Stating results
“Roughly…”
When to use it
When you have an approximate figure. Say it. An approximate number beats no number.
What it replaces
"I'm not sure about the exact number, so I don't want to say."
The hedged version is not wrong English. It is English that asks the interviewer to do the work of deciding whether you meant it. The confident version makes the decision for them.
In an answer
“Roughly 20% of our tickets were password resets, so I automated those first.”
How to make it automatic
- Say it aloud five times now, at normal speed, with contractions.
- Pick one story from your own work where it fits, and say that story once using it.
- Record a 60-second answer tomorrow and listen for whether it came out on its own.