1 - Introduction
You don’t want to ignore any questions you are asked, even if they are hard to answer. Instead, if a question is highly challenging you can engage with it and then steer the interview back to your own communication goals. A common way of doing this is to use a three-step technique called acknowledging, bridging and communicating (ABC).
This process is described below:
|
Acknowledging
Let the interviewer know you’ve understood the question by either answering it briefly or telling them you don’t know the answer.
For example: “That’s an interesting question. All we know at this stage is …” or “I can’t tell you that at this stage. However …”
|
|
Bridging
This stage allows you to move on to what you want to talk about.
For example: “I think it’s important to consider what we are doing about the problem” or “Let’s look at what we do know.”
|
|
Communicating
Go back to your key messages and supporting points. Even if you have to repeat yourself a little, it’s better than stumbling on your words.
For example: “The real objective of our work is to solve this huge crisis, which millions of people suffer from each year. The latest research shows …”
|