When to Speak Up and When to Pipe Down During a Job Interview

Nancy Anderson
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Job interviews are like any other conversation. Within that exchange, you listen politely when your partner speaks, you respond and then your conversation partner speaks again. The process continues over and over as the listener becomes the speaker several times throughout the interview. Learning how to dance this waltz is an art form, but the more you recognize when to speak and when to listen, the more you improve your chances of success.

Thinking Pause

Get used to pausing before you speak when responding to a question. The pause doesn't have to be too long, but give a second or two before you talk about your answer even if you know the response off the top of your head. This pause does two things: it shows that you think about your answers and it ensures that you do not interrupt your interviewers. Interrupting your interviewers is rude, and you do not want to come off as someone who does not want to listen to what your prospective supervisor has to say. Listening is just as vital as speaking in a job interview.

Body Language

Your nonverbal body language is very important. You can still show rapt attention and enthusiasm for the position by showing how you listen. Lean forward and make eye contact with the interviewer. Smile throughout the interview, laugh when you are supposed to and maintain good posture. You do not have to be energetic by speaking all of the time.

Keep Responses Under 90 Seconds

After 10 seconds, an interviewer begins to listen less to your response. After one minute, the person in front of you begins to formulate the next interview question. Avoid rambling and talking too much, if only because you lose your audience after 90 seconds. The reason is simply because the interviewers have to get on with their day and they do not have time to sit and listen to long-winded responses. Keep your answers concise, direct and to the point. There are ways, however, to get around lengthy answers.

Engage Your Interviewer

Some answers could require more than 90 seconds to respond. An interviewer may ask you a behavioral or strategic question such as "How do you think we can improve our sales metrics?" Begin your thoughtful response with a few ideas and then get into some details. If you speak for 60 seconds, take a short pause and then ask your interviewers, "Is that the level of detail you are looking for?" Your interviewer can then respond by asking for more information or saying your answer was sufficient. This puts the ball in the other person's court and allows your question to serve as a transition to the next part of the interview.

Discussions to Avoid

Never bring up salary and benefits in the interview. If the HR manager wants to discuss these items, your prospective employer should bring these topics to the table first. Prepare for this type of conversation, but do not initiate this discussion. Research what other people in your position make in the industry so you have a range of salary expectations. Take into account the competition's salaries and the local cost of living to get an idea of what your salary should be.

Avoid controversial subjects such as religion and politics. Someone's personal religious and political views have no place in an interview whatsoever. Even an offhand mention of a political or religious issue can sink your chances of landing a position.

Ask Good Questions

One of the last questions interviewers may talk about is, "What questions do you have for us?" This is a perfect time to display your listening skills by asking relevant questions. Ask where the future of the company is headed and what a typical day is like for someone in your position. Ask what your interviewers like most about their own jobs; their answers provide insight as to the company culture and what you can expect on a daily basis.

A job interview is not about you speaking all of the time. Learn how to talk at the ideal moment and listen appropriately to earn the respect of the people in front of you. This respect goes a long way to earning a position that could turn into your dream job.

Photo Courtesy of Teresa Farfan at Flickr.com
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  • Kellen P.
    Kellen P. •

    Things get very interesting when the interview is being conducted via Skype. It's much harder to determine appropriate eye contact using Skype, right? Some people don't know to look at the camera, not the screen! Hard to fault potential employees for that. It's a relatively new technology. It is also much easier to miss out on body language "cues" when Skyping. It's a great piece of technology, but it does complicate things sometimes.

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Duncan if you seriously do not have a clue, it's probably best to admit it. But, if you just need a few minutes to get the brain working, try paraphrasing the question back to the interviewer to be sure that you have a true understanding of what they are asking. This might give you just the time you need to be able to respond. But don't try to fake your way through it - the interviewer is going to know. So true @William - what is 30 minutes after all of the prep work you did to get to that interview?

  • Duncan Maranga
    Duncan Maranga •

    There comes a time during the interview that you are asked a question that you have no clue what to answer. In most cases this could be a question that requires a specific answer and does not require you to give a personal opinion. How do you go round such a question without losing the prospect of being hired?

  • William Browning
    William Browning •

    I think one key to learning when to speak and when not to speak involves good preparation. Your thinking pause should actually mean you think about a question. Don't fill the thinking pause with empty space. Every question you ask and comment you make should add some value to the conversation. Don't just say something for the sake of saying something. Your comments, thoughts and pauses should all remain relevant to the situation at hand. All you have to do is focus for 30 minutes.

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    Thanks for the comments. @Emma so very true. In an interview we are nervous and we construe any silence as being a negative. Not true. Maybe the interviewer is rereading your resume or taking notes or even just needs a minute to collect his thoughts. Just take that time to take a few breaths and force your body to relax. You could be looking at your notes at the same time. @Catherine great advice. I do the same thing - try to paraphrase the query back to the interviewer to be sure that I understand the question. If, after doing that, I still don't have an answer, then I will own up to it by saying something like off the top of my head I can't think of a time or a situation where I encountered blah, blah, blah. But I would like to be able to come back to you with an answer. Would it be okay to call you later? Kind of leaves the door open. If you are anything like me, the answer will come as I am walking out to my car!

  • Emma Rochekins
    Emma Rochekins •

    I agree that long-winded responses are best avoided. There is a balance to strike between being concise and being too brief. For most questions, just one sentence usually isn't sufficient. Sometimes it helps to think of the answer you're giving as an abstract summary; it highlights the main points without going into detail. If the interviewer wants to hear more, then elaborate. And remember that it's not necessary to fill all silent moments with chatter. Interviewers usually are taking notes, so some pauses of silence are natural.

  • CATHERINE S.
    CATHERINE S. •

    I like the advice of allowing yourself time to think before answering a tough question during an interview. I didn't realize this was an option or a smart interview strategy for many years. Saying "let me think about that" and pausing for 30 seconds is much better than blurting out the first thing that comes to your mind. Another strategy for buying a little more time to think of answers is to ask the interviewer to clarify the question or expand it.

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Katharine thanks for your question. It is a question that many of us want to ask. If you just draw a blank - admit it. The interviewer knows that you are nervous. Maybe you could jot down the question and then come back to it later on in the interview or even include your response in the thank you note that you will send after the interview. We all have been there - no harm done.

  • Katharine M.
    Katharine M. •

    The two-second pause is a great guideline- unfortunately, I've had the misfortune to draw a blank and have my pauses last much, much longer as I tried to come up with an answer. Any tips for what to do if you just can't come up with anything?

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Abbey thanks for your comment. Absolutely you should know what the salary range is for the position. There are many sites where you can find that information. Obviously we don't want to apply for a position with a salary that is not enough to pay our basic expenses. So we can only assume that you have taken the time to find out a range prior to applying. This way, if it does come up in the interview, then you will be prepared to discuss it. If the interview brings it up - well, then go for it. But, we as the job seeker, should not bring it up during the interview. I have been on interviews where the interview is over and I am leaving only to hear the interviewer call me back and say wait - we didn't discuss salary. That is normally when I do a happy dance (inside, of course) because that means that I am truly being considered for the position. If they weren't interested, they wouldn't ask! So no we should not bring up salary or benefits during the interview. But, if asked, we should be prepared to respond.

  • Abbey Boyd
    Abbey Boyd •

    One thing I have learned over the years is to always be prepared for talk about salary and benefits. As stated in the article, you shouldn't ask about it in the interview, but more often than not, it does come up. I have been in many interviews where the salary is mentioned, and there were times I had no idea how to respond. Is this the time to be vocal? Is the hiring manager just trying to get a reaction? Is there room for negotiation? You have to know when you enter the interview room what you are willing to work for, and you have to do your research to come up with that figure.

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Lydia thanks for your comment. I would think that maybe talking through your response to a strategic question would be the best way to go. That way you can ask questions along the way and find out if you are in the ballpark of what they are looking for. Most interviews aren't going to do that without some previous heads up - maybe an email stating that during the interview you will be required to take some type of testing. That way you know and can be prepared. Yes, taking time to rephrase the question for clarification/understanding is the best way to give your mind time to formulate a response.

  • Lydia K.
    Lydia K. •

    This article includes some good advice about responding to strategic questions. I know it can be easy to derail on these without guidance. Simply stopping to ask the interviewer if this is what s/he's looking for is a great idea because it can definitely save you from going off in an unwanted direction. Some strategic questions are challenging and require extra time or thought. What's a good way to get through these without looking inept?

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    Thanks for the comments. @Mike you are certainly not alone. We are so used to noise, noise, noise that we find ourselves very uncomfortable when there is silence during an interview and we find ourselves talking - a lot. Instead, we need to just sit quietly and breathe until the next question. @Jane, if you are going for a second interview, it certainly is okay to ask if you can see the work space and maybe meet one or two people from the department. You can ask them the questions that you wouldn't ask the interviewer.

  • Mike Van de Water
    Mike Van de Water •

    This is very good advice, especially the bit about the thinking pause. A lot of times I want to rush out information too quickly and start talking when the interviewer still has more to convey. I will definitely incorporate a nice two-second pause before speaking in the future. Thanks for the tip!

  • Jane H.
    Jane H. •

    I see where you're going with the idea of asking interviewers how they like their own jobs and I agree with that approach. Getting to know the corporate culture before signing on is critical to knowing if one will be happy working there. However, unless one is interviewing for a job in H.R., the experience of working in another department may be far different. After the first round of interviews, when the list is narrowing and one is now a final candidate, what do you think about asking to speak to someone who would be one's co-worker, to see what that person thinks about the job?

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Jacob absolutely. You will know, based upon the interviewer's body language and actions, whether you should continue speaking or not. Never limit yourself to a certain period of time as each interview and interviewer will be different. Just try to feed off of the reactions of the interviewer to gauge your responses.

  • Jacob T.
    Jacob T. •

    It feels a bit like winding up a shorter answer by asking 'Is that what you were looking for (or some form of it) would come across as confrontational and petulant. If you have a 60 second answer that provides great depth, clarity and highlights your value, is it not acceptable to leave it at that?

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Shannon it is always best to ask questions of the interviewer - whether throughout the interview or at the end. Never discuss salary unless the interviewer brings it up. Don't ask about work hours or vacation or benefits. You can find all of that out later. Don't be asking the interviewer any personal questions - keep everything professional and above board. Some interviewers can put you at such ease that you would think you had been friends forever. But you have not and you need to remember that. At the end of the interview you could ask about next steps and make sure that you their contact information if this is a position you wish to pursue. Also - and we preach this over and over again - send a thank you card. It's always best to send a handwritten thank you note. You can have the notes in your car and can write it up even before you leave from the parking lot. Drop it off in the mail before you go home. That thank you card can definitely put you over the top.

  • Shannon Philpott
    Shannon Philpott •

    I have used the practice of asking questions of the interviewer and have even had some professionals tell me that I was the only one to ask anything. It helped put me above the rest of the candidates. I'm curious, though, about what not to ask. The article mentions salary or religion. Is there anything else we should avoid?

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