Maximum duration of silence during interview

Question

Obviously you want to talk and explain your thought process during an interview. But sometimes, you need to shut your mouth so you can organize your thoughts a bit before you can coherently verbalize your thoughts.

So what's the acceptable amount of silence? Is a minute too long? What about 3 or 5? I can see how bad it might get if I stay silent for longer than 5 minutes, but just wanted some thoughts from those who have extensive interviewing experience.

Cgea2578wcj6s · Accepted Answer

Don’t word vomit to fill up space. If you need a moment to think, say that and then speak. If you’re the type to think out loud, say that and then ramble.

CauliflowerDen · Answer

I’d actually rather be more verbose than spare moments of silence in an interview. Just speak your thoughts out loud, it’s fine if it’s messy, that’s what they’re trying to evaluate and gives them a good idea of how you think. Just my 2 cents.

bananamonger · Answer

2 minutes is a long time to stay silent. 5 minutes would be way too long. You want to verbalize your thought process as that is what the interviewers want insight on. They’re not necessarily looking for you to provide the “correct” answer rather the process to how you arrived at your solution.

19g617l4j42ywl · Answer

30s to 1 minute after that just say you are going to think out loud and explain what is going through your head. I had a brilliant former co-worker who was the extreme quiet type interview at a FAANG company they had to ask them to talk more and they ended the interview early because they couldn’t get a good idea about them.

Maximum duration of silence during interview

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