How to Stop Saying 'Um' and 'Like' in Job Interviews

You're in the middle of answering a behavioral question and you can feel it happening — "So I basically, um, reached out to the, uh, stakeholders and, like, we kind of figured out a solution." You know it sounds uncertain. You can hear it. But you can't seem to stop.

Filler words are one of the most common things that undermine interview performance. They're also one of the most fixable — if you understand what's actually causing them.

Why You Use Filler Words (It's Not What You Think)

Most people assume they use filler words because they're nervous. Nervousness is a factor, but it's not the root cause. Filler words primarily exist because of a mismatch between speaking speed and thinking speed.

Your mouth can produce words faster than your brain can retrieve the next idea. So when there's a gap — a moment where you're searching for the right word or deciding how to structure the next thought — your brain fills the silence with something. That something is "um."

This is why smart, articulate people use filler words too. Intelligence doesn't protect you. Preparation does.

The second cause is social anxiety about silence. Many people feel that a pause in conversation signals incompetence, so they fill the gap with noise rather than let silence exist. In reality, a clean pause reads as confidence. "Um" reads as uncertainty.

The Most Common Filler Words

The list is longer than most people realize:

• Verbal starters: "So...", "Well...", "Basically...", "Essentially...", "I mean..."
• Gap fillers: "Um", "Uh", "Er"
• Hedging language: "Kind of", "Sort of", "Like, basically"
• Unnecessary qualifiers: "To be honest", "If that makes sense", "Does that make sense?"
• Throat clearers: "You know", "Right?", "Okay so..."

You probably have 2–3 habitual ones. The first step is identifying which ones are yours.

Step 1: Find Your Filler Words

You cannot eliminate a pattern you can't hear. Most people dramatically underestimate how often they use filler words — until they listen back to a recording.

Record yourself answering a practice question for two minutes. Play it back with a piece of paper and make a tally mark every time you use a filler word. The number will surprise you.

Once you know your specific words, you can target them. Trying to eliminate "filler words in general" is too abstract. "I'm going to eliminate the word 'basically'" is actionable.

Step 2: Replace Fillers With Silence

The fundamental skill is learning to pause instead of filling. This is harder than it sounds because silence feels uncomfortable — especially in a high-stakes interview setting.

Practice this drill: answer a question, and every time you would say "um" or "basically," stop completely. Hold the silence for one full second. Then continue.

At first this feels extremely awkward. It isn't awkward to the listener. A one-second pause while you gather your thought reads as thoughtful. "Um" reads as uncertain.

The goal isn't to eliminate pauses — it's to make your pauses intentional and silent rather than filled with noise.

Step 3: Slow Down

Filler words increase when you speak too fast, because the gap between your mouth and your brain widens. Deliberately slowing your speaking pace gives your brain more time to retrieve the next idea before your mouth needs it.

Most nervous speakers talk 15–20% faster than they realize. Intentionally slowing down to what feels like an uncomfortable pace usually sounds normal to listeners.

A useful anchor: after you finish a sentence, take a breath before starting the next one. The breath naturally creates a clean pause and regulates your pace.

Step 4: Prepare Your Openings

Filler words concentrate at the start of answers, because that's where people are most uncertain about how to begin. "So, um, I think..." is how most unprepared answers start.

Prepare clean openings for the most common question types:

• For behavioral questions: "In my role at [Company], I faced a situation where..." (launches directly into the story)
• For opinion questions: "I believe the most important factor is..." (states position first)
• For challenge questions: "One of the more significant challenges I navigated was..." (specific and direct)

When you know exactly how you're going to open your answer, the first 5 seconds are clean — and the momentum of a clean opening often carries through the rest of the answer.

Step 5: Practice Out Loud (Not in Your Head)

This is the part most people skip. Reading about filler words or thinking through your answers doesn't build the speaking skill. You have to practice speaking.

The neurological pathway that produces "um" is a habit — it fires automatically in certain conditions (cognitive load + time pressure + desire to hold the floor). The only way to interrupt a habit is to practice the replacement behavior in the same conditions.

That means practicing interview answers out loud, under mild pressure, repeatedly. The more you do this, the more your brain learns that silence is the acceptable alternative to "um."

Set a specific practice goal: five answers per day for a week before your interview. Each time you catch yourself using a filler word, note it, and redo the answer. The repetition is what actually changes the habit.

What to Expect: The Timeline

Most people see noticeable improvement within 3–5 practice sessions if they're actively listening for their specific fillers and practicing the pause. Significant reduction typically takes 7–10 sessions.

You won't eliminate filler words completely — even professional speakers use them occasionally under pressure. The goal is to reduce them enough that they're no longer a distraction.

How AI Interview Practice Helps

One advantage of practicing with an AI interview tool is that it can track your speech patterns objectively across multiple sessions. Rather than trying to self-evaluate while also focusing on your answer content, you get automatic feedback on things like speaking pace and filler word frequency.

Reherse's voice interview practice gives you AI-scored feedback on every answer, so you can see whether your delivery is improving across sessions — not just your content. Try it free →