Podcast interview - 7 top tips for when you're making a guest appearance on a podcast
On what would have been my lovely Nanna’s 89th birthday, I felt inspired by thinking about her, when I recorded my guest appearance on a podcast. Ben Geoghegan presents a podcast called ‘‘A Better HR Business’ – The Podcast About Growing Human Resources Businesses’. He invited me on as a (virtual) guest. I settled down with my hot chocolate to chat to him.
As Ben says: “Welcome to ‘A Better HR Business‘ – the podcast which looks at how HR consultants and HR tech firms grow their businesses; and how they help employers get their best out of their people.”
In it I talk about my background and what led me to where I am now and how it feels. I also discuss what services I provide for people and what kinds of roles they tend to be in. We focus on discussing my particular ‘niche’. The specific area that I work in which is the performing arts with small, creative businesses. I provide some advice for people who are perhaps worried about working in a specific ‘niche’ area, rather than keeping things broader. I also talk about my plans for getting new clients (fingers crossed!) as well as what I see coming next in the world of HR and how to prefer for these changes.
Beforehand I was quite nervous to be stepping outside my comfort zone and putting myself out there for everyone to hear. In the end I actually really enjoyed chatting to Ben and forgot I was being recorded at times!
My 7 top tips
- Prepare in advance – I asked Ben what kinds of questions he was going to ask and made bullet points on what I wanted to talk about
- Ask to meet the interviewer beforehand so you can get to know them a little bit
- Take a breath and take your time in answering
- Have a glass of water to hand – in case you get a frog in your throat or start coughing (not that we want to scare anyone at the moment)
- Practice in advance so you can hear what you sound like and if you are clear and loud enough – you might also find out what your ‘filler’ words are (when you’re thinking of what to say) and be able to avoid them
- Remember it’s just like having a chat – be yourself and try to enjoy it!
- Ask to listen to it before it goes live so you can check what you sound like and ask for any edits to be made.
How to listen to the podcast
Please click HERE to have a listen. I hope you enjoy listening and feel free to tell me what you think.
Next steps
If you like what you hear and want to have a (virtual) chat over a hot chocolate (or another drink), feel free to click HERE to contact me or pop me an email at contact@rachelpbarker.co.uk and I’ll be back in touch very soon.
Find out more
You can find out more about my journey into freelance life as a project manager and administrator with a specialism in HR in the performing arts HERE.
