Answering Interview Questions: How do you respond to working under pressure?

In continuation of how to answer interview questions, today I'm going to look at the question, "How do you respond to working under pressure?"

If you've read my previous articles on answering interview questions, you should realise by now that there is a little bit more going on behind the scenes when it comes to why interviewers ask these questions, and this working under pressure one is no exception.

The question is asked firstly to gauge what your view of what 'working under pressure' means, and secondly your answer provides insight as to whether you possess the composure, skills and personal attributes to remain calm, focused and in control when faced with working under difficult, stressful, time pressured conditions.

Your answer can hint at laziness vs pro-activeness, able to handle such situations vs not being able to: do you blow your top, rant and rave resentfully and then cut corners or throw your hands up in the air fuming 'this is unfair!' or 'this is too much!'; or do you stay calm, roll up your sleeves and work until the task is done or your shift is over. Do you love the thrill of meeting deadlines and challenges, or do you just want to go to work, do what you have to and then go home and not have to think about work until your next shift? (Can you see the different personalities in this last paragraph? By the way: each of these candidates all believe they are suitable for the vacancy; see how the different possible responses can help employers determine which ones best meet their requirements and business culture?)

The way top career advisers recommend jobseekers answer this question is by providing a specific example of a time when they worked in a stressful situation, and talk about the actions they took and the results they achieved.

I agree: you could discuss what you did / do that helps you keep it together - do you use breathing techniques, pick up the pace to match demand, that type of thing.

When answering, I recommend that you use the E.A.R model - which stands for Example, Action, and Result.

With Example, you briefly describe the scenario - it could be a one-off circumstance or a regular occurrence - in which their was great pressure to meet a deadline.  Once done, you then move on to discussing the Actions that you personally take, and then end with a positive Result.  

Be consciously mindful of the impression your words and actions make before, during and after an interview, and strive to ensure that they always portray you as confident, capable and professional.

Although you don't know which questions will be asked at a job interview (or why the the company has specifically chosen them), you are able to reduce any interview nervousness you might experience by practicising answering some of the commonly asked questions in preparation for when you start getting invitations to attend interviews well ahead of time.

If you haven't already done so, check out the other posts in the Answering Interview Questions series, which you can access by clicking on the post titles listed below:

Answering Interview Questions: What are your strengths?

Answering Interview Questions: Why do you want to work here?

Answering Interview Questions: What have been your achievements to date?

Answering Interview Questions: What did you dislike about your last job?

Answering Interview Questions: Tell Me about yourself

Answering Interview Questions: What are your strengths

As I have stated in other posts on Answering Interview Questions, understanding the reason behind why the question is asked provides guidance on how we can answer them.

What are recruiters looking for when they ask you the question:

 "What are your strengths?"

Like other questions, this question serves a couple of purposes.  Your answer can show recruiters how well you know your skills and abilities (self-awareness), as well as allowing them the opportunity to gauge what you are particularly good at so they can determine if and how those strengths would fit within their business and the position (job and personality-profile matching).

With the purpose now understood, we can now think about what and how our skills and experiences gained in former employment, education and personal situations match the requirements of the position and company.

To answer, choose your top relevant strengths. For example, if your greatest strength is an ability to interact with people then this is not the strength to be highlighting to employers offering a non-customer contact role, where they would most likely prize your ability to complete administrative tasks and would become concerned that your interacting with people might cause you to be unproductive in the role and or cause you to want to move on quickly to another company or role. On the other hand though, if you are interviewing for a Sales role where talking with people and building trust and ongoing relationships is crucial in reaching performance targets, then stating this as your strength aligns well.

One 'trick' to answering interview questions, even when you know the purpose and self-awareness, is to answer the question by providing a clear example of how you previously demonstrated that strength in your past roles and then tie this to how it will be useful to you in the role.

So, for our Sales role example above, not only would this person be able to state that interacting with people is their strength  but they would need to back this 'claim' up by describing a specific example of an occasion in their past - employment, education or personal - to show this strength in action (including a result), and then conclude their answer by saying (directly or indirectly) how this strength would benefit them (and or the company) within the role on offer.

For example, the Sales person might answer the question "What are your strengths?" with "That would be my ability to interact with people. I've always had a natural gift to be able to talk with any person I meet and often end up talking to complete strangers in and out of business situations.  Like yesterday, I was lined up at the supermarket and struck up conversation with the person behind me in the queue. Our conversation started out by me just responding to the person's frustration that the line wasn't moving, and this lead to us chatting about a range of subjects for the half hour we waited.  During the conversation I mentioned that I am a Office Photocopying Equipment Sales consultant and the person turned out to be the office manager of a transport company in need of upgrading their outdated and problematic equipment.  I always carry business cards on me wherever I go, so I gave the person my card, and wrote down on the back of another card his contact details, and I arranged to call him first thing on Monday. I followed through on that and called on Monday as promised, resulting in our setting up a business meeting, which led to that business purchasing $30,000 worth of equipment for their 8 branches. So, I would have to say my strength within a Sales role starts with my ability to interact with people and is the reason I reach my performance targets."

So, hopefully you know what your strengths are for the type of work you are applying for, and can think up some great examples from your work, education or personal history that you can use to back up your claim that this is your strength.

Happy, motivated job seeking everyone!

Char

If you don't have a resume, and don't know how to create a market effective one, then head on over to the D.I.Y. Solutions tab to check out my printable D.I.Y Resume Content Builder template.

Answering Interview Questions: Why do you want to work here?

Hi Everyone,

Continuing on with my series of articles on how to answer interview questions, today I'll be discussing a common favourite: Why do you want to work here?

Once again, the key to answering interview questions is to understand why the employer or recruiter is asking them.

Why do you want to work here?

This question is usually asked so the employer gains insight about your level of knowledge and research into their company or business, as it helps reveal your level of enthusiasm for the role, and the conditions as the company or business is offering them.

So, how should you handle this question?

You should talk about what has attracted you to the company, what research you carried out, and then expand upon this by tying what is on offer with your strengths, achievements and skills that best suit and meet their needs.

For example, when writing a resume for a client only yesterday, I did a bit of research into the banking industry which I haven't worked in --- well, for a very long time, and could accurately stated I no longer have any skills within. Each of the different Big 4 banks websites that I visited, each stated somewhere within their pages that their focus is Customer Service and providing value and more than what customers expect.

So, it is completely safe for me to assume that if the client gains an interview with one of those banks, then part of their Why do you want to work here? question (if asked) will be the perfect opportunity for that client to discuss their skills and achievements and research with the interviewers, so that they too will see that they are 'in sync' about their goals.

Like mentioned previously, you need to talk positively and show enthusiasm for the role. Mentioning that you have taken the time to visit their business website to learn more about the business, and its people and operations, is a clear indicator that you are interested in this line of work, and the actual business compared to those that don't bother.

You don't want to waffle on about the research you have done, but if when you conduct research into a business like this, you often can find something that genuinely appeals to you about the opportunity - for instance, the business might offer full time and part time opportunities and allow you to alter your employment in the future, and this might really suit those seeking to start out as part time but go full time later (usually when the kids are older) - or vice versa. Another example might be, such as the above banking sector example, the number of branches within a certain radius from your home address - during your research, say you discover that the business plans on opening a branch that would be closer to home and more convenient for you.  You could discuss how you would love to commence employment with them now and work towards building up your skill level so that when the new branch opens, you might be considered for transfer to the new site, that sort of thing.

If you are invited to attend an interview, it is imperative that you view a business website and social media profiles and learn what you like - and that way, it won't feel or be so hard to answer this question when it is asked.

I hope this article helps.

You can find more articles on this site on how to answer interview questions:

Tell Me About Yourself can be found by clicking this link

What has been your achievements to date can be found by clicking this link


And, What did you dislike about your last job can be found by clicking this link

Thanks for visiting, please feel free to share this or any other article with your family and friends.

Happy and productive jobsearching!

Char

Answering Interview Questions: What have been your achievements to date?

Hi Everyone,

We all know that a Job Interview is an opportunity for you to further demonstrate how your skills, experiences and personality can meet the employer needs, so today I am going to discuss how to answer the Question 'What have been your achievements to date?'

The reason employers ask this question is it can provide them with insight into your level of being a high-performer so they can form a picture of how result-driven and goal oriented you are, and determine whether this aligns with company and position expectations. and guess what, if your resume includes details your workplace achievements, then you already have material to provide and expand upon in the interview.

If your resume doesn't include your workplace achievements for your previous positions held, then I have one big question for you, jobseeker: Why haven't you got them in there?

(And please don't tell me that it is because you don't have achievements!)

If your previous roles have had KPIs, KRAs, company set targets, volume expectations or service deadlines, then think about how you achieved them.  What actions did you take to achieve them, did you met them, did you exceed them. Compared to your colleagues, did you outshine them in any way?

What things within your work environment do you have to brag about? Remember, job interviews are one of the only times when you discussing how good you are at something is not going to be thought of as arrogant.

If your previous position didn't carry KPIs, KRAs or other performance targets, then you can discuss how you meet other job expectations, especially any situation that carried a risk of failure.

Did you receive any awards or bonuses?

Your Achievements are valuable. Treasure them

These are your achievements and accomplishments: Know them; be ready and confident to tell employers about them - you have an audience that wants you to discuss these details! Yes they will judge you... and form a positive opinion about your worth to their company.