We all feel stressed at some point in our professional careers and interviewers want to know how you handle it on the job. Perhaps you even feel stressed when asked “How do you handle stress?” in an interview and you’re handling it in real-time. This is one of the most common questions asked by interviewers so be prepared to answer it.
If the interviewer knows that the job you’re applying for is particularly stressful, they will want to know that you can at least handle the stress but also get more information on how you handle it. They want to make sure that stress won’t bog you down, decreasing your performance on the job.
Interviewers are looking for people who can productively manage their stress by knowing the difference between good stress and bad stress. Good stress is stress that motivates you while bad stress is stress that hinders you. Candidates who can’t strike a balance between the two or get overwhelmed because they can’t manage bad stress raise red flags for interviewers.
Tell the interviewer a story detailing how you have successfully handled stress. The goal is to show that you are self-aware and have had significant personal growth. Use the following steps to formulate your answer to “How do you handle stress?”
1. Start by giving context
Think of a story in which you were faced with a stressful situation. Make sure that this situation was not an avoidable one that you put yourself in! Instead, choose a story that wasn’t caused by you. Begin your response to the interviewer by giving a background story, providing context to the situation you’ll explain.
2. Show action
Don’t dwell on your past feelings of anger, sadness, or other emotions. The interviewer already knows that you were stressed so there is no need to bring it up that you felt negatively again. Instead, tell the interviewer the actionable steps you took to handle the situation and your stress. This is your opportunity to let your soft skills shine through such as your organizational, interpersonal, communication skills, etc. Make sure to say that you used your skills to remedy the issue at hand.
3. The results
End your story by detailing how the situation had a positive outcome due to your stress-management skills. By focusing on success, you turn a negative into a positive which supports you being a prepared, top candidate.
Want more interview prep? Check out our posts on:
Interview prep for Founding Engineers
How to answer the interview question, what do you bring to the company
How to talk about a career change
How to talk about your long-term career goals
For other interview tips, check out our other posts on interviewing on the blog.
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