What is your ultimate goal to accomplish with our training?
We teach a dive medical technician course and about 90% of the jobs require you to be a commercial diver; if they aren't really interested in doing commercial diving, I try to see if our other programs can accomodate what they are ultimately trying to accomplish, i.e. hyperbaric technician or our EMT program.
Who is supporting you in making this decision?
How long have you been thinking about a career change?
What is your work schedule like?
Tell me a little about your past education?
Using open-ended questions is a great way to not only learn more about your student but to help them understand what they need to consider as they prepare to attend school. Thanks for sharing.
Dr. Jean Norris
I like the are you and have you questions. This of course is more probing and personal. Does anyone object to too many questions?
Ive asked students how long have they been thinking about this career? How did they hear about it? Us? What are they doing now and is it related to why they are calling?
I ask if they have a ged and or hs diploma, and if they are a citizen or have a green card? Married? Single, Children schedule?
I have asked them how much money are they making? How much money are the looking to make? Needing to make so I can determine what direction as far as career paths to go down.
Are you working? Do you enjoy your work? If not working, are you getting bored? Wouldn't you like a career instead of a job?
I like the direction you're heading to find out what might be motivating the prospective student. How can you modify these Yes/No questions to be open-ended and to learn more about your student?
How and what questions are great for opening up a conversation and learning about your prospective student. It looks like you utilize a combination of questions that are important for both you and the student. Thank you for sharing.
why is now a good time for you to consider coming to school?
what time of support do you have while attending school?
do you have child care as well as a back up plan?
what type of transpora\taion will you be using?
It looks like you're using a good combination of open and closed questions to elicit information from your students, both types of questions are appropriate during a conversation. Open questions that start with 'What' and 'How' allow the student to provide a variety of information, and the closed questions are good for verifying or collecting specific information. Be careful with the use of 'Why' questions, they are better used after building rapport with a student. Thanks for your post!
Let's see how we can help you.......what prompted you to call today? how long have you been thinking about doing this? What is it that you do now? tell me about your experience in xyz, if any....it sounds like you're ready to take action on this, am I right?
Asking them first if they have time for us to talk about their information request. I find this takes them off the defensive regarding the feel of a telemarketing call even though they requested the info.
verify contact info....additional numbers/best number to reach them in the future
Background/history
Seriousness of their search
How soon they want to start school
Support system
Schedule the appt
Many of the questions that I have read above are questions I will ask during the actual interview. I want to build a rapport on the phone for sure; however, I also want to have questions to ask during the interview that I haven't already asked the potential student.
All that you mention are important to discover during the pre-enrollment process. Do you have a favorite question that helps you to learn the most you can about your prospective students?
1-How long have you been thinking about this carrerchoice?
2- what are you hoping for once you graduate?
Jean-Max,
Great questions! Do you prefer to use open or closed ended questions?
Dr. Jean Norris
Are you currently working in the healthcare field?
Do you have any friends or family that are currently working in the field you are interested in?
Tell me a little bit about your educational history. Are you currently enrolled in school at this time?
Do you see yourself working in that field in the next few years?
Dabel,
These are some great questions. How might you reframe some of them to be more exploratory in nature vs. simple yes/no?
Dr. Jean Norris
How did you become interested in this career?
Why is it important for you to continue your education?
What are you looking for in a college?
Brian,
Interesting questions that probably lead to some great conversations. What can you say differently in the second question to not seem as judgmental however (the WHY question is known to put people on the defense).
Dr. Jean Norris
