“Job interviews: everybody has to do them at one time or another.”

For many, a job interview seems like the only barrier that keeps them from becoming employed. They know that they are a great worker–intelligent, hard-working, motivated–but they just get so nervous during job interviews that they feel like no one will accept them until they get out of their own way.

Maybe you are this person. If so, you will be pleased to know that we are going to discuss how to be less nervous during the interview process and how to answer stress-related behavioral questions during the interview in this article.

Tips for a Good Interview

As Adam Smith said in his book, The Money Game, “The first thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer.”

The first tip that I can give you is to know yourself. Study who you are, what makes you special (because every person, especially you, is special), and be prepared to talk about your strengths. Interviewers really don’t care about your experience…they want to know about your soft skills–people skills.

Don’t worry if you don’t have killer experience. If they gave you the interview, they thought your resume said you had enough for what they needed. Instead, think about how the things that you have done in the past speak well of your soft skills and who you are as a person.

Answers to Behavioral Interview Questions

So, what are some of the questions that an interviewer might ask you? Personally, I think that the list of possibilities that LiveCareer has created is an exemplary representation of typical behavioral interview questions. Having interviewed a number of times now, I can tell you that these questions are right on point.

Study those questions and learn the answers to them as they relate to your personal experience. With that said, I want to direct your attention to what is probably the most important question during the interview process: “How do you deal with pressure or stressful situations?“

Unfortunately, this is not a question that I can answer for you. I can tell you this, though: don’t lie. If you do not deal with stress well, now is the time to learn how to do so. Then, you can answer this question in full confidence and with full assurance.

Conquering the Root Cause of Stress

“Stress” is the fear of most things that will never happen. Risk management is the preparation for things that probably will happen. These are two very different things. If you struggle with stress, you either struggle with a lack of preparation or with a fear of the future.

Struggling with stress due to a lack of preparation is easy to fix: learn to prepare better. However, struggling with fear of the future is something that has to be solved through different means. No one can control the future–this is fact. All you can control is what you can control.

For me, eliminating stress simply means doing the best with what I have control over and then being okay with the outcome…no matter what that outcome is. If you have prepared well and given it your best, then you are successful.

So, when the interview question comes up about work-related stress and stress management, take cues from past experiences where you have done exactly what is listed above; you have prepared well, done your best, and then let the chips fall wherever they may. Truly, this is the answer that any firm wants to hear.

In reality, we are all human and none of us are perfect. A firm wants to see that you have the humility to recognize this while also having the confidence to say that, no matter what the situation is, you try your hardest and then settle yourself well with the coming outcome.

Putting it All Together

See, the key to doing well in an interview is really the same as the answer to the stress-related interview question: prepare well, do your best, be yourself, and let the chips fall where they may. If it doesn’t turn out like you wanted, that’s okay. The firm just missed a great employee!

Of course, all of this doesn’t mean that you can’t make workplace stress claims once you are employed. Every firm understands that their employees get overworked and stressed out from time to time. However, a firm would probably rather prefer that you take some vacation days than that you get to this point!