Tough question drill

How to get the most from it

• Say it out loud. Answering in your head is much easier than answering with your voice, which is exactly why it is less useful.
• Stand up if you will be standing on the day, and look at a fixed point as you would a camera or a Chair.
• Record yourself if your browser allows it, and listen back. Most people notice their filler words and their long run-ups straight away.
• Do the ones you hate twice. The second answer is almost always shorter and calmer.
• Swap in your own questions. Better still, have a colleague read you the questions you most fear. Our interview planner is a good place to list them.

The 14 kinds of awkward question

Most difficult questions follow a small number of patterns. Recognise the pattern and you can answer the question rather than being steered by it.

The open door

A friendly, wide question. The risk is not hostility but rambling: with no edges, people start at the beginning and never reach the point. Lead with your headline message in the first sentence, give one proof point, and stop. The easy questions are where the best clips come from.

The loaded premise

The question contains an assumption you may not accept. If you answer it as asked, you have agreed with the premise on air. Correct the premise briefly and calmly first (“That’s not quite right: …”), then answer what is fair in the question. Do not repeat the loaded words.

The hypothetical

“What if…?” invites you to speculate about something that has not happened. Whatever you say becomes the headline. Decline to speculate, briefly, then say what you know and what you are doing now. “I’m not going to guess at that. What I can tell you is…”

The false choice

Two options, both bad: “Is this incompetence or a cover-up?” Pick either and you have made the story. Reject both options without repeating them, and give your own account of what happened in plain terms.

The guarantee

“Can you promise…?” If you say yes, you own every future failure. If you say no, it sounds like an admission. Do not promise what you cannot control. Say what has changed, how you will know it is working, and what you will do if it is not.

Yes or no

A demand for one word on something complicated. The interviewer knows a one-word answer will be incomplete, which is the point. If there is an honest one-word answer, give it, then add the context. If there is not, say why a one-word answer would mislead, then answer properly and briefly.

The personal question

It moves the story from the organisation to you: your job, your feelings, your responsibility. Acknowledge the responsibility you do have, plainly and without self-pity, then move to what you are doing about the problem.

Someone else’s words

“Your critics say…” lets the interviewer put a charge without owning it, and tempts you to repeat it while denying it. Respond to the substance, not the quote. Do not repeat the charge. If the critics have a point, say so; it is disarming.

Somebody else’s business

An invitation to comment on a competitor, a minister, a partner or another organisation. Anything you say becomes their story and your problem. Stay in your lane. Talk about what you are doing and why, not what others should do.

The off-topic ambush

A question on a different subject, usually today’s bigger story, asked while you are on air for something else. Have a short, calm line on anything topical before you go in. Give it, and then return to your own subject.

The numbers test

A request for a specific figure. Get it wrong and the error becomes the story; hesitate and you look out of touch. Know your key figures cold. If you do not know one, say so and offer to follow up. Never guess a number on air.

The document you have not seen

“We’ve seen an email that says…” You do not know what the document says, who wrote it, or whether it is complete. Do not comment on a document you have not seen. Say you will look at it, then speak to the facts you do know.

The apology

“Will you apologise?” A hedged apology is often worse than none, and a refusal will be replayed. If an apology is due, make it clearly and specifically, without “if” or “any offence caused”. Then say what you are doing to put it right.

The follow-up

“You haven’t answered the question.” The interviewer has noticed a non-answer, and so has the audience. Answer it properly this time, or explain plainly why you cannot. Bridging away a second time will be the clip.