How long should your answers be in an interview

Some behavioral questions, such as describing how you might handle a difficult situation with a co-worker or ways you might contribute to a team project require extended details and analyses.

Many hiring managers start with the question, "Tell me about yourself. According to the University of Washington, a two-minute answer gives you time explain who you are and where you're from, what schools you've attended, your work experience, leadership traits, why you're interested in the position and what attracted you to the industry in the first place.

Don't feel pressured to spend an entire two minutes on the answer, but make sure your answer isn't abrupt or impersonal. Something you say might spark the interviewer's interest and lead to follow-up questions. Interview questions that have factual answers can usually be answered in less than a minute.

If the interviewer asks you about your educational degrees, projects you've completed, work experience, certifications or specialized skills, you can often answer in less than 60 seconds. When providing factual details, short, fluent responses are best. Talk in complete sentences and answer the questions directly, without going on tangents that don't directly relate to the question.

Fully understanding this is critical to effectively communicating during any interview. Your response should be less than a minute and a half when an interviewer asks you to " tell me about yourself. You'll have that interviewer's attention for just about 90 seconds.

An interviewer's attention level can be nearly impossible to detect, because most people are skilled at nodding their heads and saying "hmmm" while looking at you, all in an effort to disguise their wandering minds. The longer you speak without interruption, the less attention the listener is giving you. Hence, when you provide a long interview answer that builds to an important conclusion, often the interviewer is no longer listening. This is particularly important when you respond to an interviewer's request to tell him about yourself, because there is just so much you can say on the subject, and you can't be sure what part of your background the interviewer is most interested in learning about.

Near the end of your response, it's important to keep the interviewer engaged by asking good questions. Skilled interviewers will pose behavioral interview questions, asking you to describe specific examples of your experience. In these situations, your response can easily last much longer than 90 seconds. In such situations, interrupt yourself by asking the interviewer a question like, "Is this the level of detail you are looking for?

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