How do you deal with poker faced job interviewers?

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Good question! How do you deal with poker faced interviewers?

One of the things my clients find difficult to handle in interview, is the person who gives nothing back except a “blank stare”, so no “nods”, no “ah ha’s”, no “reallys?”, no “rights” – nothing for the other person to work with.

I don’t think we realize how much we need visual and verbal cues when communicating until we are confronted with none. Then the conversation feels plain weird. Interviewers who do this deliberately are disturbing. There is no way you can get good information from someone if you make them feel uncomfortable.

When candidates, or anyone really, are confronted with a poker face person, they can talk too much as they think the other person doesn’t believe them (like the interviewer over-talkers I describe in this post). This doesn’t work. The more people talk, the less sense they can make, or they lose the heart of the message in the detail.

Other people give up and shut down.

Like most people I struggle with managing this. So I asked a couple of communications trainers what they suggest to their clients, when they see an audience full of blank faces. They said some people do not know they do poker face. So if you’re presenting or communicating, and get nothing back, do something to break the moment. Ask the audience if you’ve lost them. Change the tone. Tell a joke. Use a visual. Flip the topic.

To do this in interview I think you’d need to be pretty brave. Unlike a presentation the direction of an interview is not in your hands.

If you’re reading this post and you’ve got a suggestion or a funny story on how you’ve dealt with a poker faced person, outside of taking them outside a game of cards and beating them up, I’d love to hear from you.

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Karalyn is the Founder of InterviewIQ and chief champion for all her clients. Get personal coaching to make 2023 your most successful year yet. Check out our job search booster services here>>Give me smarter ways to find a job .