Interview Practice and Roleplay as Interviewer and Interviewee: an Interactive Approach in The Development of Communication Competencies

Introduction

The interview is one of the types of interpersonal communication of great importance in various professional contexts, such as qualitative research, job recruitment and psychological assessment. Conducting an effective interview depends not only on how to ask questions, but also on understanding how the interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee goes. Where people assume the role of interviewer and are interviewed in turn, roleplay is one approach that has proven successful for practicing this skill.

The purpose of this article is to study the benefits and pedagogical approaches of the practice of interviewing and roleplay, as well as their effect on the development of professional communication competencies. Roleplay also gives participants the opportunity to experience the interview situation firsthand, which also helps them become more reflective and adaptive.

Basic concepts of Interview and roleplay

The interview is a method of generating knowledge through oral communication between two people who seek to obtain important information from the point of view of the subject. Rolplay lets players learn social and communication skills in a safe and organized environment.

Benefits of Roleplay in interview training

1.Empathy Development : participants can understand the emotional distress and needs associated with work by working as a responsible person.

2.Self-reflection : participants supporting role to improve their communication style, which results in body language, nationality structure and tone of voice.

3.Adaptive Performance Assessment: participants in the simulation learn to understand how they interact with different situations and types of respondents.

Roleplay Implementation Strategy

1.Role Rotation : participants alternate between theinterviewer and the interviewee to gain a dual perspective.

2.Use of Semi-Structured Interview Guides : provide a flexible yet purposeful framework to keep the focus of the interview.

3.Debriefing and Feedback : after the roleplay, a joint reflection session is used to identify strengths and areas that need improvement.

Challenges and Solutions

Initial Awkwardness : the participants experienced awkwardness when starting the role-playing exercise, which was a major challenge. This is natural because they are asked to speak in ways that may not be natural and act as certain characters. They may not be able to participate to the fullest and train conscientiously because of this awkwardness.

The solution is to build a supportive, non-judgmental environment. Before the exercise begins, the facilitator or trainer must create a comfortable and safe atmosphere. This can be done with:

1.Encouraging opening statement: explain that the purpose of this exercise is to learn and improve, not to find fault. Emphasize that there are no wrong answers and everyone is allowed to make mistakes.

2.Build trust : ask each participant to share their experiences or concerns briefly. It helps break down tension and makes everyone feel connected.

3.Provide constructive feedback : when providing feedback, focus on things that can be improved rather than just highlighting weaknesses. Use positive and specific language, for example, "your choice of words was very good when answering the question, maybe you could try adding details about..."

Role Imbalance : using Active Listening the second challenge that often occurs during practice is the role imbalance between the interviewer and the resource person. Although ideally both roles should interact with each other, often one of the parties wins. The interviewer can be too passive, that is, only read the questions and not interact, or too active, that is, dominate the conversation or interrupt.

The solution is training that emphasizes the importance of active listening and balanced interaction. Training should provide specific guidance for both roles:

1.For the role of interviewer : train the interviewer to not only ask questions, but also listen carefully to the responses. Teach them to ask follow-up questions based on the answers given. This shows that they are really engaged in the conversation and makes the exercise more realistic.

2.For the role of interview participant : train them to give concise but informative answers, which encourage the interviewer to ask further questions. They can also learn how to take the initiative in a conversation.

Coaches can also provide different role scenarios to challenge participants, for example scenarios where the interviewer is very passive or very dominant. It will prepare participants to deal with different types of interactions in a real interview and train them to adapt to the situation.

Conclusion

To improve interpersonal communication skills, the practice of interviewing and roleplay as interviewers and interviewers helps students gain a better understanding of the social and psychological dynamics in human interaction, in addition to improving the technical ability to ask and respond to questions. If applied correctly, roleplay can be a very useful tool for teaching careers.

Scientific References

Anderson, C., & Kirkpatrick, S. (2016). Narrative interviewing. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, 38, 631--634.

Brinkmann, S. (2014). Interview. In Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1008--1010). Springer.

Alby, F., & Fatigante, M. (2014). Preserving the Respondent's Standpoint in a Research Interview: Different Strategies of 'Doing' the Interviewer. Human Studies, 37, 239--256.