At some point in the job seeking periods of our lives, we've been subjected to what we considered annoying and totally irrelevant interview questions.

Some interviewers can ask otherwise very personal questions like "why are you single at this age?", "do you wear lacy undies?" and some might decide to reduce the temperature of the blast from the air conditioning just to crawl under your skin.


It's all a ploy to engender a reaction from you. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Stress Interview.

The Stress Interview- an overview

The ability to cope with pressure and stress is essential in almost all walks of life. Pressure and stress are unavoidable aspects of the world we live in, so Stress interviews are usually conducted to fill a stressful job which requires constant adjustment to the new environment. The interviewer will be looking to identify if you have the ability to recognize the pressure and stress of life. They will also want to know how well you understand the effect pressure and stress and if you are good enough to be able to take them in your pace.

These interviews are used to observe how the candidate reacts in a stressful situation during the job interview.


The Stress interviews are typically conducted by panels or professionals with years of interviewing experience and they use an array of psychological assessments to determine how candidates react under pressure. These kinds of interviews are used to determine how people react during uncomfortable, stressful, and unexpected circumstances.


A common type of stress interview tactic is to employ painful or aggressive questioning which is aimed to gauge how well you deal with aggression and fault finding behaviors. Questions are designed to test your skills and assess your ability to address issues calmly.

Creating an emotionally chaotic setting puts the candidate under psychological stress to see if they will crack, remain calm, or even thrive under such pressure. The key to getting through this process is to remain calm and unemotional throughout the interview. To handle stress interview questions, don't take the bait. As best you can, shorten and simplify your answers.

The interviewer will watch your reactions- your body language, facial expressions, behavior and communication.


Finally, here are some common behaviors exhibited by interviewers during stress interviews:

#Acting aggressive before candidates

#Acting uninterested in your answers

#Purposely abstaining from eye contact with you

#Interrupting candidates while answering

#Refusing to listen closely

#Arguing with candidates

#Asking uncomfortable questions

#Asking similar questions to ones you've provided answers for already

#Purposely delaying interviews

#Starting way beyond time

#Starting by lunchtime, knowing you'd be hungry by then

#Asking very personal questions

#Making the room too hot or too cold

#Downplaying your achievements.

You're on point, I've experienced so many of them often times.