Social Work Evaluation of an Early Interview

Social Work

Evaluation of an Early Interview

The interview conducted was with a colleague of mine who I met in school a little while back. She comes from a Persian family, as her parents immigrated to the United States from Iran in the late 1970s. Watching her parents start from scratch in a whole new country was always very inspiring to her. Although she was born in the United States, her extended family, including aunts, uncles, and grandparents had all been born in Iran. Theirs is a tight knight family group, one which is very different from the culture I was raised in. She came to the career choice of social work because of her desire to really immerse herself into American society and give back to the society that had embraced her parents and other family members. The desire to strengthen the community that strengthened her family was one of the primary motivators for choosing the field of social work. This motivation was clear throughout our interview, as she really stressed the importance of her family and providing for them by strengthening the community that they now know.

Overall, I believe the interview went relatively well for such an early stage of the process. I had known this colleague for a while now and she and I had become friends. Speaking with her was easy and fluid, as we have had conversations about such topics in the past. I felt it was like revisiting and old friend. In her feedback about my interviewing skills, she did clearly show that I was comfortable throughout the interview. I made direct eye contact and engaged in the conversation in a friendly and accepting manner. Although there were some instances where I did make assumptions about her culture, she believed that I respected the traditions she was discussing that led her to her career and life choices she is working on today. She did mention that I was a little less understanding about how her extended family are like close family to her. I made the assumption that she may not be as close to her cousins than her own siblings. In the actual interview, however, she clarified to me that her idea of family was different than my own, and that she loved her cousins just like they were her own siblings. They had all been raised together and felt like siblings for years. However, she did mention that I was very understanding after she brought the subject up in the context of the interview. As such, she felt as if I appreciated the differences in our two cultures and wanted to know more so I could be better informed from a cultural perspective.

There were also elements of nonverbal cues that were present in the interview. Again, she and I have been friends so it was easy to inspire an atmosphere of friendly communication. We joked with each other at points and smiled when recollecting certain facts and memories of hers from her up bringing. Looking at the tape, I was very open from a nonverbal standpoint. I used by hands, gesturing when the emphasis was needed. Also, it was not awkward to maintain eye contact and keep the conversation going and upbeat. Thankfully, she has a charming personality and is very flexible in regards to how she answers and responds to questions, which actually made it much easier for me during the process of conducting the interview.

Still, there were times were my speech could have been more clear. Although I kept a good tone of voice throughout the interview, there were times where I would talk to fast. I was clearly getting caught up in reminiscing with her and did not pace my speech out clearly enough. Luckily, she knows how excited and nervous I can get, and so she said it did not bother her that much. However, I clearly saw it in re-watching the tape of the interview. It would have been better to slow down my speaking and really allow her to formulate answers with more time to respond. I found myself probing her if she took more than a few seconds to answer the questions or respond to a comment. She did confirm the idea that it would have been nicer and more formal to have more time to formulate responses. I could have also done more summarizing of her words in order to affirm that I understood and enjoyed the content she provided. I did not do much summarizing of her words, which I think may have come off as being insensitive. Still, based on her evaluation of my participation, she felt understood and accepted throughout the interview.

One Year Letter to Myself

My Name

Home Address

My Name

Home Address

February 24, 2014

Dear Last Name,

ONE YEAR LETTER TO MYSELF

I am writing this letter to myself, so that I can revisit the past in order to ensure that I am improving in the future. This letter is to help remind me of what I need to work on in order to become a more culturally sensitive and more empathetic listener. Clearly, my progress in this field is important, as it will ultimately help me successfully reach my academic and professional goals within the realm of social work.

After watching the interview I have just conducted, it is clear there are some elements of improvement I need to work on. I often speak to rapidly and do not allow for the subject to have the time needed to formulate their answers at their own pace. This could be detrimental in interviewing people who do not speak English as their first language. Thus, I know throughout the next year, I need to work on slowing down the pace of the interview so that there is enough time for the subject to feel comfortable to respond.