Types
1. Introductory interview:
The first interview with a subject should be designed for the purpose of getting mutually acquainted and building rapport, so that follow-up conference and procedures will be welcomed and appreciated. The counsellor may introduce himself, state the purpose of the interview and advise the subject about the procedures that will be used later.
The short ten-to-fifteen minute introductory interview may end with an invitation to the subject to drop in at any time, with making a second appointment, with informing him about the time of the next conference, or with setting the date of the first administration of tests or of any other procedures that are to follow.
Expending of whatever time is necessary to establish happy relationship in this introductory interview is justified.
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On the part of the counsellee, it involves developing a feeling of ease, bom of growing confidence in the counsellor’s competence, interest, knowledge, and skill, and a feeling of freedom to reveal both facts and emotions.
On the part of the counsellor, it entails treating the student as a responsible adult, being considerate of all attitudes and feelings.
The introductory interview should be held very soon after the student enters the college. If the first interview is delayed until the student runs into difficulty, fails in some subjects, breaks a mle, has trouble with other students, or the like, the counselling officer may not find it easy or possible to establish good relations with the students.
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The counselling officer should make notes about this introductory interview after the subject has left the conference room.
It is not advisable to take or recommend any action on the basis of data obtained in the introductory interview, as there will usually be little information to justify action.
2. Fact-finding Interviews:
These interviews may be designed to discover the intensity of a counsellee’s attitudes towards persons and situations which he cannot or will not reveal in writing or in response to formalised questions which do not allow for indications of strong feelings.
Thus interview may reveal interests that had not previously been noted, and it may allow the counsellor to determine their strength and their source.
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It can be used to obtain information concerning relationships with other persons and about activities that are carried out with them.
3. Informative Interviews:
A counsellee may be interviewed for the purpose of informing him about data that have been obtained from other sources, for providing information to answer questions that he has raised or of passing on some decision that has been made about him by a person in a position of authority.
The counselling officer may also inform a student about such matters as his performance in tests and their interpretation; the acceptance or rejection of an application for a position or for permission to a change in courses, the decision of the principal/ head of the department concerning his success in an examination.
Many educational-vocational problems of the students are solved by acquisition of new and accurate information about themselves and the world of work or by discovering a different orientation to information which they already possess.
4. Therapeutic Interviews:
Interview may be used for therapeutic purposes. All of us like to discuss our problems, dreams and aspirations with others in whom we have confidence and with whom we have rapport. Interview gives a chance to the counselee to talk about himself, his past, his wishes and fears, his hopes and aspirations.
The process of talking things over brings new clarity of thought, relief from over-tension, and a new objectivity.
We can know a lot from what the counselee says, from how he behaves in the interview situation, by noting what the student is not inclined to talk about, what he speaks of with the most satisfaction and the most distress; what are the topics which when mentioned cause him the most embarrassment or inhibition.
In other words, it often happens that how a thing is said, seems just as important as ivhat is said and it is only in the interview that this aspect of the counsellee’s revelations can be appraised.
When through interview the counsellee is permitted to “think aloud” in the presence of a sympathetic listener, it can give a clue to a number of problems of the counsellee.