Listening for Humour

A joke, offered mid answer, is rarely just decoration. It can soften a difficult admission, deflect from a topic a subject would rather not sit with, or simply reveal genuine warmth that a purely serious line of questioning would never have surfaced on its own.

Interviewers sometimes treat humour as a break from the real conversation, moving briskly past it back to the substantive question. Slowing down to notice what a joke is doing, and occasionally following it with a gentle question, can reveal exactly as much as a more solemn exchange would.

Humour also builds rapport in ways a straight question rarely can. A shared laugh, genuinely earned rather than forced, often opens a subject up more than another carefully worded prompt ever could on its own. A shared laugh, genuinely earned rather than forced for effect, often opens a subject up more than any carefully worded question that follows it.