Vishwakarma.ai
Data Collection Guide · 02 — Interviews & Scripts

Put real voices on the record.

Recorded conversations are where your advocate gets its depth: your own story in your own voice, and independent people confirming it in theirs. Everything on this page is ready to use — scripts to read, question banks to hand over, and the rules that make a recording count.

§1Recording basics

Gear & setting

A modern phone’s voice recorder is genuinely enough. Quiet room, windows closed, no background music, phone on the table between speakers. For video calls, use the call platform’s own recording. Audio quality matters far more than video quality.

Length — 20 minutes, hard rule

Keep every recording to 20 minutes or less — short files process best. A conversation that needs more becomes a second session; a long moment gets split into parts (see the how-to below). Several focused recordings always beat one marathon.

Formats

Record in whatever your device produces, then convert audio to FLAC before uploading — how-to below. Video: mp4, mov, webm, mkv. Name files meaningfully — 2026-03-manager-anita-rao.flac beats Recording_47.m4a.

One voice at a time

Voices are identified and separated automatically, and crosstalk is what breaks that. Let each person finish. A beat of silence between speakers is a feature, not awkwardness.

Don’t edit

Upload recordings raw and unedited. Trimming silence at the ends is fine; cutting, splicing, or “cleaning up” the middle is not. An untouched recording is credible evidence — an edited one invites doubt about what was removed. (Splitting a long recording into parts at a natural pause is packaging, not editing — that’s fine.)

Before you upload: convert audio to FLAC

FLAC keeps full voice quality at a manageable size, and it’s the format we understand best. Record however you like — then convert each finished file. Three ways, easiest first:

  • Free desktop app (recommended): Audacity — open your recording, then File → Export Audio → FLAC. For converting many files at once, fre:ac does whole folders.
  • Online converter: CloudConvert — pick FLAC as the output. Heads-up: online tools upload your recording to their servers; for private conversations prefer the app or the commands below.
  • One command, any system: install ffmpeg (macOS: brew install ffmpeg · Windows: winget install ffmpeg · Ubuntu: sudo apt install ffmpeg), then:
# one file → mono 48 kHz FLAC (ideal for speech)
ffmpeg -i recording.m4a -ac 1 -ar 48000 -c:a flac recording.flac

# every .m4a in a folder — macOS / Linux
for f in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -ac 1 -ar 48000 -c:a flac "${f%.*}.flac"; done

# every .m4a in a folder — Windows PowerShell
Get-ChildItem *.m4a | ForEach-Object { ffmpeg -i $_.FullName -ac 1 -ar 48000 -c:a flac "$($_.BaseName).flac" }

# pull just the audio out of a video call recording
ffmpeg -i call.mp4 -vn -ac 1 -ar 48000 -c:a flac call.flac

# split a long recording into 20-minute parts (no quality loss)
ffmpeg -i long-talk.flac -f segment -segment_time 1200 -c copy part_%02d.flac

Video files can go up as-is when the picture is part of the evidence — a product demo, a ceremony, a performance. When it’s only a talking head, extract the audio with the command above instead: smaller, faster, nothing lost.

§2The opening slate — start every recording with this

The first thirty seconds of every recording establish who is speaking, how they know you, and that they consent. Without it, a recording is a voice from nowhere; with it, every word gains a named, consenting source. Have each participant say, in their own words:

Today is [date]. My name is [full name], and I’m [current role] at [organization]. I [managed / taught / worked alongside / hired] [your name] from [year] to [year] at [organization]. I understand this recording will be used to build and verify [your name]’s professional profile, and I agree to be recorded for that purpose.

Then you (or whoever hosts the call) state your own name and the date, and begin. That’s the whole ritual — but it is mandatory: recordings of unidentified or non-consenting speakers can’t be used at all.

§3Briefing an endorser — topics, never lines

Before each call, send your endorser a topic list: the two or three projects or periods you shared, with rough dates. That’s it. The value of their testimony is that it’s theirs — same events, their memory, their words.

You, self-interview: “I led the checkout rebuild in 2022.” Your manager, her words: “She owned the checkout rewrite end-to-end.” Document: Promotion letter, Oct 2022, names the project. One strongly verified fact three independent tellings, one story — this is what your pack should be full of
fig 2 — corroboration: same event, independent tellings
  • Do tell them the projects and years you want covered.
  • Do tell them honesty helps you — including criticism. A voice that only praises is weaker evidence than one that praises and critiques.
  • Don’t share your resume bullet points, your self-interview answers, or any “suggested phrasing”. Rehearsed, matching accounts are detected as one source, not two — you gain nothing and lose their independent weight.
  • Don’t sit visibly “supervising”. Best: a friend hosts and you leave the room (or the call). Acceptable: you ask the questions, then stay silent through the answers.

§4The self-interview — 2–3 hours, in sittings

This is the longest single item in your pack and the spine of your advocate’s voice. Record it alone or with a friend asking the questions, across the five themed sittings below, in takes of up to 20 minutes each — when a sitting runs long, stop the recording and start a new take. Speak from memory, not from your resume — say every name, date, and number out loud, and tell one story at a time, beginning to end.

Sitting 1 — Identity & journey1–2 takes · 7 questions
  1. Introduce yourself as if to someone who will represent you for years: who are you professionally, in your own words?
  2. Walk through your career from the beginning — every role, organization, and the years for each. Say dates out loud; this timeline is the skeleton everything else attaches to.
  3. What were the two or three turning points that made you who you are professionally?
  4. Why this field? What keeps you in it?
  5. What are you known for among people who’ve worked with you?
  6. What would your last three managers each say about you, honestly — good and bad?
  7. Where are you heading — what does the next five years look like if it goes well?
Sitting 2 — Skills & craft1–2 takes · 6 questions
  1. Name your three strongest skills — and for each, tell one specific story that proves it. A skill without a story is an adjective. A skill with a dated, named story is a fact.
  2. How did you build each of those skills? Who or what taught you?
  3. Walk through the hardest problem you’ve solved end-to-end: the situation, what you specifically did, and the measurable result.
  4. What tools, methods, or approaches define how you work day-to-day?
  5. Which skills are you actively building right now, and how far along are you?
  6. What are you honestly mediocre at, in your own craft? Your advocate must know your limits to be credible about your strengths.
Sitting 3 — Achievements, one story at a time2–3 takes · 6–10 stories

Pick your six to ten most significant accomplishments — professional, academic, or personal. For each one, answer all five prompts before moving on:

  1. The setting: organization, team, timeframe (month and year), and what was at stake.
  2. Your exact role — what you did, as distinct from what the team did.
  3. The numbers: team size, budget, users, percentages, rankings — whatever can be counted.
  4. What nearly went wrong, and how it actually played out.
  5. Who else witnessed this, and what document or link could confirm it? If the answer is “nobody and nothing”, flag it for yourself: that story needs an endorser or a document from elsewhere in your pack.
Sitting 4 — Values & working style1–2 takes · 6 questions
  1. What principles have you actually paid a price to keep? Tell the story of one such time.
  2. Describe a real conflict with a colleague or superior — what happened, what you did, how it ended.
  3. Tell about the toughest piece of feedback you’ve received. What changed after?
  4. How do you lead, when you lead? How do you follow, when you follow?
  5. In what environments do you do your best work — and in which do you struggle?
  6. What would make you walk away from a job, no matter the offer?
Sitting 5 — Failures, weaknesses & growth1 take · 5 questions

Do not skip this sitting. A profile with no weaknesses reads as evasive, and verification rewards well-evidenced honesty — including about what went wrong.

  1. Describe a genuine professional failure: what you were responsible for, what happened, what it cost.
  2. What did you change — concretely — because of it?
  3. What criticism have you heard more than once, from different people?
  4. Which weakness still costs you today? How do you manage around it?
  5. What’s something you believed strongly five years ago that you’ve since reversed on?

§5Endorser conversations — the question banks

Aim for four to six endorsers across different relationships: two managers, one or two mentors or professors, two peers, and a client if you’ve had them. Keep each call to 20 minutes — if a bank isn’t finished, book a second call rather than running over. Hand the relevant bank to whoever hosts. Every bank opens with the slate, and the host’s only other job is to ask for specifics — “when was that?”, “how many?”, “what was the result?” — whenever an answer stays general.

Managers — direct reporting relationship2–3 people · 1–2 calls × 20 min · 12 questions
  1. How long did you manage them, in what team and company, and what was the context of the business at the time?
  2. What was their role and scope when they joined you — and how had it changed by the end? Scope growth under the same manager is progression evidence no resume line can match.
  3. Walk through one specific project they delivered under you: what was their part, when did it happen, what was the result?
  4. What numbers can you attach to their work — team size, budget, metrics moved, deadlines met?
  5. What did you rely on them for that you couldn’t easily get from anyone else?
  6. Tell me about a time they clearly exceeded what you expected.
  7. Tell me about a time they fell short or struggled. What happened? An honest shortfall makes every compliment in the call more believable.
  8. How did they handle pressure or conflict? One example, please.
  9. Compared to others you’ve managed at that level, where did they genuinely stand?
  10. Would you hire them again? For what kind of role — and for what kind of role not?
  11. What should a future employer know about them that isn’t on any resume?
  12. Is there anything they tend to claim about themselves that you’d push back on?
Mentors & professors — teaching or guidance relationship1–2 people · 1–2 calls × 20 min · 10 questions
  1. In what capacity and over what period did you teach or mentor them?
  2. How do they learn? What did you observe about how they take on something new?
  3. Describe one specific piece of work you supervised — a thesis, project, or course — and what their contribution actually was.
  4. How rigorous are they? Where did you see them cut corners, if ever?
  5. How do they respond to being wrong, or to hard feedback from you?
  6. Among all the students or mentees you’ve had, where do they honestly rank — and in what dimension?
  7. What growth did you witness first-hand, from when they arrived to when they left?
  8. What weakness did you observe that they may still carry?
  9. What kind of work do you believe they’d be exceptional at?
  10. What made them memorable to you, years later?
Peers — worked beside you, no reporting line2–3 people · 1–2 calls × 20 min · 10 questions
  1. How and when did you work together, and in what setting?
  2. What is it like to work next to them, day to day — not on their best day, on a normal one?
  3. Tell one shared project story from your side: what did they actually do, as you saw it? Peers see the real division of labor that titles hide. This question carries the call.
  4. When teammates need something, what do people go to them for specifically?
  5. Describe a disagreement you two had. How did they handle it?
  6. What did you learn from them? What might they have learned from you?
  7. Where do they overestimate themselves, if anywhere?
  8. Where do they under-sell themselves?
  9. If you were building a team tomorrow, would you want them on it — in what seat?
  10. What’s a small, telling moment involving them that stuck with you?
Clients — paid for or received your workoptional · one 20-min call · 8 questions
  1. What did you engage them for, when, and for how long?
  2. What was the problem before they arrived — and what was the state after?
  3. What did they actually deliver? Be concrete: systems, documents, outcomes.
  4. What measurable difference did the work make, if you can share numbers?
  5. How was working with them — communication, deadlines, surprises?
  6. What would you warn a future client about?
  7. Would you engage them again? Have you referred them to anyone?
  8. How did their work hold up after they left?

§6Expert interviews — one per major theme

An expert interview is different in kind from an endorsement: a recognized authority examines you on a theme and puts their professional judgment on record. Expert testimony carries the highest weight any voice can — precisely because the expert stakes their own reputation on the assessment.

Pick one theme per pillar of your career. A software engineer might choose software design, architecture, and code quality; a marketer might choose brand strategy, performance marketing, and analytics. Two to four themes is typical.

Choosing the expert

  • Recognized standing: senior title, publications, patents, conference talks, or years of acknowledged practice in the theme. Their credentials go on tape in the slate — an expert whose expertise can’t be verified isn’t one.
  • Distance from you: the less they owe you, the more their judgment is worth. A former professor now senior in industry, a senior engineer from a different company, a consultant you’ve never worked with — all better than your best friend who happens to be senior.

Structure — two or three 20-minute sessions, three movements

PartTimeWhat happens
1 · Credentials & slate 5 min The expert introduces themselves fully: role, experience, why they’re qualified to judge this theme, how (and how little) they know you. Then the consent slate.
2 · The examination 30–40 min, across sessions A real technical conversation, not a quiz. You walk through work you’ve actually done in the theme; the expert probes: why this design and not that one? what breaks at ten times the load? defend this decision. what would you do differently now? Reason out loud. Getting pushed and recovering is high-value evidence — a too-smooth session is a wasted one.
3 · The verdict final 5–10 min The expert states their assessment on record: your level in this theme against the industry bar, specific strengths, specific gaps, and what roles they’d trust you with. Ask them to be exact — “strong mid-level, not yet senior, because…” is worth more than “very impressive”.

§7Demos, pitches & other captured moments

A recording of you doing the work in front of real stakes — demoing a product, pitching a project to stakeholders, giving a talk, teaching a class, performing, competing — proves things no interview can: how you present, how you handle live questions, that the work existed and an audience witnessed it.

  • Best: the actual recording of a real session — a stakeholder demo, a sprint review, a conference talk, an award ceremony. Keep the Q&A in; handling unrehearsed questions is the most valuable part.
  • Good: re-deliver a real pitch or demo live on a recorded call, with a colleague who was originally there asking the questions they actually asked.
  • Weakest: a transcript you typed up yourself. Words on a page written by you are just more of your own words — always prefer the recording.
Consent still applies

If other people are audible or visible in a captured moment, they need to have agreed — or the moment must be from a public setting (a published talk, a public ceremony). When in doubt, choose the public one or ask.