I started timing my answers for probable interview questions lately, like
"Tell me about a time you worked in a team" or something
and find most of them are 2min - 2.30 long.
I was wondering am I going into too much detail and should aim for shorter answers? What is the ideal length?
PS Interviewing for M&A like most of us
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It would probably depend on your interviewer. I have had experiences where the interviewer noticeably wanted to get through these questions quickly (they favored technical questions), so I had to condense a satisfactory answer into ~1 minute (at least it felt like it). Other times, the interviewer was much more interested in detailed answers to these fit questions and basically gave total freedom in terms of how long you made your answer. In these cases, 2-2.5 minutes sounds about right. Try to get a feel for your interviewer and adjust your answers as necessary would be my advice. Best of luck!
Theres never a standard answer to the standard interview questions.
I would pay close attention to the interviewer's body language. That should tell you whether or not to shorten your answers.
I think if you keep it at 2 mins or just under, you run a good balance between having enough time to flesh out your answers (which includes the customary "thinking" phase) and being too long that you bore the interviewer
Thanks guys, you are awesome.
How long should I take to respond to each interview question? (Originally Posted: 09/15/2015)
Hi Guys,
I know this is a bit of a redundant question but I wanted to some expert opinions on this. I am currently rehearsing for an interview and I find myself going on about 1-2 minutes for each behavioural question. Is this too long? I used Video Stream and listened to myself and none of what I say sounds irrelevant or rambling. If there is anyone there that has interviewed candidates, could you please tell me how long should I be taking for these responses.
Thank you in advance!
Be shorter, let the interviewers ask for more.
Use triads as a role of thumb. Humans aren't good at retaining more than 3 points. If you're making more than 3 points in an answer, it's too much. Less than 3 points is fine, it's a max, not a target.
When I'm interviewing and asking behavioral questions, I usually come to a view on the quality of the answer in the first 30 - 60 seconds. After that, I'm unlikely to change my view on new information.
Every question is partly a test of your ability to be concise.
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