Interview Tips >Introduction to Stress Interviews Part 2
In the last post, we reviewed the basics of the stress interview. To quickly recap, the stress interview is designed to test your ability to handle stress and pressure and it is most often used at jobs where handling stress is a huge part of your job duties.
In this post, we will look at the methods that interviewers use to increase your stress. There are several different ways that interviewers put extra pressure on the candidate.
Stress Interview Techniques
- Interrupting Cow, Moo
One of the most common methods used in stress interviewers is to interrupt the candidate before they have finished their answer and ask a completely unrelated question. This makes the unprepared interviewer feel like their answer must have not been sufficient, and it makes them frustrated that they were unable to finish their thought.
- You Suck and I Hate You
Another method used in stress interviews is to literally tell the candidate that you don’t like them. The interviewer will say something along the lines of “You are not a very good candidate” and wait to see your reaction. Applicants have actually cried because of this method.
- Really… THAT is Your Answer?
One similar stress interview technique is to treat the applicant’s answer as though it was terrible. “You sure you don’t want to try answering that question again?” is used as a response to a difficult interview answer, as though the interview found the answer terrible and thinks you should try again.
- If You Were a Tree, How Small Would Your Cell Phone Be?
Wild card questions are also common in stress job interviews. Wild card questions are questions that are so unexpected, that the applicant is shocked they’d be asked such a strange question, and struggles to answer it correctly. Wild card questions play a part in standard interviews as well, but are most certainly common in stress interviews.
- Give a Presentation
Finally, another aspect of stress interviews is to simply force the applicant to give a presentation to the interviewer or a panel without much time to prepare. Rarely will the interviewer insult the candidate in presentation based stress interviews as they would in other stress interviews, but they might, and they may also challenge your assertions. For example, if you are asked to sell the interviewer on a product, they may act as though they are an extremely difficult and rude customer.
- **Rolls Eyes**
Facial expressions are also a common part of stress job interviews. The interviewer will roll their eyes or act impatient on purpose in order to make you feel as though your answer is terrible and they are tired of you.
How to Handle Stress Interviews
The above list represents the most common stress interview techniques used at stress interviews. Each one is designed to put a lot of pressure on the applicant and ruin the confidence they had coming into the interview. In the next post, we will look at tips on how to succeed in a stress interview.
Take Away Interview Tips
- You don’t suck.
- I love you.
- You have nice eyes.
- Stress interviewers have a lot of different techniques.
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