See exactly how your answers land, and fix the one thing that costs you the job.

Try ExpreaHear the difference

Before and after

“Tell me about yourself.”

The same voice answers twice. Press play and follow along.

Illustrative voices

The first answer

So, um, I think I’m, like, a pretty good fit? Basically I’ve worked in marketing for, uh, five years, and I kind of led a team, sort of, and we, um, we grew the numbers, I guess, quite a lot actually.

Pace
before 183, words a minute.
Fillers
before 5, marked words.
Hedges
before 4, marked phrases.
Pauses
before 6, 0.35 s or longer.

Measured on these two clips. Pace is words over the clip’s length; pauses are silences of 0.35 seconds or longer. Fillers are marked, hedges underlined. One synthesised voice reads both takes.

Where it goes wrong

Three things to practise, each with its instrument.

  1. 01 / 03

    Answer, then stop.

    Rambling reads as nerves. Structure reads as competence.

    • Practise the questions you will actually get, out loud, against the clock
    • See where an answer wanders and where it lands
    • Build answers on a clear frame, like STAR, without sounding scripted

    Answer shape

    0:50 / 0:90

    RamblingTask

    FramedAction

    Where the minute goes, and where it should. Sample

  2. 02 / 03

    Lose the words that shrink you.

    "I think", "kind of" and "I guess" tell an interviewer you are not sure. Most people never hear themselves say them.

    • Every filler flagged on your recording’s timeline, every hedge highlighted in your own sentences
    • Watch the count drop take by take
    • Sound sure of what you have done, because you are

    Certainty

    Move across

    So, I think I kind of led a team of six, I guess and we sort of doubled our leads.

    38%

    HedgedCertain

    The same sentence, with its hedges taken out. Sample

  3. 03 / 03

    Look the part on camera.

    Many first interviews happen on video.

    • Record with your camera on and get notes on presence and eye contact on camera
    • Steady your pace when the pressure goes up
    • Rehearse the hard question until it is the easy one

    On camera

    Move the frame Sample

    Eye line
    On the third
    Centre
    Centred
    Headroom
    21%

Your place on the Path

Start at Level 2: Structure.

Five levels, one question each. Open any of them to see what it asks of you.

Level 2 · Start here

Structure

Can I be followed?

Your answer has a beginning, a middle and an end, instead of trailing off.

Being followed. A talk with a shape, so a listener can always tell where you are in it and where it is going.

See the whole Path

Free, about three minutes

Hear yourself the way they will.

A free 3-minute Communication Analysis shows where you stand today.

Start the free analysis

Speech thirds

  • Opening

    0.22

  • Body

    0.55

  • Close

    0.23

Vocabulary diversity

  • Ideal
  • You
  • Average

  • Narrow

  • Varied

Questions

You answer real interview questions out loud. In a few minutes you get a report on your pace, filler words, hedging and structure, plus the one thing to fix first.

Exprea gives you real interview questions to answer out loud and analyses how you deliver them. It is not a chatbot that interviews you. Your first live session with real people is included, and regular session seats come with Pro.

Yes. Turn your camera on and the report adds scored notes on your camera setup, posture and gestures, attire and eye contact, plus one setup fix.

You will know exactly what to change after your first take. Lasting change comes from practising a little every week.

The Communication Analysis is free. Membership starts with a free first week.

Something else? Every question we get asked, or write to us.

From the blog

Read before the moment.

Under PressureInterviews Are Not InterrogationsDara HalloranWrites on speaking under pressure, and on practiceRead more
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