Your Answer And Behaviour Should Match:
One of the biggest mistakes that people make during interviews is saying loud and clear they have the ability to work under pressure but their body language suggests something which is entirely different.
Remember that interviews too are situations of stress and pressure so make sure that your answer is perfectly in keeping with your behaviour. So you must sit straight, answer well and look the interviewer straight in the eye while speaking.
State That Pressure Brings Out The Best In You:
In response to the question, you can say that pressure is something that brings out the best in you. Without pressure or a challenge of any sort, you do not feel compelled to really bring out the best in you.
If the pressure is something that is conceived as a negative thing by others, state that when it comes to you it becomes an extremely positive thing as you have delivered some of your best work when you have been under stress and pressure of some kind.
What Can Prolonged Stress Lead To
Stress is a natural reaction to many situations in life, such as work, family, relationships and money problems.
We mentioned earlier on that a moderate amount of stress can help us perform better in challenging situations,34 but too much or prolonged stress can lead to physical problems. This can include lower immunity levels,35 digestive and intestinal difficulties, e.g. irritable bowel syndrome ,36 or mental health problems such as depression.3 This means it is important to manage your stress and keep it at a healthy level to prevent long-term damage to your body and mind.
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Smoking Drinking And Drug Use And Stress
You might find that you smoke, drink alcohol or use recreational drugs to reduce stress. However, this often makes problems worse.28
Research shows that smoking may increase feelings of anxiety.29 Nicotine creates an immediate, temporary, sense of relaxation, which can then lead to withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
Similarly, you may use alcohol as a means to manage and cope with difficult feelings, and to temporarily reduce feelings of anxiety. However, alcohol may make existing mental health problems worse. It can make you feel more anxious and depressed in the long run.30 It is important to know the recommended limits31 and drink responsibly.
Prescription drugs, such as tranquillisers and sleeping tablets, which may have been prescribed for very good reasons, can also cause mental and physical health problems if used for long periods of time.32 Street drugs, such as cannabis or ecstasy, are usually taken for recreational purposes. For some people, problems start as their bodies get used to repeated use of the drug. This leads to the need for increased doses to maintain the same effect.33
Stressful Situation Example 6
To help deal with stress, I always look for the positives in every situation. Instead of concentrating too much on the things I didnt manage to get done that day, I focus on how much progress I have made in other areas. For example, last month we had 2 weeks where multiple people were on annual leave, and two people were off sick. I was therefore left with a big workload which was very overwhelming to begin with, but I tried to think of the glass half full and would write down 3 things that went well at the end of each day, which really helped me to stay positive and keep going.
Also Check: How Does Stress Affect Your Body
Examples Of The Best Answers
Here are some examples of how to answer interview questions about heavy workloads. You can see how each interviewee offers plenty of illustrative details in their anecdotes.
While at the HKL plant, we were faced with a sudden order increase for the j-ball bearing from a new customer. I immediately sat down with the production supervisor, our materials/supply manager, and the union steward. We were able to lay out a workable plan that minimized hourly costs, guaranteed materials were available, and, with only a slight adjustment, met the production deadline. While it was challenging and involved long hours, the payoff was a signed contract with a new customer.
Why It Works: This answer uses the STAR response technique to describe a past Situation, outline the Tasks and Actions involved, and conclude with the positive Results of her actions. She proves that she knows how to proactively use her teamwork, communications, and project planning competencies to handle increased workloads.
When I was working on a software implementation team at ABC Company, we took over another company and had to transition many clients to a new product in a short amount of time. It took a lot of planning, time, hard work, and effort, but we were able to complete the project in a timely manner.
Coping With Stress At Work
Working hard should not be confused with overworking at the expense of relationships and physical health.
Coping with stress at work.
Everyone who has ever held a job has, at some point, felt the pressure of work-related stress. Any job can have stressful elements, even if you love what you do. In the short-term, you may experience pressure to meet a deadline or to fulfill a challenging obligation. But when work stress becomes chronic, it can be overwhelmingand harmful to both physical and emotional health.
Unfortunately, such long-term stress is all too common. In fact, has consistently found that work is cited as a significant source of stress by a majority of Americans. You cant always avoid the tensions that occur on the job. Yet you can take steps to manage work-related stress.
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Give Examples Of Projects You Previously Handled:
In addition to stating the kind of working pressure which you have been used handling, you can also give examples of projects which you have previously successfully handled and expedited.
If these projects are famous ones then you are bound to get noticed by the interviewers as someone who really has an impressive CV and is worth employing. If you have a number of successful projects to boast of then, you should remember, that, half of your battle is won.
How Can Work Stress Affect Well
Long-term exposure to work-related stressors like these can affect mental health. Research links burnout with symptoms of anxiety and depression. In some cases, this sets the stage for serious mental health problems. Indeed, one study shows younger people who routinely face heavy workloads and extreme time pressure on the job are more likely to experience major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.
High levels of stress at work and outside of it can affect physical health, too. Repeated activation of the fight-or-flight response can disrupt bodily systems and increase susceptibility to disease. For example, repeated release of the stress hormone cortisol can disturb the immune system, and raise the likelihood of developing autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimers disease. Chronic stress can also affect health by interfering with healthy behaviors, such as exercise, balanced eating, and sleep.
Work stress can also harm companies or organizations. Burnout reduces job productivity and boosts absenteeism and job turnover, and also leads to conflict between coworkers, causing stress to spread within a workplace.
Read Also: How To Ease Anxiety And Stress
How Do You Handle Stress And Pressure Best Answer
Answering this common interview question: How do you deal with stress?
- Understand why the examiner is asking the question.
- Make a list of your soft skills.
- Add context to these skills with a relevant, influential example.
- Focus on your positive actions, not your negative feelings.
- Dont deny stress.
Share A Relevant Story
Provide an example of how you have handled stress in the workplace before. You want to give the interviewer an idea of how well you work in stressful situationsrather than of the ways in which stress can get to you.
You could tell your interviewer how you handle stress and pressure when youre at work, or you could give them a glimpse into your process by sharing a relevant story instead.
A compelling story allows us to set the scene for an interviewer and detail a time where you were caught in a stressful situation. What was going on? What was your mindset like? Did you immediately get strategic in figuring out a solution or take a break to figure out what to do next? You can then detail the steps you took to get out of it and the overall lessons that the experience taught you. By the end of the story, the interviewer should have a better understanding of how you react when the pressure is on and its the candidates who approach situations with grace and ease that most companies want to hire for their teams.
Read Also: How Can You Manage Stress
List Down Your Soft Skills
To answer such a question, make it a point to jot down your soft skills, such as adaptability, communication, time management, organization, leadership and problem-solving.
The reason for listing these inter-personal skills is because when in stress, these traits are the ones you will rely on majorly. Also, your interviewer will be interested in learning about how your soft skills can benefit the organization.
Answers To Tell Me About A Time You Were Under A Lot Of Stress At Work
If they ask for a specific time that you were under high amounts of stress, heres a good sample answer:
In my previous job, my manager resigned two weeks after I was hired. This was particularly difficult because I was still learning the basics of the job. I overcame the situation by reaching out to senior team members for help, asking the department head if he had any suggestions for how to succeed in learning the job, and taking a couple of hours at home each night to review the basics that I was learning. All of this helped me get up to speed quickly, and I became a top performer on the team within six months. Fortunately, a new manager was brought in a couple of months later, but I was in a much better position to succeed at that point because I had used my first few weeks to learn as much as possible instead of letting the stress of this unpredictable situation slow me down.
For behavioral interview questions like this you should break your answer down into four parts: Situation. Task. Action. Result.
First, what was the general scenario you were in?
Then, what was the task or challenge to overcome?
Next, what action or strategy did you choose, and why?
Finally, what was the outcome and what did you learn from the experience?
The sample job interview answer above is effective because it breaks the story down step-by-step and shows that you stay calm under pressure, stay positive, and make the most of any situation.
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Common Sources Of Work Stress
Certain factors tend to go hand-in-hand with work-related stress. Some common workplace stressors are:
- Low salaries
- Few opportunities for growth or advancement
- Work that isnt engaging or challenging
- Lack of social support
- Not having enough control over job-related decisions
- Conflicting demands or unclear performance expectations
Dont Try To Be Perfect
I say this many times before but I want to say it again. Perfection is not true. It only exists in the mind, not in reality. Unfortunately, many people have no idea that pursuing perfection is what made them stressed out.
Its okay to make mistakes. Accept that you are not perfect and youll never be. Be free of worries from shortcomings. Dont waste your time trying to make things perfect.
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Perfect Answers To How Do You Handle Stress Interview Question
Stress is a normal human response, and we all deal with it in different ways. If youre in an interview and the employer asks you how you handle stress, its because they know youre going to deal with stress at some point in the workplace and they want to know how it will affect you.
How an employee handles stress is a pretty big indicator of how well they will work under pressure, and if youre interviewing for a job where stress will be a regular occurrence, the employer needs to know youll be able to keep your cool even in a stressful situation.
Here are some dos and donts on answering the question How do you handle stress?
What The Interviewer Really Wants To Know
This is an example of a behavioral interview question, asked by an interviewer who is trying to predict how you would handle an issue based upon your behavior in the past. He or she expects you to provide an example of an event that happened previously in your career, including a description of what caused the issue, how you addressed it, and what the results were of your intervention.
TIP: Use the STAR interview response technique to develop your answer to behavioral interview questions.
Read Also: Am I Stressed Or Do I Have Anxiety
Learn To Avoid Procrastination
Another way to take control of your stress is to stay on top of your priorities and stop procrastinating.
Procrastination can lead you to act reactively, leaving you scrambling to catch up. This can cause stress, which negatively affects your health and sleep quality .
Get in the habit of making a to-do list organized by priority. Give yourself realistic deadlines and work your way down the list.
Work on the things that need to get done today and give yourself chunks of uninterrupted time, as switching between tasks or multitasking can be stressful itself.
summary
Prioritize what needs to get done and make time for it. Staying on top of your to-do list can help ward off procrastination-related stress.
Yoga has become a popular method of stress relief and exercise among all age groups.
While yoga styles differ, most share a common goal to join your body and mind.
Yoga primarily does this by increasing body and breath awareness.
Some studies have examined yogas effect on mental health. Overall, research has found that yoga can enhance mood and may even be as effective as antidepressant drugs at treating depression and anxiety .
However, many of these studies are limited, and there are still questions about how yoga works to achieve stress reduction.
In general, the benefit of yoga for stress and anxiety seems to be related to its effect on your nervous system and stress response.
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Listen To Soothing Music
Listening to music can have a very relaxing effect on the body.
Slow-paced instrumental music can induce the relaxation response by helping lower blood pressure and heart rate as well as stress hormones.
Some types of classical, Celtic, Native American and Indian music can be particularly soothing, but simply listening to the music you enjoy is effective too .
Nature sounds can also be very calming. This is why theyre often incorporated into relaxation and meditation music.
summary
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I Cant Deal With Pressure And Expectations
Get good grades. Make good money. Make your parents proud. Represent your school, your hometown, your race, religion, or culture. Pressure takes a lot of forms and comes from a lot of different places. But no matter what type of pressure youre experiencing, its going to have an effect on your mental health.
What kind of effect? Well, that parts complicated. A little pressure can motivate you to do your bestbut too much can paralyze you. Lets try and unpack the pressure youre experiencing, and try to find a way to make sure its effect on your mental health is a positive one.
Connect Your Answer To The Job
Whether you use your answer to demonstrate your skills or to express that you are motivated by challenges, connect your answer to the requirements of the job. Focus on the types of challenges that you will be given on the job and demonstrate your ability to handle them well.
To help prepare an answer to this question, look back at the job listing and highlight skills and experiences that are necessary for the position.
In your answer, focus on those skills that you are most passionate about and/or have the most experience with.
Also Check: What Can Stress And Depression Cause
Break Down Tasks And Simplify
Remind employees who are handling a complex task that they are not supposed to do it all at once or else, their mind and body will eventually feel the stress.
Instead, they need to take time to divide significant functions into more manageable components. It might help if you set mini-deadlines so that your team could work at a more comfortable pace.
How To Manage And Reduce Stress
Here, we would like to start, by giving you an introduction to what stress is, what the signs of stress are, what simple steps you can take when feeling stressed and provide practical advice for preventing it, to show why we are passionate about moving towards a less stressed nation.
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Listen To Music On The Drive Home
Listening to music offers many benefits and can be an effective way to relieve stress before, during, and after work. Playing an uplifting song while you make breakfast can help you start the day off feeling better prepared to interact with the people in your life. Likewise, combating the stress of a long day with your favorite music on the drive home can help you wind down and feel less stressed when you get there.
