The Power of Silence After Asking
Launch library · evergreen read
Most people cannot tolerate a silence for more than a few seconds. An interviewer who asks a question and then simply waits, resisting the urge to soften it or offer an example, discovers how often a subject fills the gap with something truer than their first response. Even five seconds of true silence can feel unusually long to an interviewer new to the technique.
The instinct to rescue a pause is strong, especially for a considerate interviewer who worries the silence feels like pressure. But that discomfort is often doing useful work: it is the sound of someone thinking past their rehearsed line toward what they actually believe, and interrupting it hands the rehearsed line back. That discomfort belongs to the interviewer far more than to the subject, who is usually simply thinking.
Holding a silence is a physical skill as much as a mental one. It means sitting still, keeping an open expression, and resisting the reflex to nod something into being. Practised chairs count privately to five before they consider speaking again, and the extra seconds usually earn their keep. With practice the count becomes almost automatic, a quiet habit rather than a conscious effort.