INTERVIEWS
Your filler words are probably not the real problem
Everyone says "um". Interviewers mostly let it go. Here is what they do notice.
SHORT ANSWER
A few filler words won't sink an interview. What usually hurts more is an answer with no clear point, or one that runs twice as long as it needs to. Fix structure and length first. The fillers often drop on their own.
Why fillers get blamed
They're easy to count. Record yourself once and you'll hear every "like". That makes them feel like the problem, because they're the loudest thing on the recording.
What interviewers notice instead
- Answers that never say how things turned out
- Two minutes of context before the actual story
- Lots of "we", not much "I"
- An answer that wanders into a second story halfway through
When fillers do matter
When they cluster. A handful of ums spread across three minutes is normal speech. Five in a row usually means you've lost the thread, and the interviewer can hear it.
A quick drill
- Pick one behavioural question.
- Say the result in your first sentence.
- Keep it under two minutes.
- Listen back once. Then do it again without notes.