Try Not to Talk Too Much in an Interview

The pressure to talk too much in an interview can be overwhelming. 

When you are talking, you feel as if you are in control of the narrative, thereby reducing any potential uncertainty. You sense that 60 minutes is not enough time to do justice to your career story, so you try to maximise the (uni-directional) flow of information. Your brain is hard-wired to use communication as a skill to survive. Few situations invoke the “fight or flight” response more than an interview. 

You talk, and talk, and talk. 

A barrage of words assaults the interviewer, overwhelming their brain by the volume. They wish the candidate would shut up for a second and let them collect their thoughts and formulate a question that is important to them rather than the irrelevance that is gushing their way. They secretly want to put their fingers to their lips and say shush…. 

However, to a candidate, the thought of silence during an interview seems unbearable. 

Perfectly understandable for the reasons listed above, but silence serves them just as well. Silence, too, has its power. In silence, we can hear not only what has been said but also what is not being said. In silence, it can be easier to seek the truth. 

Talk too much in an interview – balance

The best conversations are an even mix of listening and speaking, and even though a candidate has a particular message to convey during an interview, there is no reason why this should change. Your communication during your interview should not differ from your typical style in a working context. There is nothing more pleasurable than listening to an insightful speaker who chooses their words carefully, speaks melodically and intersperses their thoughts with long pauses for reflection. 

Of course, the interviewer must play their part too. 

If you interview a thoughtful and reflective candidate, give them the time and space to decide on precisely what it is they want to say. Don’t judge your success based on the number of insights; instead, aim to tease out what is important. It is in their interest to give this to you, but you will risk a garbled wall of somewhat relevant noise if you rush them. Then you wonder why you couldn’t remember much about them afterwards…. 

In those micro-moments of silence, you take note of body language, reflect on tone of voice, and think about context. You give each other permission to change tack, make additional comments, or simply move on. 

The nature of the recruitment process means that you will often have a second chance to expand on what is said. There will be further interviews, phone chats and email correspondence. During that vital first interview (in particular), don’t feel the pressure to talk too much. 

When you have a choice of what to say, nothing is always a valid option. 

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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists.

Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).