Can Interviewing Be Taught

Today I teach interviewing in my class. I will teach them the mindset, the method, what to ask and how. I will teach them ways to approach people and whether to tape or write. I will talk about anonymous sources and how to develop sources. Or I will try.

I was talking about it all at dinner and Jonathan asked: "Do you even think interviewing can be taught?"

Or is it just a talent.

We ended up having an argument.

He argued it is a talent. I argued it can be taught. In the end, he had a point. A bad person who is untrustworthy and emits that through their pores, or an interviewer who just exudes, "I am not interested in this assignment but my editor made me do it," is not going to get great quotes, or the info they want.

On the other hand, there are definitely techniques you can use. You can learn how to make people relax, how to know enough that you can disarm people with what you know, and you can learn to care, and make people feel that way. You can learn how to mix up your questions so the angle of your story is not so obvious, and you do learn what works over time. You learn when to provoke and when to seduce.

I do not believe it is a talent. But I do believe it is an art, and that only after hundreds and hundreds of interviews will you begin to develop the style that works for you.

What do you think?