How long should your responses be in an interview?

The right length for interview answers is 30 seconds to 2 minutes for basic questions, and up to 3 or 3.5 minutes for behavioral questions. The answers to simple factual questions should be the shortest. For instance, the answer to “Where did you get your Master’s?” can be less than 30 seconds.

Do interviewers care about your answers?

Interviewers look for things they want to hear in your answers, or ways you handle yourself during the interview, or simply some sign that shows them what you might be like if you worked for them.

How long is too long for an interview answer?

The right length for interview answers depends on the type of question. Answers for basic/introductory questions should be 30 to 90 seconds. Answers for behavioral questions should be at least 2 minutes but not more than 4 minutes.

Is it bad to pause in an interview?

And a pause here or there in an interview is not only OK, but it’s expected. “Pausing is part of the normal rhythm of conversation,” Crawford says. And, “in this case, show that you are still engaged in the conversation by sitting tall, smiling, and making eye contact,” she advises.

What happens if you can’t answer a question in an interview?

Even if you don’t know what the answer is, you can tell the interviewer the steps you would take to figure out the problem. Interviewers ask you hard questions because they want to see what your thought process is. Sometimes, the thought process may be more important than the actual answer.

What is a programming interview like?

While the line-up of interviews may change, there’s almost always a programming interview: writing code on a whiteboard/computer, to solve some arbitrary problem, to answer the question “can this person actually write working code?”.

Is coding interview flawed?

To make the matter worse, you will find that so many people on the internet telling that coding interview is flawed, the hiring process for programmers sucks and so on but you don’t need to pay attention to them, not at least at the start of your career. They may be right but they are inside the train which you are trying to get into.

Why is it important to practice solutions before a job interview?

Having practiced them before not only makes you familiar with them but also gives you more confidence in explaining the solution to the interviewer.

How to prepare for coding interviews?

There is no better way to do well in Coding interviews than practicing as many coding problems as possible. This will not only train your mind to recognize algorithmic patterns in problems but also give you the much-needed confidence to solve the problem you have never seen before.