the pregnant pause

Lately I've been thinking a lot about ... pauses.
Sorry that was kind of bad, couldn't help it.
What I mean specifically is how long to pause between questions during interviews. I'm generally a fairly fast talker and I like to keep things moving along but there is also the balance of giving the interviewee enough time to respond. In general I try to wait through about three seconds of silence before asking the next questions, but sometimes this doesn't seem to be long enough. I've had a few interviews where I've been about to ask the next question only for the interviewee begin responding again. This is not good or bad, merely a matter of personal style, but I have to try to be aware of it and make sure I don't steamroll over them, which is harder to do when you're interviewing by phone.
In a recent interview I made sure to wait..and wait..and wait...before asking the next question.
All of this connects to Buddhism. How was that for a transition!
Deep, conscious listening is a core tenant in most Eastern religions and something I try to incorporate into my work. The idea is to be purely in the moment with the other person, not stuck in the past or the future.
Always a struggle for me. Plus when I'm interviewing, I also have to be formulating the next question, monitoring how much time we have left and counting out that three-second pause.