Why Do Companies Ask Questions About Deadlines?

Interview questions can have hundreds of different purposes. Some interview questions are designed to trick you. Others are designed to learn more about your past. Others are designed to see if you will say something negative, and so on. All of these questions tell the interviewer something about who you are as a candidate that they can use to help make a decision.

At first glance, the same cannot be said about questions that appear to be “gimmes.” One of the most egregious examples is “How well do you handle deadlines?”

“I handle them very well”

It seems like a fairly obvious answer, and it is. The answer to how well you handle deadlines is “very well.” If you answer with something along the lines of “Pressure makes me cry” you are probably not going to be hired. So why do companies even bother asking it?

Why Companies Ask Deadline Interview Questions

Companies ask questions about deadlines for two reasons:

1. To warn you that the company has strict, pressure filled deadlines.
2. To see if you can naturally inspire confidence in the employer about your ability to handle deadlines.

Warning – Deadlines Occur

Remember, when an applicant goes to an interview, they are interviewing the employer as much as the employer is interviewing them. They need to see if this is a place they want to work. If someone left their last job because they felt too much pressure, then perhaps they don’t want a job that is going to be filled with an equal amount of pressure. Simply asking this question will get rid of some of the pressure-averse candidates.

Inspiring Confidence

In addition, though the meaning of the answer is still the same, you can answer it in a different way.

“Yes, I handle deadlines well” is not as impressive as “With my previous job, we were under strict deadlines every day. If we failed to meet these deadlines, we would not be receiving any revenue from the project. Though the pressure started out somewhat difficult, over time these deadlines became a motivator, rather than a detractor, from quality, error free work.”

They say the same thing, but one says it better. That inspires confidence in the employer that you are not simply giving them a BS answer.

Approach All Easy Questions

Whenever you receive questions that appear to have very obvious answers, consider those two reasons behind the question. Sometimes they are warning you about their company. Other times they may be looking for an answer that inspires them. Either way, there may be other factors in the question besides just the answer.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Sometimes easy questions are letting you know more about the company.
• Sometimes easy questions want you to give them a more confidence inspiring answer.
• Sometimes both.

Uncommon Interview Question: When You Find Yourself Under a Tight Deadline, What Do You Do to Handle the Stress

Deadline questions are fairly common. They are asked both for your benefit and for the interviewer’s benefit. By asking you questions about how you deal with deadlines, you learn that the company may be somewhat high stress and use it to make a decision about whether you want to work there, and the company learns if you can handle deadlines based on not only your answer, but also how you answer.

Yet you may be asked more than simply “do you handle deadlines well.” You may be asked how you handle deadlines well. In other words, what do you do to make sure that deadlines don’t stress you out too much?

How to Answer

Focus on strictly professional things that you do. If you sit and meditate, that is not the type of answer that employers want to hear. Instead, you should focus on what you do with the project to make sure that you do not feel stressed.

Bad Answer

“Whenever I am getting close to a tight deadline I like to take a moment and pray. I ask God if she will grant me the strength I need to complete the project, and if she will bless me with her powers of happiness even if I fail.”

No.

Good Answer

“In order to reduce the stress of a deadline, I make sure that I have mapped out all of the tasks I need completed to finish the project before deadline, including quality checks and confirming all aspects of the project are in place. In general, I also try to complete all of the most difficult aspects of the project first, so that the deadline does not feel as difficult. I also communicate with every member of the team and the client to make sure that everyone knows where we are in the schedule and what needs to be completed next.”

This is a much better answer. You are saying that in order to reduce stress at the deadline, you make sure everything is going perfectly, and have plans in place that help you feel confident about its completion. That reflects well on you as an employee and as an individual.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Focus on the business side of handling stress.