A Stress Interview is an interview in which the employer gathers a group of interviewers (i.e. panel interview) or uses an experienced interviewer to interview the candidate.
This interview is the most difficult interview one may face!
The Stress Interview
Using various psychological techniques, the interviewer tries to asses the reaction of the candidate to stressful situations and to a negative atmosphere – they do all they can to keep the interviewer off-balance during the interview.
One wouldn’t be able to guess that he/she’s attending this type of interview until he/she faces it. Because the purpose of this interview is to find out how the candidate reacts under pressure, it wouldn’t be wise to tell the candidate ahead of time so he/she can prepare.
The stress interview is in use for applications that require people to work under pressure – positions categorized as consistently having a relatively high level of stressful situations.
Stress Interview Tips
Stress Interview Techniques
The interviewer/s may employ various techniques to evaluate the applicant’s behavior under stress by trying to evoke an emotional reaction from the applicant.
Therefore, the interviewer may behave in an unexpected ways and also combine some of these methods, such as:
• Displaying a hostile attitude
• Being aggressive or arrogant
• Behaving in an uninterested manner
• Avoiding eye contact
• Interrupting during answers
• Failing to “listen”
• Taking notes
• Taking long breaks – not speaking after answers
• Asking irritating or ‘demanding’ questions
• Disagreeing and arguing
• Repeating the same questions
• Asking sarcastically: “Is this your answer? Are you sure about that?”
• Making you wait a long time before the interview starts
In the panel interview, one of the interviewers may play the “bad” guy while all the others are playing the ‘normal’ guys.
How Do You Handle Stress Interview Questions
You can turn this “bizarre” stress interview around, if you do not overreact when facing this type of behavior and these irritating questions.
Here are some tips on how to answer:
• Don’t take it personally and don’t get insulted – this is a ‘game’
• Be calm and don’t get confused – remain tactful
• Provide clear answers and don’t change an answer just because you get a bad reaction
How to answer an interview question: how do you handle stress at work?
In many interviews, interviewers often ask this question – “how do you deal with stress at work” or how do you handle a stressful situation at work such as: emergency, high workload, busy environment, too many tasks at once etc.
Below are some tips on how to answer:
• You’ve always wanted to work in a challenging environment that keeps you motivated and focused.
• You know how to prioritize tasks.
• You should tell interviewers that you are a problem solver rather then one who reacts to stress.
• You got used to multi-tasking at work.
• You plan the work in advance in order to reduce pressures.
