Blanking out for an interview question is natural, but a quick
and witty recovery can still save the day, and be crucial in defining the rest
of the interview experience.
As a candidate, you spend hours, if not days, preparing
your resume. You attend the company presentations hosted in the fancy halls in
your college. You fill pages and pages about what you heard, you even go meet
and greet with the potential interviewers. It’s fair to say you invest a
considerable amount of time weighing your campus placement options and you spend
a grueling hour proving your aptitude in a test for the company, and FINALLY
you get the coveted interview call. You breeze past the initial HR rounds, and
now are in the interview room facing a panel for your final round. You are
smart, humorous and witty, cruising through the first few questions. The panel
is impressed but just to test you further, they throw a curve ball at you, or even
a simple leading question. But instead of the anticipated response, you blank
out. Nothing. No words, sentences or thoughts being generated. Why? You were
brilliant all along, how could this happen to you, especially at such a
critical stage?
You’ll be glad to know, this is natural. It happens to the
best of the best from stage artists up to presidential candidates. It does not, in any way mean your career is
over, let alone your interview. And is also does not mean you give up, get
nervous or start dithering through the rest of your interview! Following some
simple strategies can help you overcome any interview brain freeze quickly and
effectively, and even turn your interview around!
The quote "Take a step back to move two steps
forward" applies aptly here. One of the first things you should do is pause
(yes pause). It takes courage and confidence to do so, but pausing will allow
you take a deep breath and attempt to relax. Now, if you are thinking: Manish,
I need a strategy, not a yoga instruction! Think again. Take a breath, though with
a slightly uncomfortable silence; gives you an opportunity to regain composure,
collect your thoughts and think through the question. In fact, it reflects you
in a positive light as you would come across as a thoughtful, calm person who
can step back and analyze.
If you are not a fan of complete silence, that is okay
too. All you have to do is, calm down and buy yourself some time to think and take
charge of the situation. Politely respond with phrases like "That is a
great question, could I please have a moment to collect my thoughts?". This
will give you enough space and control, but it can also help you rid your nervousness.
Most interviewers not only understand and respect this request, but suggest
that candidates make this request when in need, to be able to have a more
productive interview.
One of the other strategies you can use is re-iteration. Rather
than make the interviewer repeat the question to you (unless of course you
missed the question or parts of it); you can repeat that question to him or her
instead. Verbalizing the question would help you process the query faster and
better. It would also reassure the interviewer that you are attentive and listening.
Okay Manish, I did what you said - Bought time, collected
my thoughts and took control of the situation, but now what? What do I do if I
still cannot answer that question? Sometimes the reason you did not know the
answer to a question can be because it was too subjective, or you didn’t know
the answer as it was indeed a really hard question. No need to fret. Now in our
next two blogs, we will cover both these scenarios. We will discuss ways to
tackle subjective questions and learn what to do when you genuinely do not know
an answer to a question.
In the meanwhile, do follow our blog and let us know what you did when you too have blanked out in your interviews, in comments below!
Stay tuned!
Manish Gaba
Editor - Vaishnavi Ravi
(Pic courtesy - www.unsplash.com)
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