Your participation as a CareerRoad.org student Ambassador is a great opportunity for you to learn about different career opportunities and simultaneously share the information with every high school student or young adult that sees your video on the CareerRoad YouTube channel. These videos will make a positive impact on you and many other people’s lives. Remember when you had career day at school and a parent would come in and talk about their career? This is basically an interactive career day video where you get to interview successful individuals for the benefit of every young adult.
Your final interview should last between 15-25 minutes. You can film for extended periods of time, and we can make cuts in the edit. We recommend you keep a timer in the room so that you have an idea of how long you have been filming. You will be surprised how fast the time can go! Your interview will be most effective if you follow a written outline of subjects to cover and conduct it in the manner of an informal conversation around your dinner table. This will make both you and the interviewer feel comfortable and look natural on film.
You have the option to film your interview in person but we keep it simple by providing you with remote video software that allows you to record all of your interviews on your phone, tablet or computer. The content of the interview is most important, so don’t worry about the appearance of the video. We will help you to film an interview that has a professional appearance and good sound quality. Sound quality is most important. Prior to filming your interview(s) we will train you on the best practices for filming a high quality video interview.
The purpose of the interview is to learn about the person’s present career, their career goals, the road they took to achieve career success, and get advice from them on what a high school or college student should know to place oneself in the best possible position to have a similar career one day.
It’s important to research the individual you’re interviewing so that you can have an understanding of their accomplishments and help you to ask good questions. Prior to conducting your interview send them the questions and topics you intend to cover during the interview.
When conducting your interview, it is best to begin with a brief introduction of the person being interviewed and give them a map of what you would like to discuss. This technique is great for both the interviewee and your audience. Remember that you are speaking to both the interviewee and an audience that is unfamiliar with either the interviewee or you.
For example, a good start would be a “I am here with Enter Name, the owner of enter business name or state their occupation, and I want to thank you for volunteering your time. My goal in today’s interview is to learn about your career, the road you took to get there, and to get some helpful tips that could guide me and other young adults toward success. “
After your introduction of the interviewee, ask your first question and begin the conversation. Always listen to the person’s responses; this allows you to participate in a meaningful conversation and ask insightful follow-up questions. Remember that you are interviewing to educate all high school and college students, so keep in mind that not everyone has the same level of knowledge as you. If the subject matter becomes sophisticated or technical, ask the interviewee to elaborate, as most people may not comprehend otherwise. Keep track of your time because you only want to devote so much time to each topic. Don’t feel rushed but also feel free to redirect the interviewee with a new question if you need to. As you practice, you will become more adept at interrupting and guiding the interviewee. Remember that you want to keep the interview informative and interesting.
You can transition to a new topic by saying, “I want to back you up to high school and can you tell me about the road you took to get where you are today?”
As they tell you the different things they did, you should interject some questions. For Example, if they went to college or grad school you may want to ask why did they chose that school? Then you can ask a question like, how important is the school you go to in being successful in your career? As they tell you about other jobs they had you should ask how they got those jobs and what they were like.
