Brevity: the most important interviewing technique

I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.

Blaise Pascal

Have you ever heard someone say… “Mass last Sunday was great! Father preached for 45 minutes!” Or how about… “my date last night was awesome, he/she talked the whole time and I loved listening to every word.”

As a recruiter, I regularly receive detailed feedback from our client companies regarding candidate interviews: the good, the great, and (sometimes) the ugly. 

 One of the biggest mistakes that candidates make in interviews is lack of brevity.

 “We asked one question and then the candidate spoke for 20 minutes straight…”

“We couldn’t get a word in.”

“His answer started out strong, but then he went off on tangents about I don’t know what.”

There is a lot of pressure for candidates to communicate their value in a seemingly short interview period. The tempting solution to this problem is to share everything – every experience, accomplishment, skillset job position held – to provide mounting evidence of their perfect fit for the role.

This is the wrong approach.

Instead, it is likely the case that your interviewer is hiring to solve a specific problem and will ask you very specific questions to see if you are the solution. When you answer the questions directly in a concise and clear manner, they will understand exactly the value you bring, and nothing gets lost in extra words.

To simultaneously display brevity and value takes preparation, diligence, and practice— all of which are necessary to ace an interview.