STRESS INTERVIEW

SK Giridhar

Organisational Expert

Motivational Speaker & Trainer

STAY COOL IN A STRESS INTERVIEW

Everyone aspires to find in a big & reputed organisation. The process starts from the day when person starts looking for the advertisements & vacancies. Personal interview is the most commonly used method for recruitment. Interview is a conversation or interaction between two persons or a group of persons to recruit the best suited candidate for a vacant position. Specifically, an Interview is a two way traffic but in most of the cases the employer (interviewer) is expected to answer these questions.

Few years back there was the concept of personal interviews in which the employers rated a candidate on the basis of his physical appearance, personality, communication skills, educational qualifications, intelligence, family background, interests, aptitude & other related parameters. But now the concept of Interviewing is changing rapidly. The employers are more interested to conduct telephonic interviews, video-conferencing interviews as well as the demonstration by candidates which saves time as well as cost of the interviews. In this way, the employers can easily & quickly shortlist the candidates depending upon their performance on telephonic conversation.

Now, Stress has become a part of many job profiles due to competition in market. If a candidate has excellent percentage in degree with relevant experience but cannot work under stress, obviously, that candidate will definitely be a stress for that organisation. All organisations need persons who can work under pressure & stress.

The stress interview checks the patience level of a candidate. Moreover, it ensures that the Interviewee is able to tackle a stressful situation. In such an Interview the candidate might have to wait for quite a long time before the actual interview.

In a Stress Interview, the Interviewers generate a discomfort level for the candidates in various ways to observe how they respond to various intricate situations. In this case, the candidates should not get frustrated. The candidate must control the temper during the waiting time. The Interviewees are required to wait in a waiting room may be for hours before the interviewers welcomes the candidates.

• You might face long silences or cold stares. This whether the candidate is having the courage to abide by the culture of organisation, the clients or other potential stress.

• Now, Stress is a part of almost all types including public contract, complaints handling, mediation & conflict resolution. There are some jobs which require persons who are specialists in particularly stressful situations. For employers, it’s critically important that staff can deal with the huge pressure of work

• The stress interview is designed to find applicants who can handle stress, & handle it well. In an stress interview, the candidate may have to face the following unfriendly situations:

• Conflict• Irritation• Long Wait• Contradictions• Argument• Disagreement• Aggression• Pressure• Coercion• Criticism

A STRESS INTERVIEW CAN BE PLANNED IN A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT WAYS

• Firing lots of questions • Long duration interview without any break • Off the wall questions• Keeping silence • Creating conflict • Very long wait • Yawning of interviewers • Uncomfortable questions • Puzzle questions

• FIRING LOT OF QUESTIONS The interviewer may fire no. of questions one by one very quickly without giving much time to think on the answers. The candidate may be asked a no. of questions simultaneously by the experts sitting at different positions. Once a candidate starts answering a question, another expert may immediately interrupt.

• LONG DURATION INTERVIEW WITHOUT ANY BREAK The candidate might be interviewed by different experts for long time without giving a break or much time to rest.

• OFF THE WALL QUESTIONS The interviewer may ask off-the-wall questions which may not be concerned with the job specification. It may include any Riddle or any Real Life Question.

• KEEPING SILENCE The interviewers may keep silence for the first five or ten minutes of the interview & then start questioning without any introduction ceremony. The interviewer may suspiciously simile on the responses of the interviewee.

• CREATING CONFLICT The interviewers challenges the candidate by disagreeing and tries to create a conflict.

• VERY LONG WAIT The interviewer may delay the interview deliberately to create irritation to the candidates. The candidate may not be asked to sit down on the seat meant for the candidate.

• YAWNING OF INTERVIEWERS The interviewer may yawn on responses of interviewee. It also creates irritation & frustration at the candidate’s end.

• UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS The interviewer can ask strange questions where may candidates feel uncomfortable such as

• Why are u not helping in your father’s business?• Why you got low percentage in degree?• Why were you fired from your previous job?• Why have you not learned to drive a car till now?• How your family will allow you to go on business

trip for one week?

• PUZZLE QUESTION Candidate may be asked to respond on some strange & unexpected questions such as

• How many traffic red lights are there in your city?

• How many buttons are there in your shirt?

• How many rupees are there in your pocket?

• What is the headline in newspapers today?

JOB ASPIRANT SHOULD REMEMBER SOME POINTS IN A STRESS INTERVIEW SESSION

• Treat the stress interview as a game

• Keep smiling

• Stress interview is only an analysis

• Keep the interview going on

• Don’t show cleverness

• TREAT THE STRESS INTERVIEW AS A GAME Treat such interviews as a game rather than taking it as ego problem. If the interviewer is staring at the candidate, it should not be taken as a wrong intention, it is just a play.

• KEEP SMILING If the interviewer is behaving rudely, the candidate should remain calm, thoughtful & smiling. Always keep yourself cool and composed during interview when you are put in a stressful situation.

• STRES INTERVIEW IS ONLY AN ANALYSIS Stress interviews check whether the candidate is able to handle difficult situations rather than giving a bad working environment. Ignore the interviewer’s bad temper & aggressive behaviour & keep yourself focused on answering the question to the best of your ability

• KEEP THE INTERVIEW GOING ON Once the interview is over & expert panel has told the candidate to wait outside, the contestant should wait in the waiting room in a gentle manner rather than doing comb or rubbing the face with hankie.

• DON’T SHOW CLEVERNESS One should remember that every organisation is interested to hire the sincere & hard-working employees. Everybody keeps distance from clever foxes. The candidate should listen to the panel carefully & answer in brief with clear & honest manner. If the question is not clear, request the interview panel politely to repeat it. The candidate should talk like a sincere person. The voice should be loud enough so that the interview panel can hear & understand it without special effort.

TIPS TO BE THE FAVOURITE IN INTERVIEWERS

• In an interview session, the candidate may encounter several experts typically sitting around a conference table. These experts judge the candidate on various parameters including communication skills. Specialisation in a subject, psychological analysis or sitting posture. Many of these inteviewers belong to the concerned departments where the vacancy actually exists. In this type of interview, the candidates may be asked some common questions so that their answers are compared.

TIPS TO FOLLOW EXPERTS • Never try to follow experts• Behave as an employee of that organisation • Collect maximum information about the organisation• Behave gently • Reach the venue well before time • Wish all experts before & after the interview• Keep eye contact • Prepare documents carefully• Avoid irrelevant documents• Well dressed• Never contradict the experts• Improve Body Language

• NEVER TRY TO FOLLOW EXPERTS Candidate should not try to track any expert to get a favour in the interview. In many cases, candidates try to get the phone no. & address of the interview panel. Such practice creates a very bad impression about the candidate.

• BEHAVE AS AN EMPLOYEE OF THAT ORGN. Interview board like to see & judge the interviewee in place of the actual position for which advt. was issued. If the candidate start feeling & behaving like that position, half of the work can be done.

• COLLECT MAXIMUM INFORMATION ABOUT THE ORGN. The interview board expects that the candidate should know about the work area as well s the industry norms in the co. The interview should prepare such information from the Internet, co. brochures & other sources. If any one should try to find out the co’s area of operation & expansion/diversification plans for which they are recruiting people. One should prepare a list of all the points that are required to be highlighted during the interview session.

• BEHAVE GENTLY A candidate facing an interview is generally very nervous & doesn’t behave normal by. The candidate should keep cal & behave naturally.

• RECH THE VENUE WELL IN TIME The early arrival at the interview venue give the time to understand the office culture & the expectation of the office as well as a chance to be familiar with the environment. Moreover, it gives time to the candidate to be comfortable & more presentable

• WISH ALL EXPERTS BEFORE & AFTER THE INTERVIEW Generally, many candidates do not feel necessary to wish the experts. Sometimes it may happen due to nervousness. It doesn’t give a good impression to the board members about the personality & manners of the candidate.

• KEEP EYE CONTACT Keep an eye to eye contact with each expert in the panel with the special attention to the person who is asking the question. Please not e that eye to eye contact never means staring. The interviewee should see into the eyes of experts with humble respect.

• PREPARE DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY One should keep one’s general knowledge updated before appearing in an interview. One should rehearse answering the most common & expected questions. Certificates should be arranged properly in an attractive file folder. One should not offer the documents until it is demanded.

• AVOID IRRELEVANT DOCUMENTS The candidate should have original as well as attested copies of educational & experience certificate, bio-data & the application which was sent to the orgn. Many times, candidates put their documents on the table of Interview panel. This is a wrong practice. The interviewee should keep the documents with file folder on their lap only.

• WELL DRESSED The candidate should wear a clean & ironed dress which is comfortable. One should enter the interview room with well polished shoes. The candidate should not even think of sports shoes for interviews.

• NEVER CONTRADICT WITH EXPERTS Never show your contradict the board members even if you have a thorough knowledge of the subject. One should not criticise any community, caste, religion or legend. The candidate must have control on emotions.

• IMPROVE BODY LANGUAGE The dress, smile, confidence, walking style, sitting style convey a language, which affect the interviews greatly. One should not sit on the chair like a thunder. The candidate should take seat very easily without making any noise. Avoid touching hairs, nose or shirt’s button again & again.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

• Tell me about yourself • Why did you leave your last job • How much salary do you expect • Are you feeling successful in your life • What special you have done to improve

your knowledge in the last year • Why do you want to work for this orgn • Why should we hire you

• TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF This is one of the most frequently asked questions in the interviews. Here, the candidates need to prepare a short statement about the professional qualifications, professional experience as well as family background. It should be noted that the answer should not give impression that the candidate has done a lot of rehearsal on this answer. One should be focused on the academics & experience.

• WHY DID YOU LEAVE YOUR LAST JOB The candidate should be positive regardless of the circumstances. The candidate should never point out any major problem related to internal politics, staff, work-load, management & behaviour of the boss in the organisation. If the candidate does, it will definitely give a bad impression.

• One should keep smiling & talk about positive reasons such as opportunity, growth, chance to perform something special or other forward-looking explanations.

• HOW MUCH SALARY DO YOU EXPECT It is one of the questions which is asked in almost very interview. Actually it is a game played by the experts. Answer it wisely.

• ARE YOU FEELING SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR LIFE In this question, the candidate should always answer positively (yes) & prepare a brief success story. A good explanation will send the message of confidence.

• WHAT SPECIAL YOU HAVE DONE TO IMPROVE YOUR KNOWLEDGE IN THE LAST YEAR Here, one should try to tell the activities performed related to the job. A range of activities can be stated including the knowledge of a new areas, any training programme workshop or similar activities.

• WHY DO YOU WANT TO WORK FOR THIS ORGANISATION In this answer, one should explore the specialisation of the orgn & say that I am willing to be a part of such a growing organisation.

• WHY SHOULD WE HIRE YOU The candidate should point out the positive attributes as well potential which the organisation possess. One should not give any comparison with the other candidates.

SOURCE

• Employment News of India

• Original author – Gaurav Kumar

• skgiridhar@gmail.com

• +91 9720 3938 34