What's Secretly Killing CBP Officers' Job Performance

It might seem a harmless practice, but this bad habit is hurting CBP Officers job performance, thus their chances for promotions, recognitions, special assignments, etc. During their inspections, officers automatically start writing the answers their passengers made for their reports. It’s counter-intuitive, but it’s true: taking notes during your initial interview is killing your chances of getting the truth. Again, while it may seem like a practical approach to maintain accuracy, it’s hurting your interviews therefore your job performance to get what you want in your career. Let’s explore the negative effects and a solid solution!

Impact on Rapport

Reading our previous blog post, you know that establishing rapport is crucial in the first stage of the interview. However, constantly writing notes, specially at the beginning, may distract officers from fully engaging with the passenger, thereby affecting the rapport-building process because the natural flow of conversation is constantly interrupted by the note-taking.

Missed Non-Verbal Cues

Non-verbal communication, such as body language, facial expressions, and gestures, plays a crucial role in understanding a person’s demeanor and sincerity. Depending on the source, experts say communication is around 80-90% non-verbal. Therefore, by focusing on note-taking, officers risk missing these subtle yet valuable cues that can provide critical insights into the interviewee’s truthfulness or discomfort.

Guarded Subject

When passengers see that their responses are being documented in real-time, they will become guarded or calculated in their answers. This heightened, self-monitoring can lead them to withhold information, evade questions, or present a sanitized version of events, making it challenging for officers to uncover inconsistencies or detect potential deception. Remember the Pareto Rule (80/20 Rule) applied to interviews covered before: the subject should be talking 80% percent, but they will reduce the amount of information given once they see note-taking.

The Solution

A better approach is to engage in active listening throughout the whole interview. By fully engaging with the interviewee and focusing on their responses without immediately taking notes, officers can better create rapport, establish a baseline and recognize non-verbal cues that contribute to the overall context. If maintaining notes for report writing is still warranted, it’s advisable for primary interviewers to leave note-writing until the end of the interview: this will ensure accuracy and a chance to compare information from previous answers. In critical interviews, the best tactic is having a second officer responsible for note-taking and observing non-verbal communication. This allows the primary officer to maintain continuous dialogue and connection with the interviewee, fostering a more open and productive exchange of information. This collaborative method not only enhances the reliability of information gathered but also strengthens detecting potential inconsistencies and deceptive behavior.

In conclusion, note-taking, especially at the initial stage of an interview, creates more disadvantages for CBP Officers than any value gathered from “accurate” notetaking. The better approach is to engage in active listening, observe non-verbal cues, and maintain rapport for an effective interview. This will foster a more open dialogue, encourage information disclosure, and enhance the officer’s ability to detect inconsistencies or deceptive behavior. If you found this helpful, you can discover more tactics in our Field Interview Notebook containing Interview Tips, Passwords, To Do List  and Notetaking section. This notebook will definitely make you a master interviewer in no time.