commentr/StutterNovember 25, 2025

Content

The thing that stutterers need to remember is that everyone is self-conscious about something. Some people are worried about how they look, how tall they are, what their face looks like, how they dress, how their voice sounds - the list goes on. We have a stutter so it's natural for us to overly fixate on that as a barrier just as someone who is short or has one leg is overly fixated on that. I used to hire lots of people and interviewed many many people. It's an endless parade of nervous people who are acting oddly because of their nerves. I've seen people literally have panic attacks during the middle of an interview and had to be led out sobbing by receptionists and HR. Others ramble endlessly out of nervousness, or tell terrible jokes, or become angry and frustrated, others fall into fits of laughing or giggles. Job interviews are one of the most stressful things any of us will face in our lives. People go through all sorts of psychological issues when put under stress. And the post-interview part is the worst, where we experience self-doubt and frustration and recrimination, as well as micro-analyse every nuance of interviewers words and body language. While in this state of stress, we can easily misinterpret things we've seen or over-inflate their importance. Interviewers often have no clue how to conduct an interview as they've had very little experience in how to run interviews and how to pull the best out of candidates in that stressful situation. Often, they just grab somebody off the floor and drag them into the interview because they know technical details of the job but have zero social skills. And, it's stressful for interviewers too because they have no idea what they are doing and there's stress that making the wrong choice to hire someone will cost the company thousands if the wrong choice is made. But, if the interviewer really did make you feel uncomfortable with your stutter, then it's actually a good thing. Can you imagine the horror working in a company that hires assholes who laugh at people who stutter? You've found out early on and can now focus your attention on working for a decent company who know how to hire good people. You said it yourself: there are plenty of stutterers working in all sorts of professions. Interviews are difficult but we get through them eventually. Keep going. It's a numbers game.

Themes

School & WorkEmotional Experience

Subthemes

Employment & CareerAnxiety & Social JudgmentHope & Motivation