The #1 thing NOT to do if your mind freezes in a job interview.

Your head is full of amazing interview answers then…MIND…BLANK. Don’t do this 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 that will derail your interview after a mind freeze.

We’ve all experienced it; halfway through a sentence and you blank on what you were going to say next or midway through a story and forget the point you were trying to make…MIND…BLANK. In everyday occurrences this is no big deal – funny at best and slightly embarrassing at worst but when we’re talking about trying to snag the job of your dreams, drawing a blank can de-rail your chances.

Here’s what NOT to do if your mind goes blank during your interview.

The worst thing you can do if your mind goes blank in a job interview is to let it stall or stop the flow of the interview – DO NOT sit there speechless with a deer-in-the-headlights expression.

The danger of stalling the interview is stopping the momentum that you’ve got going so far. The danger in that, is not being able to ‘restart’ the interview and undermining the good work that you’ve laid so far and potentially derailing the interview from that point on.

There’s a scientific principle called Activation Energy which states that it takes more energy to initiate something than to keep it going. A loss of momentum creates a resistance (and in the case of an interview, that initial uncomfortableness) that has be overcome to reactivate the momentum.

Essentially, if you let a blank mind stall your interview, you need to put a lot of energy and effort into getting the interview back on track and moving again and if you can’t do that, you run the risk of tanking the interview. A car is much easier to keep moving once it’s started than trying to jump start it once it’s stalled.

A blank mind doesn’t spell the end of the interview though, there’s lots of strategies you can use to prevent and resolve interview brain-freeze.

These strategies fall into two categories; proactive and reactive measures.

"The worst thing you can do if your mind goes blank

is to let it stall or stop the flow of the interview"

Proactive Measures

Proactive measures are the things you can do before the interview to prevent a blank mind.

Prepare like a mad wo/man. Obviously you’ll do a ton of research before the interview but just as important as research, is a using a system to help commit these notes to memory. You can’t recall something from your memory that wasn’t there in the first place. So do your research, make concise notes and then find a system that works for you for committing those notes to memory. Some people like to use mnemonics, rhymes, repetition, storytelling or memory pegging. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it works for you.

Have a strategy for your perusal time. Perusal time is KING. If you’re afforded perusal time, don’t squander it, it really can make or break your interview performance. Notes made in perusal time will help to prompt you if your mind does goes blank. Even one well-made dot point can be enough to keep the momentum going and fire up ideas to fill your mind and kick start your brain into action.

Keep blood flowing to the brain. It’s common for rational thinking to elude us during times of stress. And there’s a physiological reason for this; when we’re stressed, our body goes into ‘fight or flight’ mode and redirects blood flow away from the brain and towards large muscle groups, ready to take any necessary action. So plan to try and keep stress levels as manageable as possible prior to the interview to make sure your brain has all the oxygen it needs to keep those neurons firing. Make sure you arrive with plenty of time, try listening to calming music or an inspirational podcast, try a mindfulness activity and focus on positive self-talk.

For other ways to reduce stress and beat interview nerves check out our blog post How to Deal With Interview Nerves Like a Boss.

"You can’t recall something from your

memory that wasn’t there in the first place"

Reactive Measures

Reactive measures are the things you can do in response to a blank mind.

Sometimes, no much how much preparation you put in, a brain freeze can appear out of nowhere. The answer was in your head…and then it wasn’t and it’s nowhere in sight.

It might seem like you have zero control over what’s happening in the interview but that’s not true - you’re in control of your responses - how you shape them and how you deliver them. That might sound insignificant but given that you’re going to being doing most of the talking in the interview, that’s actually quite a lot of control you have over the process and the situation. If the dreaded mind-blank takes hold, try these strategies to keep things moving and regain your composure.

Take a deep breath. Taking a deep breath sends a subconscious message to you body and brain to relax. You’re telling yourself that everything’s alright and you’re giving yourself a moment to collect yourself and focus. You’re releasing tension from your body and sending much needed oxygen to your brain.

"The interview time is yours, so manage it how you need to"

Take a sip of water. This will help buy you a few moments to try and gather your thoughts and will help you take that breathe. It's worth taking a bottle of water in with you in case there's none on offer.

Manage your time. The interview time is yours, so manage it how you need to. If you need to, take a moment to make a few notes about the question. Simply say, "There’s a lot in that question, I’ll just take a second to jot down a few points” and do just that. Take the time to collect your thoughts and structure an answer. It’s better to have a few moments of silence followed by an articulate answer than the same amount of time filled with a scatter ball answer that doesn’t actually answer the question.

Active Procrastination. We’ve all had the experience of trying to recall something, a person’s name, a date or a particular word and the harder we try to recall it, the more it slips from our mind’s grasp. And then when you move on and start thinking about something else, the on-the-tip-of-your-tongue thing you were trying to remember randomly pops back into your head.

There’s a few different neurological names for this phenomenon but the solution is the same; move the focus off the thing you’re trying to remember. This helps to reduce the immediate anxiety created by the pressure of trying to remember and opens up the neural pathways to allow memory call.

In an interview, you can do this by taking a moment and focusing your attention outside of your brain. Take a breath and focus on your surroundings – What colour is the carpet? What type of pen is the interviewer holding? Is that pot plant real or fake?. This only takes a few seconds to do and the pause wont actually be as long as you feel it is.

Manage the questions. Ask if you can come back to this question. Most times, questions don’t have to be answered in a particular order. Moving onto another questions allows two things to happen:

1. Allows you to regain some confidence by conquering another question

2. Allows the previous question to tick over in the back of your mind

Simply say, "That's a great question, I'd like to give it some thought and come back to it at the end if that's ok?"

Talk with your hands. Sounds weird but hand gestures are linked to memory recall. A study published by the University of Illinois Press (1), shows that using hand gestures helps to focus a person’s attention on a verbal task and helps free memory recall so don’t be afraid to talk with your hands to try and coax a response out of your memory.

Smile! It’s completely counter-intuitive but smiling does two amazing things:

1. It subconsciously tells yourself that everything’s ok. This helps to reduce your stress which in turn gets your brain moving again.

2. It sends a positive message to the interviewers. A smile helps to remove any awkwardness, it reassures the interviewers that you’re in control and helps to remove any tension from the situation.

Admit it. If you’ve tried to recover your thoughts and your mind has truly gone blank, then it’s better to explain the situation than have the panel think you don’t know the answer or don’t understand the question.

Mind blanking can snowball into worry and the anxiety about the consequences of the mind blank. And this snowball picks up speed and volume quickly – all while diverting your attention, time, and effort away from focusing on your response.

Admitting to the panel that your mind has gone blank shows vulnerability, honesty and genuineness; all great qualities in an employee. It also explains the ‘deer in the headlights’ expression on your face and prevents you filling the gap with awkward “ah…er..um..”s or going off on an irrelevant tangent to try and recover.

Have an off-the-cuff response ready to go that you can deliver confidently without thinking. Something simple like, “I’ve put so much effort into preparing for this interview, you’d think all my answers would be at the front of my mind but this one’s just slipped away from me in the moment [do you mind if I take a second review my notes/do you mind if we come back to this question at the end]”. Having a backup response ready helps to sound composed rather than flustered.

And lastly a couple of things to keep in mind (slight pun intended):

It’s not as obvious as you think. You freeze for 5 seconds, and it feels like a minute, but it’s not.
Silence is golden. As awkward as a silent patch might seem to you in the moment, pauses are a natural and part of every conversation and the panel are busy taking notes, so pauses are less noticeable than you think and actually beneficial for the panel.
You’re not alone. Everyone has experienced their mind going blank, including the members of the panel, so they get it and understand the feeling.
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Yes, you have a lot riding on this interview, but an interview is just a conversation and you have conversations everyday. You can do this.

So in summary:

Prepare, prepare, prepare. You can’t recall what you don’t know so do your research, boil it down and commit it to memory.
Use perusal time like a boss. Have a strategy for your perusal time and make as may quality notes as possible.
Reduce stress. Do what you can to reduce your stress prior to the interview to keep blood flowing towards the brain.
Breathe. Take a breath to buy you a moment of time, signal to your brain that all is ok and give yourself a second to gather your thoughts.
Admit it. There’s nothing wrong with telling the panel that your mind has momentarily gone blank. It at least helps to explain the blank expression on your face.
And have a pre-prepared response ready for this so you’re not grappling with explaining in the moment.
Manage your time by taking a moment to gather your thoughts and jot down a few notes.
Manage the questions by asking to come back to this question at the end. There’s no rule that says the questions have to be answered in order.
Take a moment and divert your mind from the question to try and aid memory recall.
Talk with your hands to aid memory recall; and
Smile!

Best of luck, we're cheering for you!

(1)Frick-Horbury, Donna, and Robert E. Guttentag. “The Effects of Restricting Hand Gesture Production on Lexical Retrieval and Free Recall.” The American Journal of Psychology, vol. 111, no. 1, University of Illinois Press, 1998, pp. 43–62, https://doi.org/10.2307/1423536.