings too, as part of the small talk, to make the interviewee feel that we are just having a conversation about realtor jobs. Furthermore, I want to be prepared to ask probing questions. Metzler explained the importance of asking the right probing questions: “It’s seldom the first question that gets to the heart of the matter,” for “it’s the seventh, or maybe 16th question you didn’t know you were going to ask but have chosen to ask because of your careful, thoughtful listening” (Stewart & Cash, 2011, p.109). I think I did not get completely to the heart of my objectives because I was not able to maximize the probes. I was an empathetic listener, but I needed to be a more thoughtful prober. I should prepare a list of probing questions for my primary questions and be ready to ask more probing questions as needed. Some probing questions for the question about the “focus on the interview for [the realtor] position” are: “What particular working experiences did you share with them?” “How were you able to relate these experiences to the job you were applying for?” These probing questions would help me learn more about the kinds of information and experiences that interviewees are interested in. Another example of being prepared to ask probing questions is when she said that she made herself get hired. I should also ask these questions: “What do you think could be the answers that made you the best candidate for the position?” “Are there specific experiences and knowledge that an applicant has to have in order to get hired in well-respected companies?” I believe these probing skills are significant to helping interviewees narrate their experiences more. Interviewing Mrs. Lee is critical to knowing more about how to get a real estate job and to understand the workplace experiences of a realtor. I specifically chose her because of her successful record and because I can relate to her as a woman. I have properly conducted the interview with rapport, empathy, and good choices for primary questions, but I did not fully motivate the interviewee to be more conversational. In addition, I was not able to maximize probing questions to learn more about the interviewee’s job and hiring experiences. I would improve the interview by including more small talk that can help the interviewee relax and share more workplace/hiring information and by preparing a list of probing questions. Probing skills and thoughtful, empathetic listening skills will help successfully attain interviewing objectives. Interviewees should maintain a conversational atmosphere without losing respect and formality that befit the interviewee’s life position and work experiences. Reference Stewart, C., & Cash, W. (2011). Interviewing: Principles and practices. New Yotk: McGraw-Hill Education. Read More