How long should my interview responses be?

How long should my interview responses be?

You’re ahead of the game and you’re getting ready for your interviews. You’ve been preparing, improving your responses, critiquing videos of your practice sessions, and just when you’re feeling prepared, you wonder “Are my answers too long?”

Maybe. Maybe not.

I recommend keeping your interview responses within a range. Let’s say 30 seconds to 120 seconds. However, if you’re particularly passionate about a topic, you can go a bit past two minutes. And likewise,  if you’re asked a simple factual question such as “Will you be taking Calculus II in the spring?” then you can answer in under 30 seconds.

Simple, right?

Consider this. It may be more beneficial to have an interview with more back-and-forth. If the interviewer is able to ask more questions and you’re able to answer more questions, it’s better for both parties. In these cases, the interviewer feels that you’re having a productive and positive interaction because he/she isn’t just sitting there listening to your never-ending monologue. You’re changing topics. You’re keeping it interesting. You’re moving on to new questions and progressing through the interview like a champ.

IMAGINE YOU’RE THE INTERVIEWER and you have two interviews today. One with Student A and one with Student B.

Student A: He responds to 10 questions in 45 minutes. 

Student B: She responds to 17 questions in 45 minutes.

At the end of the day, you as an interviewer have some questions to ask yourself: Which student do I feel I know and understand the best? Which student was able to address all the questions I had for him/her? Which student should I recommend for admission to the school? 

Of course, you don’t know what Student A was talking about. Perhaps what he said was more interesting or meaningful than what Student B was discussing. However, if both students were equal and had similar experiences to discuss, the better interview style probably belongs to Student B. She had more back-and-forth with her interviewer. She allowed the interviewer to ask more questions and get to know her better. She may also have been more efficient and gotten to the point more quickly. 

So, how can you become more like Student B—efficient and conversational? 

During your next mock interview, I want you to appoint someone to be the timer. Ask him/her to count how many questions you answer during your interview and to give you an idea of how long your responses were. What was the range like?

If all of your answers are the same length, then something needs to change. Some people have an internal timer—like an internal clock that wakes you up 30 seconds before your alarm rings in the morning—that compels them to answer EVERY interview question in the same length of time.

DO NOT DO THIS:

Question 1: 60 seconds

Question 2: 65 seconds

Question 3: 58 seconds

Question 4: 60 seconds

Instead, VARY your answer lengths:

Question 1: 60 seconds

Question 2: 115 seconds (It’s a topic you are passionate about!)

Question 3: 38 seconds (It was a simple, fact-based question)

Question 4: 70 seconds

~Dr. Lauren