Step 1 — Find someone to interview

You probably know more STEM professionals than you think. Start with parents of friends, or friends of your parents. Teachers often know former students now in industry. You can also search LinkedIn by company, role, and city, browse university faculty pages, or check professional society directories like the Society of Women Engineers, AWIS, or IEEE.

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Aim for someone whose actual day-to-day job sounds interesting, not just someone with an impressive title.

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Step 2 — Reach out

Keep your first message short. People are busy, and a wall of text gets ignored. Here's a template:

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Hi [Name],

My name is [Your name] and I'm a [grade] student at [school] in [city]. I'm part of a project where students interview professionals in STEM careers and post the conversations as videos so other students can learn what these jobs actually involve day to day.

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I came across your work in [where you found them] and would love to interview you. It would take about 30 to 45 minutes, and we can do it over Zoom whenever works for you. I'd send questions in advance.

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If you're open to it, let me know a few times that work in the next few weeks. Thank you for considering it.

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[Your name]

 

Step 3 — Prepare your questions

Use the prepared questions below or practice creating your own list of interview questions! If writing your own questions, think about coming up with 5 to 8 between three different kinds:

 

The day-to-day: Walk me through what you actually did yesterday at work. What does a typical week look like? What part of your job would surprise people who don't do it?

 

The path: What did you study, and how did you end up in this specific role? What's something you wish you'd known in high school? Was there a moment you almost did something else?

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The honest stuff: What's the hardest part of your job? What do you love about it that keeps you doing it? What advice would you give a student considering this field?

 

Bring 2 to 3 follow-up questions you didn't send. The best moments come from going off-script.

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Step 4 — Record the interview

Use Zoom or Google Meet with cloud recording on. Find a quiet room with decent lighting. Test your audio before they join.

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Aim for 30 to 45 minutes. Anything longer becomes difficult to edit.

 

Step 5 (Optional) — Create a Transcript

You may find that it works best to use a tool like Otter.ai to transcribe your meeting recording.

 

From there, you can copy the transcription it into a Google Doc and begin to highlight information that you find most important. This way, it's easy to comb through each question and determine what to keep and what to cut.

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Step 6 — Edit it

You don't need to be a pro. Free tools that work: CapCut or iMovie if you're on Mac.

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What to cut: It's best to discard pieces of information that you may not have found as interesting as others as well as tangents that don't land. From there, it's also important to remove any sort of awkward pauses or reoccuring filler words. I also often cut out me asking the question and instead overlay the question into the video with text.

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What to add: a title card with their name and role, and questions as captions (see style examples below)

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Aim for a finished video between 5-8 minutes.

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Step 7 — Submit it

Once it's edited, email it to seeithenbeit@gmail.com with the following:

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The final video file along with the interviewee's name, role, and company or institution. A 1-2 sentence description of what the interview covers. Confirmation that the interviewee has approved the final cut.

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Always send the finished video to the interviewee for approval before submitting. It's their words and their face.

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I review every submission before it goes live, mostly to make sure audio is clear and that the editing is coherent.

 

Expect a response within a week.

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