The "Silent Treatment"

Answer Posted / dolly

Beware – if you are unprepared for this question, you will probably not handle it right and possibly blow the interview. Thank goodness most interviewers don't employ it. It's normally used by those determined to see how you respond under stress. Here's how it works:

You answer an interviewer's question and then, instead of asking another, he just stares at you in a deafening silence.

You wait, growing a bit uneasy, and there he sits, silent as Mt. Rushmore, as if he doesn't believe what you've just said, or perhaps making you feel that you've unwittingly violated some cardinal rule of interview etiquette.

When you get this silent treatment after answering a particularly difficult question , such as "tell me about your weaknesses", its intimidating effect can be most disquieting, even to polished job hunters.

Most unprepared candidates rush in to fill the void of silence, viewing prolonged, uncomfortable silences as an invitation to clear up the previous answer which has obviously caused some problem. And that's what they do – ramble on, sputtering more and more information, sometimes irrelevant and often damaging, because they are suddenly playing the role of someone who's goofed and is now trying to recoup. But since the candidate doesn't know where or how he goofed, he just keeps talking, showing how flustered and confused he is by the interviewer's unmovable silence.

Like a primitive tribal mask, the Silent Treatment loses all it power to frighten you once you refuse to be intimidated. If your interviewer pulls it, keep quiet yourself for a while and then ask, with sincere politeness and not a trace of sarcasm, "Is there anything else I can fill in on that point?" That's all there is to it.

Whatever you do, don't let the Silent Treatment intimidate you into talking a blue streak, because you could easily talk yourself out of the position.

Is This Answer Correct ?    0 Yes 0 No



Post New Answer       View All Answers


Please Help Members By Posting Answers For Below Questions

What are your short term & long term career goals?

822


Would you like to ask us any questions?

648


Questions on the projects listed on the Resume.

2086


Do you know anyone who works with Burlington Coat Factory?

668


Why do you want to work at BHEL?

661






Why Motorola?

752


Name the regulator of capital market?

671


What are the documents required to open an account?

634


why do you want to work at zensar?

614


what have you learnt in 4 years of your BTech.

684


Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about?

1079


explain your summer training project.

681


Tell me The reason for not selecting other departments?

654


Tell me about a time when you had to give someone difficult feedback.

708


how many people are there in the air in the given day in us?(Guess estimate question)

648