Day Six

Today, I had my final interview with two staff members from the ALS Association. My hope was that, if either of them had missed anything, the other would jump in to fill the gap — and the meeting did not fall short. They not only fulfilled this expectation but also alternated responses if a question fell more into one of their areas of expertise. This allowed me to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the organization operated, what it stood for, the obstacles it faced, and more.

They also requested that I send my final product — whatever it may be — to them for review before I publicized it anywhere so that they could represent their organization in the most accurate way possible. I agreed and put this extra step into both my timeline and checklist.

In terms of my personal performance during the meeting, I changed a few things this time around. Firstly, I mostly restrained my acknowledgements of their responses to nods so as not to interrupt them as they spoke. Additionally, since I was addressing two subjects rather than just one, I occasionally requested both of them to respond so that I could see how their views differed. I also made a conscious attempt to stammer less frequently and use more descriptive words, allowing me to communicate in a more polished way. Finally, I blended timely follow-ups with my previously created inquiries for the best conversation possible.

One thing that I want to change for any similar scenarios in the future is making sure I don’t ask any questions that the interviewee may already have addressed while answering a previous query. This allows for a discussion in which we do not keep circling back to the same points and can instead explore new topics and ideas.

Overall, I think the interviews went well. I learned a lot, both about interview etiquette and rare diseases. I have tons of great content for my final product!