Summarizing Interviews Overview/Guidelines: An important element to your team's Employment Outlook Report is evidence of primary research. In addition to reporting the general employment outlook of your field, each team member must analyze three relevant job postings and interview one professional. Synthesizing that primary data-and presenting it to readers in an engaging, comprehensible style-can be challenging. This activity allows you to practice writing an interview summary. Good summaries provide readers with an overview of the interview content rather than just transcribing the answers like the example below. Summaries also highlight general topics that were discussed in the interview and mention if the discussion revealed anything surprising. Here are some general guidelines for summarizing an interview. a) Write an introduction: Provide the crucial details about the interview. State the subject's name and position. Explain why you interviewed the subject, and how the information informs your research objective. b) Give a brief overview: Provide an overview of the interview. Include general topics that you discussed with the interview subject and address the major themes of the subject's answers. Do not go into great detail; instead offer summary statements that give the reader an idea of the content. c) Discuss the major findings: Note any discoveries you made during the interview. Include only the facts or anecdotes that are relevant to the purpose of the interview and (or) your research objectives. If you uncovered anything that was surprising, discuss it in this section. d) Conclude the interview summary: Summarize (35 sentences) the interview and your major findings. Restate your plans for using the information you gathered during the interview. Summarizing Interviews Activity Instructions: In your teams, use the above guidelines to write a summary of the below interview. The interview subject was a tax associate/accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. The interviewer was seeking information for her portion of the Employment Outlook Report. Original Interview Text: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics gives similar job outlook projections for all accounting and auditors. Similarly, the projected job growth is 13% with the mean salary falling around $72,500. Interview: Lucinda Martinez, 22-years-old, tax associate/accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Q: What area of accounting is your focus in and what are some of the duties required? A: My accounting focus area is tax accounting and in addition I have been working with the forensics team as well. I assist in the administration of a settlement fund to compensate businesses that were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. I am the primary reviewer and process Business Economic Loss Claims, analyze variances between Profit & Loss statements versus Federal tax returns and make calculations to determine compensation for claimants. Q: Did your job require a specific level of education? A: My specific job requires 150 credit hours including 30 advanced accounting hours. My firm emphasizes the importance of a Certified Public Accounting license (which I am currently working on obtaining). Q: When you applied for your job was it in demand? Or is hiring more seasonal? A: Accounting is always in demand! PwC specifically hired several interns and associates year- round! It's an exciting field to be in! Q: If you had any advice for future accounting professionals, what would it be? A: Accounting isn't easy, but anything worth doing will not come easy! It's a great field to be in and opportunities are endless so never be afraid to explore all of your options (government, public, academia, industry accounting etc.). Talk to professionals, instructors, do internships, and learn. I recommend reaching the State requirement of 150 credit hours to sit for the CPA. Obtaining this license will help you advance your career at a faster pace! Attend socials because networking is key! Work hard and always keep a positive attitude! Accounting is where you want to be. One thing for sure is that you will NEVER not have a job in accounting