How to Conduct a Consulting Interview

One of the main activities in almost all consulting engagements is interviewing people both inside and outside of the client organization.  This paper is intended to help aspiring consultants learn how to conduct productive, polite, and professional interviews.  This paper provides suggestions for how to prepare for the interview, conduct the interview, end the interview, and handle after-interview activities.  Although this paper is written in the context of consulting interviews, interviewing skills are fundamental for people in many contexts, including managers, financial analysts, engineers, lawyers, scientists, doctors, architects, detectives, coaches, counselors, pastors, writers, web designers, software engineers, teachers, and students.  These skills can also be helpful for people conducting a job interview – and for those being interviewed.