7. Keep the Conversation Alive

Your date just gave you a short answer: "Yeah, I work in marketing." The conversation is about to hit a null pointer. Return a follow-up that goes deeper instead of moving to the next interview question.

Constraints

• Do not change the subject.
• Your follow-up must reference something they actually said.
• Questions that can be answered with one word are discouraged. This is a date, not a deposition.

Hints

1. Go deeper, not wider. The second question about the same topic is where real conversation starts.
2. "How" and "what's that like" beat "do you" and "where."
3. Add a guess or an opinion to your question — it gives them something to react to, not just answer.

Editorial

Short answers usually mean the question was closed, not that the person is boring. The fix is thread-pulling: take one word from their answer and expand it. Read the full editorial →