Topic: Vision Corridor
Now a days many organizations are resorting to stress interview to test a candidate's temperament. The purpose of stress
interview is to put the candidate on the defensive. Stress interview is based on the premise that stressful situations bring out the true worth of a person and the candidate who performs well under pressure in the interview is likely to perform
similarly on the job.
There are various stress interview tactics that an interviewer may adapt.
Unexpected Behavior: The interviewer tries to catch you off guard with unexpected behavior. For example, an interviewer might ask the same question several times, pretending not to understand your answer. You explain several times, each time getting more exasperated at the questioner's stupidity.
Uncomfortable Questions: The interviewer can ask uncomfortable questions such as, "Why did you get such low marks in graduation" or "Why you were fired from your previous job" to put you under pressure.
Aggressive Attitude: The interviewer may convey his aggressive behavior through his body language, facial expressions, or behavior and he will make you realize that you are responsible for it.
Puzzle Question: The interviewer may ask you a question whose answer you are not generally expected to know, like "How many Maruti cars are running on the roads of Delhi?"
Case Interview: The case interview tests your knowledge of relevant business issues, quantitative and analytical skills, ability to prioritise and anticipate problems, and communication skills. In case interviews you are presented an open-ended
business situation and are required to describe a path toward a solution.
Tips on Handling Stress Interview
• Always keep yourself cool and composed during interview when you are put in a stressful situation.
• Clarify the question and the nature of the answer desired. This can buy you some time to think.
• Don't hesitate about asking questions to get clarification; sometimes, this is exactly what's expected of you.
• Ignore the interviewer’s tantrums and his aggressive behavior and keep yourself focused on answering the question to the best of your ability.
• Be open, honest, straightforward and refuse to be emotionally intimidated.
Stress Interviews are common in industries where stress is part of the job like stock trading on financial markets or sales jobs. The primary objective of these interviews is to just put you on the spot and see how you cope with the stress.
Most common techniques are to interrupt you frequently when you are answering a question, ask you another question before you have finished the first, tell you on your face that you are the worst candidate they have seen during the day, ask you
to sell them your pen and then be a tough customer etc.
An important tip on coping with these situations is to not take things personally and play the game. If you are asked to do certain things during the interview, don’t argue as to why it should not be done. Just try to find creative ways of doing things and thereby demonstrating that you are not the one to bow down to stress or difficult situations.
I have heard a story about a candidate being asked to jump from a window. The candidate proved he was good enough for the
challenge by climbing on the window and jumping inside the room (nobody said jump out of the window!).
The idea is that trading on financial markets and sales are jobs that need people who are street smart, whose stress threshold is higher than normal, people who do not take things personally and can turn tables on someone to their advantage. Because stress brings out such personalities, these are considered more appropriate types of interviews for those positions.
You cannot prepare enough for stress interviews. You either have it or don’t. Don’t stress too much on it.
Most job-seekers will not encounter such interviews, but it is important to know they exist, and know how to handle yourself if you are faced with such an interview style.
From Tej Kohli,
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