You don’t have to fill the space.

If you have been interviewed before you most likely have experienced the awkward pause. Immediately one has a tendency to want to fill the uncomfortable space with words. . .

The below describes the scenario I’m talking about.

The interviewer asks a question. You respond and while doing so you notice the interviewer just staring at you, all the things that go through your head, “did they get the answer they needed, did I give enough, did I end my response too quickly, etc. . .”

If you are prepared, you will have plenty of responses prepared to either use or use as a jumping off point for an impromptu response. Once you have given the response you planned or improvised then it is time to button up your answer (you will have prepared this buttoning up I speak of), at which point you can lean back, smile, laugh or display the appropriate emotion and then let the silence sit.

Please know it is not your job to fill space.

This also helps you be in control of your responses, which in turn will help you avoid rambling into oblivion.

— Suzanne