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Yours Truly

You Know-ers

Updated: Feb 6, 2023


Filler words or phrases: Um. Like. You know. Anyway. Well. So.


Or, to put them in context with punctuation, you have:

  • “Ummmm……”

  • “…, like, ….”

  • “You know?”

  • “Anyways…”

  • “Wellllll….”

  • “Sooo,…”

Of the above top five, "You know?" is easily the most irritating of the bunch. [Not-quite-a-sidebar: No. No, I don’t know! If I DID know, why are you saying it? I apparently already know it, so there isn’t any need to repeat. Alternately, if I asked the question, you can probably assume I didn't know.]


You know what's even more irritating? When a person says 'you know' after every five to six words. For. The. Entire. Conversation.

I conducted a phone interview recently with a young-ish gentleman, and the number of 'you knows' he threw into the twelve minutes we spoke was astounding. To be fair, filler words tend to percolate to the top of a conversation when folks are nervous, and a job interview tends to be one of those social interactions where folks are nervous. After several thousand interviews, though, I have a refined ability to mentally delete filler words from a conversation. If even I am distracted by filler words…


Let me give you a brief rundown of a portion of our conversation so you get the gist:


Me: Your resume indicates you left your last job at Speedway in November. Why did you leave that position?

Candidate: Well, you know, I relocated.

Me: Alright, and why did you leave Country Inn and Suites prior to that?

Candidate: I relocated for that one, too, you know? I move around a lot, you know, so just about all, you know, of my jobs ended because, you know, I moved.

Me: Ok. Tell me why you're interested in the custodial position with the schools.

Candidate: I like cleaning, you know? I mean, I did a lot of, you know, cleaning during my job as a housekeeper, you know? We did a lot of, you know, bathrooms and floors and, you know, laundry and stuff. So, you know, I think I'd be a good fit, you know, because of my experience.

Me: Alright. Tell me what you enjoyed about your job at Speedway.

Candidate: Well, I like to, you know, put a smile on people's faces, you know? I mean, you know, meeting people every day is, you know, pretty cool. I like to help people, you know? Being a person that, you know, makes a difference in someone's day, you know, and that gives you a, you know, good feeling, you know?

This went on for, you know, about twelve minutes.

If you weren’t already aware, let me enlighten you: Conversations like the above are obnoxious. And irritating. And take an extreme amount of self-control to contain the 'no, I don't know, which is why I asked. Please do explain.' After all, the entire point of why I, as a recruiter, am talking to you, the candidate employee, is BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW!


I'm not entirely sure why someone feels the need to pop a 'you know' into a conversation. Perhaps it's to find common ground, you know? Once? Fine. Twice? I can forgive that. Anything more is uncalled for.

Summary point: Drop the 'you know.' Seriously. It's irritating. You know?

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