How do you handle stressful situations?

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Community Answers

The interviewer would like an example of a time you successfully resolved a stressful situation. Give a specific example from your career when you were under a considerable amount of stress and came out of the situation with positive feedback.

"When I first started my apprenticeship, I was given a pretty important job to troubleshoot. My supervisor was aware that it was above my skill level, but he wanted to see if I would ask for help. I looked at the situation with a critical eye, took a few deep breaths, and presented my recommendation to him. In my previous roles, I've been told that I handle stressful situations well."

"I have a quick response time in an emergency and can remain patient and calm in stressful situations. We recently had a safety situation come up, and I was the team member who remained calm and got everyone to the muster station for headcount. For the most part, I am the calmest person on my team when it comes to stressful or anxious situations."

Anonymous Answer

"Generally, I am the type of man who would not react slowly. That's why I would be calmer than others in a stressful situation. In that kind of situation, I prefer to be patient and quick responsive on time."

Rachelle's Feedback

I have reworded your answer slightly to help with clarity.

"I have a quick response time in an emergency and can remain patient and calm in stressful situations. For the most part, I am the calmest person on my team when it comes to stressful or anxious situations."

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Anonymous Answer

"I find that a job becomes stressful when something arises that was not considered in the plan. This usually leads to time constraints or problem-solving for something unexpected. In my previous IT job during role outs of new hardware or software, we would regularly come across unexpected issues with deployment as there are so many variables to consider in planning. With these issues, I found reassessing the original plan and opening dialogue with the team involved was always key to finding the best solution under pressure."

Cindy's Feedback

This is a very thoughtful answer. How do you handle the stress that arises from these situations? If you can discuss the coping mechanisms you use to help you manage the stress while completing the job, you'll demonstrate that you can handle anything that arises in the job.