Give me an example of a time when you successfully handled intense pressure.

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At Stripe, project managers are expected to juggle tight deadlines, strong personalities, complex projects, and constant change. All of these moving parts can lead to a lot of stress, and the interviewer wants assurance that you can effectively manage high-pressure situations. Provide an example of a time when you did so successfully.

"There's no doubt that there's a lot of stress and pressure in the life of a project manager. I personally reframe the stress and look at it positively; I like variety in my work life and many times enjoy the challenges that arise. I see them as puzzles for me to solve as quickly and efficiently as possible. Within my last role, we were two weeks out from the deadline with a few critical issues still needing to be resolved when one of my key team members got very sick and had to be hospitalized. I knew that I had to fix this fast so the project would stay on track. I laid out that person's tasks by priority and distributed them among other team members. Because of the time crunch, I also had to outsource some of the low-priority work to trusted contractors. I made sure to keep tabs on quality and set hard deadlines. In the end, we pulled it off and the project was completed successfully."

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How to Answer: Give me an example of a time when you successfully handled intense pressure.

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2. Give me an example of a time when you successfully handled intense pressure.

How to Answer

At Stripe, project managers are expected to juggle tight deadlines, strong personalities, complex projects, and constant change. All of these moving parts can lead to a lot of stress, and the interviewer wants assurance that you can effectively manage high-pressure situations. Provide an example of a time when you did so successfully.

Answer Example

"There's no doubt that there's a lot of stress and pressure in the life of a project manager. I personally reframe the stress and look at it positively; I like variety in my work life and many times enjoy the challenges that arise. I see them as puzzles for me to solve as quickly and efficiently as possible. Within my last role, we were two weeks out from the deadline with a few critical issues still needing to be resolved when one of my key team members got very sick and had to be hospitalized. I knew that I had to fix this fast so the project would stay on track. I laid out that person's tasks by priority and distributed them among other team members. Because of the time crunch, I also had to outsource some of the low-priority work to trusted contractors. I made sure to keep tabs on quality and set hard deadlines. In the end, we pulled it off and the project was completed successfully."

Next Question