How to Handle an Interview Question You Don't Know How To Answer

You landed an interview for the job of your dreams.  You spent hours preparing and show up nice and early.

You are nervous, which is to be expected because this is the job you having been going after for ages.

The interviews start off great, you are nailing it. 

Then it happens.

They ask you a question.  And you don’t know how to answer it.  You panic and mumble, “um I don’t know” or ramble through some long winded story hoping that it distracts them or maybe just somehow answers the question.

The rest of the interview isn’t much better, you can’t stop thinking about how you’ve blown it and so the rest of your answers are just as bad.
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Has this ever happened to you?

I’m sure it has because most of us have an interview story of when we just couldn’t think of an answer.

Mine is really silly.  I was interviewing for a recruiter job right out of school and the question was actually a really easy one:

“If I were to call your references what would they say?”

It really caught me off guard and I wasn’t too sure what to say. 

So I immediately starting speaking and saying all the wrong things like “I’m friends with all my references so they’ll say good things” to “well I’m not sure what my father would say, it isn’t easy working for your dad, chuckle chuckle”. 

By the look on her face I knew I screwed up.  Which totally derailed the rest of the interview.

Needless to say, I didn’t get the job!

Prepare yourself for this to happen, that way if it does then you can handle it calmly and confidently, meaning you can leave the interview knowing you gave it your all and still in contention for the role.

So what should you do?

Remain Calm
Take a deep breath.  Remind yourself that you’ve got this.  Stay calm and confident. 

Be Open
Tough questions are a part of the game, so be open with the interviewer that you are having a tough time.  Maybe with a:

“Great question, let me think about that for a moment” Or if you are really struggling “would it be okay to come back to this question?”

Get Out of Your Head
Don’t be afraid to verbalize your thought processes as you try to come up with an answer.  This especially works for process oriented or technical questions.

“I don’t have experience with that exact {fill in blank}, but this is how I would approach it” and share your thoughts aloud.

Showcase Your Abilities
If you are asked a knowledge or technical question and you don’t know the answer or even how you would go about answering the question. Pivot and showcase your abilities.

“I don’t have experience with that exact {fill in blank}, but that hasn’t stopped me in the past” and share a story about a time at work where you were thrown into something new and how you quickly picked it up, maybe you even became the team expert!

Ask for Clarification
This is especially helpful with a behavioural based question.  The interviewer will repeat the question, maybe even ask it in a different way making it easier for you to come up with an answer.  And even if it doesn’t help, it will buy you more time to collect yourself and think of something!

Be Persistent
So you couldn’t answer it, or your answer wasn’t what you hoped it could be.  That doesn’t mean all is lost.

Once you come to the end of your lackluster story, go into how you would go about finding out the right answer.  Show them you are not the type who sits back and expects things to come to you, you will go out there and find the solution.

Maybe during the interview a better answer comes to you, before you ask your questions ask if it is okay to revisit that question and share your new stronger answer with them.

After the interview you’ll send your thank you email, talk them through what you now know.  If it was a technical question – tell them how you researched and discovered the answer.  If it was a behavioural question, go through a quick 3 sentence story about it.

Bad answers happen.  And people who give bad answers still get hired.  Because the perfect interview is rare, so what matters most is how you handle it.  Don't let it ruin the rest of the interview.  

Having trouble with interviews in general?  I can help with that!  I help clients figure out what has been going wrong and we turn things around.  Invest in your success.