On-screen Interviewing: Evaluation

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Aimy Kersey. I want to talk to you today about some general screen tips. What to do when you find yourself in front of the camera. Evaluation. This is so important to do. Many people think they did a great job in an interview. "Wonderful, job well done." They never pause and think, "I need to evaluate how well I did so that I don't make similar mistakes again." Even if you don't make any mistakes, you can still learn about things like posture, pitch and tone, all those kind of things. It's so important to evaluate your interview and how well you did before you do another interview. Here are some questions you may wish to ask yourself, to evaluate your interview skills. Did you communicate your objective; create sound bites or short quotations? Keep control of the interview? Remain calm? Listen carefully to questions? Bridge from hostile or irrelevant questions? Use short, succinct sentences? Maintain credibility? Keep good eye contact with the interviewer? Control body gestures and use hand motions? Stop that shaking leg? Project a strong positive image of a person people would trust? "I just finished an interview and I'm not sure it went as well as I wanted it to. What can I do to make sure the next one goes better?" "Was this a television interview?" "Yes, it was." "And have you had a chance to watch that?" "No, I haven't." "Okay, first point; lots of people don't watch their interviews, so how can you learn to be better unless you see your mistakes? So what I'd suggest is that you actually take notes on your performance. Maybe have a look at the way you're holding yourself, do you look awkward or relaxed on television? How about your voice? Do you speak too slowly or too fast, do you inflect at the right places? So maybe if you're not so comfortable with the way that you sound, start recording yourself so that you can get a little used to the way you sound on camera. It's really important that you try and judge your performance, not as you watching yourself, but as you watching somebody else being interviewed. And be really critical or analytical of your behavior so that you can improve the next time." Thanks for spending the time listening to these thoughts. I've had the privilege of screen coaching many people from all different walks of life, and I've found that when they put into practice some of these key skills we've talked about, they are then able to get their message across, and maximize their 15 minutes of fame."