Stuck during interview?
Have you been in a situation where you just didn't know the answer to an interview question and the mind just goes blank? How did you/would you come out of that?
There was one particular interview with a bank asking a brain teaser like question. I did my best but was just totally off base and the interviewer chuckled and said “well that question didn’t go well” and we moved on... on to the next hour of the interview. Longest interview of my life, but learned to take it in stride.
Ah the interviewer must have had a sense of humor. I think that sort of reaction would soften the vibe and loosen things up, although I'm sure it was still awkward.
Yes. Jokes aside, just like anything in life, you just have to stick through it and keep going, given you can't just restart your interview. Ask for a few seconds to clear your thought if need be or for clarification, but it is perfectly natural to suddenly blank out or not know what's going on. Remember, an interview is as much a conversation as a test of skill/intelligence. As long as you try to get back on track and be honest about your lack of knowledge, chances are the interviewer wouldn't care that much.
Right, even as a candidate I always aim to make an interview more of a two-way conversation than a super formal q&a session since it helps to create a more relaxed atmosphere where I can perform better. But there are some toughies out there that won't make that easy (in hindsight, that may also have been a tactic on the interviewer's part to assess how I handle under stress).
Practice sessions are the only thing that can solve this. Deliberate practice.
🤔
I dance.
I'll keep this option in my back pocket
And then fart? So Solution comes out? Brilliant!
Asking the interviewer to repeat the question or for clarification is a good way to buy a bit more time to try and come up with an answer. If it is a technical question and you have no idea then talk about how you would approach figuring it out. If you flop on a case, finish out the interview as fast as possible, be polite, and move on. Take it as a learning experience and prepare for the next opportunity.
Definitely see the experience as a learning opportunity. I realized I just hadn't interviewed much, especially on the technical side, to have practiced enough and feel comfortable in the situation.
Thé interviewer would always help you if he/she notices that you are stuck. If it is just a question of getting a few more seconds to think, you can ask the interviewer to rephrase the question and then after a few seconds say hmm that’s a very interesting Question let me think about it and finally answer. This will at least give you 30 more seconds to think
My first 5 interviews literally had STOP signs every answer I made to the questions. I realized that I was trying to answer too promptly without having any time to think. From there, I gave about 5 seconds after the end of a question. Yes it takes a while to be comfortable with the silence within that 5 seconds but it helped me a lot in terms of organizing answers in my head.
Yep something I did as well, jumping to answer questions very promptly, especially for the ones that I wasn't clear about to begin with. Felt like I just had to say something to avoid that moment of silence.
While it’s useful for interviewers to know that you’re proficient in your technicals, we also want to understand how you work through problems and what your thought process is. Some interviewers will specifically ask you to talk it through and slow down and make an attempt if you can’t come up with something. Even if you don’t know something, demonstrating that you can be logical and methodical and ask the right questions (asking for a hint or direction), that’s really helpful for interviewers to see because on the job you’ll be in situations where you need to think things through and be methodical in cases where you can’t get someone else to give you an answer or need to think abstractly
For me, the interviewer gave me lots of hints and I proceeded. But, I knew that I had messed up.
Right, same here as well except for the interviewer giving hints part. I just knew instantly that I messed up to the point of no return :( One of the most awkward hours I've had (probably the same for the interviewer) lol
@ Capital America just curious what were the questions you got stuck?