Interview Question Ladder With Examples
Go from surface answers to real stories.
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Create interview question ladders for [GUEST_TYPE] on the topic [TOPIC]. Each ladder starts with an easy factual question, then "how", then "why", then a specific moment, then a reflection.
Example ladder:
1. What do you do day to day? (fact)
2. How did you get into it? (how)
3. Why that path rather than the safer one? (why)
4. Take me to the moment you almost quit. What was happening? (specific moment)
5. Looking back, what would you tell yourself then? (reflection)
Write six ladders of five questions each on these themes: beginnings, mistakes, craft, relationships, risk, and the future. Add a probe to each rung ("What did that look like?", "Who else was there?"). Mark questions that might be sensitive and give a softer wording for each.
Also give: ten follow-up phrases that invite detail without leading; five ways to handle one-word answers; how to recover when the guest deflects; and a rule of thumb for how much I should talk (under 20 percent), with a way to check it from the recording.
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