Interviewer: “Describe yourself in three adjectives.”
Admissions candidate: “Good looking. Intelligent. (long pause) Humble.”
That’s just one memory that emerged as I reflected upon my 50-year career doing interviews for my work: in college admissions, while doing research for writing admissions and fundraising materials for colleges and schools around the country, as a freelance writer and as a columnist. I’ve conducted, no exaggeration, thousands of interviews in the process. Most of them have been individual interviews (in person or over the phone), but during my college communications work, I’d often sit down with a group of students, say, or faculty, administrators or coaches.
When one conducts interviews, one takes notes. (I never used a tape recorder.) I’ve always printed my notes or used a form of shorthand. Fortunately, I can usually read them. If someone says something especially quotable, I’ll circle it or maybe write “lead-in” or “wrap up.” (During group interviews, I would write each person’s name on a different part of the yellow note pad, so I’d know who said what.)
I greatly enjoy doing interviews, getting beneath the surface of other people, discovering what makes them tick. And most people enjoy being asked questions.
The oldest person I ever interviewed was 103. Actually, I interviewed two 103-year olds for a column entitled, “A Pair of 103s.” One of them, my sister-in-law’s father, is still alert and interested in the world at age 107 and a half. The youngest person was 5 years old (for a day school kindergarten).
I spent many years doing “mock interviews” for Bowdoin students to give them practice with interviews. I often suggested that they ask the interviewers questions about their own lives. And also, remember to smile. As Maya Angelou famously said, “At the end of the day, people won’t remember what you said or did. They remember how you made them feel.”
I had three especially memorable interviews during my time in Bowdoin’s
Admissions Office (1968-71). While I was interviewing one young man, his father had a cerebral hemorrhage while sitting in the outer office with his wife and daughter. I went to
Parkview Hospital later with the whole family. The father died that afternoon.
Another time a charming young man came in wanting to transfer from Rutgers University to Bowdoin. We discovered, before acting on his application, that he’d forged his college transcript and, it gets better, created a fake newspaper clipping, which quoted his track coach as saying that the kid was destined for the Olympics.
The father of another applicant asked if I’d like a new pair of L L Bean boots, a casual form of bribery that pales in comparison to the 2019 admissions scandal, when parents paid thousands of dollars to get their kids into prestigious places.
I conducted a series of interesting interviews to profile people for my short-lived “Random Profiles” column in the Times Record a dozen years ago. I’d call people up at random out of the phone book to see if they’d be willing to be interviewed. About half of them were willing to do so.
Because of my long interviewing experience, I’m comfortable meeting new people and engaging them in conversations. That said, ifs I get into interviewing mode, I’m sometimes overeager about asking questions. For example, because I’m well aware of the nation’s colleges and universities, I’ll sometimes ask people, “Do you mind my asking where you went to college?” I do so not to make a judgment, but because it’s a way for me to make a connection, as I’ve invariably heard about their alma mater. The question backfires, understandably, for people who didn’t go to college.
I’ve also been known to ask “piercing questions” at dinner parties with close friends. (e.g. “Who were your three most important mentors outside your immediate family?” “What new activity would you like to try in the next year?” “What career would you have chosen beside the one you did pursue?” “What’s your proudest life accomplishment and why?”)
It’s been a real pleasure interviewing people of all ages and backgrounds for the last 50 years. In next Friday’s column (Part II) I will highlight some of the more notable people I’ve had the privilege to interview.
David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns. dtreadw575@aol.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
