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November 22, 2021

Is It Okay to Ask Interviewers to Repeat a Question?

You have landed an interview with that company you’ve always wanted to work for! You have prepared very well for this interview and it has been going well so far. But then the interviewer suddenly asks you a long, complicated question that could have many possible answers. Or it’s too long and complicated and you didn’t understand it at all. What do you do next? Do you venture a guess or ask them to repeat the question?

What if you don’t understand a question?

First of all, don’t panic!

You’ve been doing well so far and you can continue doing so. It’s completely natural and okay not to understand a question. There could be many reasons why you didn’t understand it. It’s possible that the question was too twisted, or you didn’t understand the interviewer’s accent, especially if the interview is not in your native language. It’s also possible that they asked a really vague question.

If you’re ever in such a situation, remember that it’s totally okay to ask the interviewer to repeat themselves. Of course, remember that it’s an interview and ask them politely. There are quite a few ways in which you can ask them to repeat the question politely. Some of them are as follows:

  • I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Could you please repeat it?
  • I’m not sure I understand the question. Could you please rephrase it?
  • I’m sorry, would you repeat the question for me, please?

It’s also a good idea to repeat the question to the interviewer. That way, they know you’ve been paying attention, but their question wasn’t clear, and they’re likely to rephrase it to make it clearer. Some ways you can repeat the questions back to the interviewer are:

  • Just so I’m sure, you are asking me about…
  • You want me to tell you about… is that right?
  • If I understand correctly, you are asking me about…

Does asking them to repeat themselves leave a bad impression?

Absolutely not! On the contrary, when you ask the interviewer to repeat their question, they know you were paying attention to what they were saying. When you repeat parts of their question that you have understood, they know that you were listening closely. Additionally, it always leaves a good impression about you when you ask for clarity rather than venturing a guess or answering vaguely to dismiss the question.

If you don’t ask for clarification, you might end up saying something irrelevant or wrong. Instead, when the interviewer asks you the question again, you can answer them correctly. Also, when you ask them to repeat the question, it gives you time to think about what you want to say. Doing this is especially helpful when you have understood a part of the question, but you are not sure exactly what they want to know. For example, they could ask you a vague question such as ‘tell me about a stressful time’. In this case, you don’t know if they want to know about a particular project that was stressful for you or if they are asking about an overall stressful experience at your previous organisation. So, while they repeat the question, you can frame a proper response in your mind.

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