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It’s happened, you were offered the chance to interview for your dream role! So far, you’re holding your own, preparing your heart out and keeping your nerves in check. Then the time comes and you’re interviewing, you had a nice icebreaker, everyone’s asking nice questions, rapport is building, but then it happens, you’ve been asked a question that you’re not sure about — should you:
A) just give a general safe answer, at least you know it’s not wrong!
B) give the answer you think is appropriate
C) ask a clarifying question
Let’s take a closer look at the situation in real time.
The nature of interviews
Interviews are extremely tough. You are interacting with strangers who need you to showcase your reasons for being a fit for a role. Time is limited, context and interpretation are flying back and forth with each exchange.
You’re in a spotlight.
While this may be a source of excitement for some it’s certainly a source of discomfort for others.
What’s behind Option A — The Safe Response
In the scenario where you go with option A you gave a general and safe response to a question, you’ve not risked much. Or have you? There are a few challenges with safe answers. First off, you’re potentially missing your time to shine which is the whole point of the interview. The job at hand requires you to reinforce that you are the best fit for the position. Alternatively, you could also be providing the most underwhelming answer that detracts from your application. Soft ball answers can be costly especially with crucial questions. Overall you may have stayed out of trouble but for all the wrong reasons.
Option B — Giving The Answer You Think Is Appropriate
It may not seem obvious to you at the time but feeling unsure before responding risks you giving an irrelevant answer. Cue the sweaty palms and nerve patrol because you’ll know soon after if this happens in interview. All of a sudden you can have your confidence shattered and topple the rest of the interview. It’s easy to know when this happens — awkward silence, body language and shifting eye contact. This is also easy to miss depending on the interviewer and style of interview eg. phone interviews.
Option C — Ask A Clarifying Question
This is always the best go-to for this scenario precisely because it protects you from falling into miscommunication and poor representation of your knowledge and skill set.
You may feel like you risk putting everyone off by breaking momentum or appearing dumb for not understanding but I assure you the exact opposite is at play. By asking a qualifying question before shooting off an answer you’re giving a live demonstration of your ability to troubleshoot, discern, communicate well and be measured. All qualities an employer wants in a prospect.
Demonstrate that you’re fine not knowing if you don’t know. It’s one of the signs of intelligence. Know what you don’t know!
Final Take Away
Interviews are hard, waste no time on ego, refocus on understanding the questions you’re being asked so you can navigate the conversation from a place of knowledge.
Keep an eye out for the following and queue your clarifying questions:
1) Vague questions that don’t have sufficient context
2) Questions with multiple answers
3) Questions that stomp you
Keep these in mind in your next interview and remember every interview is practice.
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