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What To Do When You Don’t Know How To Answer An Interview Question

Have you ever been asked a question during an interview and your mind went blank? Did you wish the floor to open up and swallow you alive?

We understand the importance of prior preparation of interviews to prevent poor performance. Even if you spend a lot of time preparing and practicing the interview, there is always a chance that you might be asked a question that makes you stumped. It may be scaring experience but that is not the end of the world.

The paradox of it is that when the interview is over, you tend to think of many answers which could have convinced the interviewer but during the interview, you couldn’t even think of any.

What then can you do when you can’t think of the right response at that moment?

Here are 7 tips.

1. Calm Down

Some interviewers ask tough questions not to find the right answers but to see your reactions under pressure. Take a deep breath and maintain a calm posture because this will show your confidence. If you start freaking out, the interviewer will lose faith in you.

2. Ask Questions

If you don’t understand, ask for clarifications. Go deeper to see if you can get more details that will help you figure out the best answer to give.

3. Tell Your Interviewer What You Know

After understanding the question, you may have a bit of knowledge so tell the interviewer what you understand.

4. Think Out Loud

Avoiding silences and thinking out loud about a tough interview question is a great way to keep the conversation going. This shows the interviewer how you would think and work through unexpected obstacles.

5. Don’t Say, “I Don’t Know,”

Saying I don’t know is never the best answer to the interviewer. This shows that you never did your research and may put off the interviewer. Book one on one interview coaching services and get to understand mistakes to avoid during the interviews and the best answers to give.

6. Redirect The Conversation to A Topic You’re Confident With

If you don’t have the right answer, you can change the topic to something related and that which you have experience with. If you are asked experience with a specific skill, you can direct your answer to a relevant skill. For example, I don’t have much experience with social media marketing but I am an experienced copywriter. I understand the current SEO practices. You can also mention that you are flexible to learn new skills. For example, what excited me about this position was the opportunity to learn more about social media marketing and develop my skills.

7. Answer The Question When You Follow Up with The Interviewer

Follow-up emails may give you a second chance. If you didn’t come up with the right response during the interview, you may answer the question when sending a follow-up email. This shows that you are persistent and your resourcefulness will stand out. Do not look for sympathy by saying “I’m sorry I did not have the answer.” Instead, say after more time and thought, you came up with a couple of solutions that could work for the problem.

Final Thoughts

Interviewers are not concerned with the right answers, their interest is to see how you handle challenges so don’t panic, be confident and it will be easy for you to answer difficult questions.

Want to ace your next interview?

Prepare well for the common questions and if you still have a challenge, consult our interview coaches who will help you overcome your interview fears, and tackle the hardest interview questions for you to stand out.

 

12 Comments

  1. Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m inspired!
    Extremely useful information particularly the last part 🙂 I care for such information a lot.

    I was looking for this certain info for a very long time.
    Thank you and best of luck.

  2. Hi Elias, thanks for your concern. We understand your situation and I can assure you that all the applications are perused. Something which is key is, our recruitment team usually select based on clients’ needs. For example a client may require someone who is not working, with specific years of experience and specific skills so you see, recruitment will have to stick to clients requirements.

    We understand that the job market is very competitive and however we usually go for the best. When you apply for a job still, ensure you meet 80% of the requirements. One advert usually attracts more than 300 applications and maybe we only need one person so we have to strictly follow what clients wants.

    However, you should not give up applying for the positions that you feel you meet the requirements. Press on because one of the fine days you will land a job.

    All the best Allan.

  3. When i sent my cv to Evalyne she told me it was proffessional but when i apply jobs woth you. I wonder what goes wrong… So may applications even wonder if it gets perused.

  4. Hello are using WordPress for your blog platform?
    I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and
    set up my own. Do you need any html coding knowledge to make your own blog?
    Any help would be really appreciated!

  5. Hi Patrick, that is a nice question, now here are some of the questions you should ask yourself first. why were you terminated? was it because of redundancy? was it because of your performance? Was it because of the pandemic? The main thing here is what was the motive behind your termination?

    If it was because of redundancy or the pandemic then you should not shy to say the truth. Explain that to the interviewer incase you will be asked why you left your former employer.

  6. If you are terminated from work. How do you go about it to your next employer if you happen to get shortlisted for the interview.

  7. Hi Gachanja, you will have to explain the truth and I wish you had the soft copy of the documents but however the interviewer will have to understand that. There are many job seekers who have lost their original documents and that does not mean that is the end of life. You will explain the reality.

  8. I lost my campus original certificate but I have a letter of lieu from the University. It actually was stolen /destroyed by my Xhusband. What do I say in an interview when they ask where my original certificate is?

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