Text 2: active listening in SME interviews

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• Why are SME interviews often frustrating, according to the author? The subjects are usually boring.Experts don't want to share their knowledge.Experts know their subject so well that explaining it becomes harder, not easier.Interviewers are not trained.
• What is « the curse of knowledge »? Knowing too much makes experts arrogant.Knowledge quickly goes out of date.Only experts can understand other experts.Experts forget what it was like not to know, skip steps and use jargon.
• What is the last of the four stages of expertise? Conscious competence: you can do it, but you must concentrate.Unconscious competence: the skill is so automatic you no longer think about it.Unconscious incompetence: you don't know what you don't know.Conscious incompetence: you know what you can't do.
• Why should you study the topic before the interview? To write the content before the interview.So that you don't need to ask any questions.It saves the expert from explaining the basics, and shows you respect their time.To impress the expert with your knowledge.
• What is « the single biggest lever » of the interviewer? Recording the interview.Asking open-ended questions.Using silence.Taking handwritten notes.
• Which of these is an open-ended question? Was it difficult?Is that the final version?Tell me about the day the project started.Did the project start on time?
• What does the example of the trip show? Travel is a good topic to start an interview.You should share your own stories first.Experts never answer closed questions.The same experience gives much richer material when you ask an open question.
• Why should you resist the urge to fill a pause? The recording tool needs pauses.Silence gives the expert time to think and to add details they had left out.Silence makes the interview shorter.Silence shows that you disagree.
• Why does the author still take notes by hand? Because AI tools are not reliable.To draw diagrams.So the expert can think without being stared at.Because experts prefer it.
• What is « mirroring »? Copying the expert's body language.Reading your notes aloud.Asking the same question twice.Repeating the expert's last few words, so they correct or expand on them.
• What does the example of the foundation show? You should always ask for figures first.The first answer is rarely the best one: follow-up questions bring out the real details.Construction is a difficult topic.Experts exaggerate numbers.
• Why paraphrase what you heard? To make the interview shorter.To fill the silences.To avoid asking follow-up questions.To check your understanding, show you are listening, and turn jargon into plain language on the spot.
• According to the conclusion, what makes a great interviewer? The best AI tool.Deep technical knowledge.Preparation, curiosity, and accepting silence a little longer than feels comfortable.Charisma and thirty years of experience.

Next: key terms (1) →

Key terms: drag each definition next to the right term.Termes clés : fais glisser chaque définition en face du bon terme.

1. unconscious competence
2. a closed question
3. elaboration
4. an open-ended question
5. the curse of knowledge
6. jargon

Next: key terms (2) →

Key terms: drag each definition next to the right term.Termes clés : fais glisser chaque définition en face du bon terme.

1. a follow-up question
2. a notetaking tool
3. to paraphrase
4. plain language
5. mirroring
6. a transcript