Hi
@Jessica Booker , sorry for too many questions today. Could you please tell me:
1. In an interview, if we are asked a particular question, what should we do if we realise in the middle that our answer is incorrect/does not really answer the question?
2. What should we do if we cannot think of an answer at all?
Thanks in advance.
1) Acknowledge you recognise this, and get your answer back on track as quickly as possible
2) it is always much better to give the answer a go rather than say “I don’t know”. You will probably have some ideas or how to answer it even if you don’t have an actual answer. However, some delaying tactics (depending on how stuck on the answer you are) are:
- take a sip of water - gives you some time to think albeit very briefly
- to ask for some time to think about the answer
- to ask your interviewer for further details or explanation of the question, even if it’s you checking what you think they mean
- to ask your interviewer if you can come back to the question later on in the interview
- try to answer the question even if it is just to talk about the components of the answer you do understand, and then ask whether the interviewer can provide more insight from their perspective as you are not 100% sure of other elements.
- try to keep your language positive - for instance saying “I don’t know a lot about this topic” is framing it negatively while saying “My strength in terms of knowledge is more in the X area/topic, but if I consider different factors I would think…” is framing your answer in a much more positive way.