Prepare for an Interview - Research Paper Example

As explicitly noted by Murphy & Dillion (2010), “clinicians need to stay very clear about the purpose of interviewing to avoid drifting from subject to subject in nonproductive ways” (p. 5). Planned Topics and Sequence to Cover During the Interview The topics that would be covered, as well as the corresponding sequence are itemized below: 1. Delivery of appropriate greetings; 1.1 counselor introduces oneself and briefly mentions the position and length of service within the local high school setting, in case the subject student is not fully aware or acquainted; 1.

2 counselor asks how the student is; what her full name is and the level in high school; 2. Counselor states the purpose of the interview; 3. Counselor seeks to solicit information from the student; 4. Student is given the opportunity to relay relevant information regarding the root cause of the decline in grades; 5. Counselor acknowledges, confirms, or pries, depending on the information that is disclosed; 6. Student is asked how she/he feels about the situation; 7. Counselor acknowledges, confirms, or pries, depending on the information that is disclosed; counselor likewise asks how student proposes to improve her/his grades; 8.

Student gives proposed ways to improve grades; 9. Counselor reviews and evaluates the proposed method as to credibility, reliability and validity; counselor could confirm, agree, or make additional proposals, as needed. 10. Student is asked if the courses of action are viable and enforceable within a defined time frame and made to confirm or acknowledge selected courses of action to improve grades in a formally written confirmation (or binding agreement); 11. Counselor confirms receipt of proposed actions to improve grades and validates the agreement through signed conformity; 12.

Closing remarks and good-byes. Questions to Obtain the Information The proposed questions to obtain the needed information are as follows: 1. Based on your school records, it was evident that the current semester exhibited a decline in grades. Can you please explain the reasons for this? 2. How do you feel about the decline in your academic performance? 3. What are you going to do about this? What courses of action have you identified to increase or improve your academic performance? Opening Techniques to Build Rapport The opening techniques to build rapport are as follows: (1) start with appropriate greetings: Good Morning, how are you doing today? (2) How do you find your classes, so far? (3) What is your favorite subject and your favorite teacher? Why? (4) Are you having particular academic difficulties or problems with any identified subject?

Or teacher? (5) Tell me, why do you think your grades significantly declined in the past semester? Types and Examples of Questions to Avoid The types of questions that should be avoided are those that are fault finding or putting the blame on someone or something; or close-ended questions. For instance: Did you fail the subjects out of your own negligence or laxity to review and study? Or – Your failure must have been due to your frequent partying and socializing, as I heard from your classmates.

Is this true? By structuring the questions this way, the tendency for the student is to assume a defensive stance and therefore, the counselor would have been ineffective in soliciting the accurate root cause of