Preparing for my interview was both quite simple and quite challenging at the same time. While the actual interview went quite well and gave me all the information I needed to write my article, the process of the interview was quite a nuisance.
For the positives, Lauren Harrell (the woman I interviewed) was quite nice, and she was more than happy to use some of her free time being interviewed. I interviewed her on the weekend, which meant I didn’t have to worry about scheduling conflicts with her job, as daycare workers usually only work at the school on weekdays. She also answered all o my questions in a satisfying way, actually creating a discussion instead of feeling like a survey. This gave me ample material to work with when I constructed my interview.
However, the largest negative I ran into when interviewing Harrell was location. Harrell’s usually located in Wimauma, which is quite far from where I’m usually located, which is Tampa. She couldn’t make it out to Tampa, and I didn’t want to put her out anyway, what with high gas prices and the scheduling conflict any traffic incident can induce, and I couldn’t make it out to Wimauma because I don’t have a car (or a driver’s license), and the bus I take is local. Therefore, I had to resort to doing an email interview with Harrell. While she answered in an extremely timely manner and gave me the information I needed, it would have been nice to actually see her workplace and implement it into my story.
Overall though, I think my interview went quite well, even given the circumstances. I was able to write a well crafted story with the information given, and I was even able to relate it back to a relevant topic with COVID-19. It was overall a success to me.
Andie's Blog and Thoughts 
Hi Andie!
I agree with your point on how preparing for an interview is simple yet challenging and I felt very similar. I’m glad your interview worked out well especially with someone replying in such a timely manner. I feel as if interviews will always have some sort of downfall/conflict that we will have to work with.
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Hi there Andie! I’m sorry to hear that you guys were too far apart to be able to do a face-to-face interview. It’s great that you even considered taking the bus to go see them, that really shows dedication! At least you were able to get an interview to begin with, even if it was through email. Keep up the hard work!
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Hello Andrea. I felt the same way about preparing for my interview. The questions I asked and responses I received gave me the exact information to write my piece but the struggle was with time management. With Harrell, your biggest issue was location differences and I agree that seeing the workplace she’s in could’ve helped add more to your story.
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Hi Andie,
I agree with you about prepping for our interviews, they were easy but challenging at the same time. You definitely went through some challenges. My jaw dropped when I read that you did yours over email. That must of been quite frustrating. I suggest if you nor the interviewee is unable to meet face to face next time, ask if you could do a interview over zoom or Microsoft teams. I used Microsoft teams for my interview and it went great. Anyways, you had some big hills to climbed but you got overcame them. Great Job.
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