Interview concerns- Megan O’Shaughnessy

Initially when deciding whom I wanted to interview, it was quite clear. I wanted an insight into the day-to-day professional life of a curator working for the Historic Royal Palaces. When I approached HRP with an email, I was promised that it would be circulated and that a curator would bite. Well… the unfortunate part about that is that I had no bites. However, I did have a bite but from another line. Charlotte, a part time Public History student, interns at the HRP, more specifically Hampton Court Palaces (my dream and the reason I’m here), and she told me straight up that HRP is quite exclusive. When you’re in, you’re in but until then, good luck trying to get to the core of the curators. I was a little bit disappointed but not really surprised. I figured it wouldn’t be as simple as sending an email but the fact that I had Charlotte as an insider meant that she would be a perfect person to interview. She knows a lot of the ins and outs, which is what I wanted from this interview in the first place.

 My first major concern is obviously technical. I want to be sure that I’m working the equipment correctly. My second concern is also technical because I am hopefully going to be interviewing Charlotte at Hampton Court Palace. If that is the case, I need to be sure that there is no outside noise that will interrupt the feed from the microphone.  My third major concern is that my questions won’t be enough. I want a quite candid interview that shows Charlotte from a pre-professional point of view. I want her to be able to talk endlessly about her reasoning behind picking the Public History program and how it will help her future career. I also want her to be able to speak candidly about her experience working for the HRP and all the insider knowledge that comes with that.

 My final and most intense concern is that I won’t sound professional. In theory, it seems easy enough to interview someone. However, the more I think about it, the more nervous I become. I hope that I am able to control my nerves and make Charlotte comfortable enough to speak honestly. While I honestly believe that this interview won’t be archived or used in any capacity, it will be a very telling interview for my own personal knowledge. As long as the interview flows and I can handle myself as a professional, I am hoping that my concerns will fade away.