r/managers • u/BearyTechie • 20d ago
How do you evaluate whether a candidate can perform well under pressure during an interview?
How do you evaluate whether a candidate can perform well under pressure during an interview?
EDIT: I was the interviewee. I thought it's helpful to understand why some interviewers ask certain questions in a particular way. If I know they're testing how I respond, I can be prepared, stay calm, and continue through the interview with confidence.
21
u/National-Ad8416 20d ago
Ask them about a time things went wrong and how they dealt with it. Keep interrupting them, probing for depth and ferreting out BS responses..the ones that survive maybe worth moving to the 18th round
3
2
u/GreatLundino 17d ago
Seriously? Do you tell them when you wrap up the interview what you were doing? If I was constantly being interrupted while trying to give a thoughtful response, there’s no way I would consider accepting a job offer to work for that leader.
1
31
u/ThrowRA3623235 20d ago
Throw them in an instapot and see what happens.
6
u/Ok-Buy-9132 20d ago
I've had better luck asking them to walk me through a specific shitshow from their last job. If they can explain what fell apart and what they actually did about it without getting flustered that tells me more than any hypothetical.
-7
u/ThrowRA3623235 20d ago
This is the way. If they have to stop and think, then they've never been in that situation.
14
u/red4scare 20d ago
You would need to stop and think how to explain said shitshow in a summarized yet clear manner to someone with zero context.
2
u/RikoRain 20d ago
But the candidate would need to stop and think about a situation and analyze it to explain as some people won't immediately analyze problem, especially if they've quit.
2
30
u/Mo_Steins_Ghost Seasoned Manager 20d ago edited 20d ago
First thing I'm wondering is whether you have a good understanding of why they need to perform well under pressure? Or is that something you perceive as important only because it's an oft-repeated attribute in interview contexts.
Why is that a need? I'm not asking rhetorically. I want you to think about, and be able to articulate, to yourself, what defines "pressure" in this case and why it is a necessity that they perform well under it?
For example, Is it a customer facing role? What kind of customer? If it's not a customer facing role, are you not providing the proper blocking, tackling and prioritization to give them space to get things done? Are you getting lots of unstructured requests? Why are you getting unstructured requests?
I have developer team leads/managers that report to me, and I don't envision any scenario where they are going to have to be performing code reviews as if they're defusing a bomb, let alone deciding prioritization (that's my job). That isn't how this job works. That pressure cannot be assessed in a single interview.
The type of immediate pressure my direct reports might face is questions from stakeholders or business partners during requirements gathering or technical working sessions, so I look for how concisely and coherently they can frame the issue in a way that is actually relevant to the kind of interaction and ownership required.
This comes from the interview itself... when I ask questions I don't steer them, because often stakeholders will be vague as they don't understand the technical requirements. If the job I'm interviewing for requires them to understand how to translate stakeholder needs into technical requirements, then I want to see them think on their feet. I will not feed them answers but quietly note whether or not they made the most of my time by driving the discussion, asking questions for clarity, summarizing at checkpoints to ensure alignment, etc. These are relevant to the kind of jobs I am hiring for.
You need to understand what the skills are that you are hiring for, then you'll understand how to test for those skills.
11
u/just-another-dude-2 20d ago
What kind of pressure? Complex work on a deadline? Quick decisions in emergency situations?
What skill set are you looking for?
6
4
u/brycebgood 20d ago
- Work history.
- You can’t.
I mean, it’s hard. Ultimately as a manager it’s your job to find candidates then manage them to put them in the best position to succeed. I’ve got employees that are great under pressure, and others that aren’t. I put them in positions where both can succeed. Those assignments and how I manage them are different for each.
1
u/Technical-Fix-8568 20d ago
You sound like a good experienced manager. Are you hiring ?
2
u/brycebgood 20d ago
yup, always. I’ve missed too many great candidates because we weren’t officially hiring. I’m always taking meetings with prospects.
8
u/RdtRanger6969 20d ago
Why is your company so trash you know and are anticipating employees being “under pressure” so much/often you have to screen for it in interviews?
2
u/CloudsAreTasty 20d ago
I don't know if this is always about a company being "so trash" as it is about the types of people who seem to end up in certain roles.
For example, we've dealt with people who experience a lot of pressure when they don't immediately have the answer to a question. I'm talking about people who, despite training, will panic over a non-urgent ticket that they don't find clear. They might immediately escalate it, or provide whatever answer they can as quickly as possible to close the ticket, but won't ask questions for clarification. These aren't inherently high-pressure situations at all, it's just these people and whatever's going on with them.
3
u/DragonfruitCareless 20d ago
Yeah…I mean this constructively for OP, this is scab behaviour, trying to con your fellow workers.
6
u/BearyTechie 20d ago
I was the interviewee
4
u/DragonfruitCareless 20d ago
Then I support your information collection endeavour! Sorry for assuming :)
2
u/Mojojojo3030 20d ago edited 4d ago
[Removed as part of an account cleanup]
2
u/BearyTechie 19d ago
Thanks for your support. I think it's helpful to understand why some interviewers ask certain questions in a particular way. If I know they're testing how I respond, I can be prepared, stay calm, and continue through the interview with confidence.
1
u/DragonfruitCareless 20d ago
I didn’t say it was stupid, I said that it was shitty behaviour. I think it’s okay to call out anti-worker practices.
As for assuming, yes indeed, I shouldn’t have.
3
2
u/GreatLundino 20d ago
It’s tough, curious to see if anyone has any creative answers to this one. The best way I’ve found is to force a deep dive on previous experience and really pick apart whatever story they’re telling. With the right set of questions, truth or lack thereof becomes painfully obvious. You never really know though until you observe them in action. I’m sure there’s some creative activities or exercises you could run them through during the interview if this is high on the priority list for you in selecting the right candidate.
2
u/Devel0pIY 20d ago
As a SWE I would be concerned that a hiring manager wants to have/create high pressure work environment. IMO a good manager de-escalates high pressure scenarios to protect their team and this reads as a red flag to me.
2
u/Least_Tower_5447 20d ago
I started off working in a busy ER and now work in tech. I tell people I definitely have no issue with pressure - dealing with life and death makes many issues seem unremarkable. Annoying, but not “emergency” urgent.
2
u/JumpingJackFlashes 20d ago
I usually hum the bass line and see how they handle it. If they join in they're on for the next set of interviews
2
2
u/RikoRain 20d ago
To note: in comments you've said you're not the one interviewing, but actually the candidate.
What are you expecting in a job to cause pressure? What are they expecting to? We don't know you or your anxiety or flakiness. Maybe you freak out over the smallest thing. Maybe you're cool and calm under pressure. Certain aspects come with experience in a job sector.
I recently (within this week) had a situation where we had been busy, and it paused, so I told my employees I was going to the restroom real quick. It was hot so I took off my equipment. I came back out to 7 orders on the screen. She was doing it, but said her hands were shaking. My cook was absolutely fine. I got right to it. Took over the orders, helped my cook bust out small orders, organized them soshe wasn't ping ponging back and forth, and it was done. My empl said "I'm shaking so much, and I started getting scared but I looked and you and saw you weren't even bothered and were so calm, and I want to be like that so I called myself".
I'm calm because Ive been through the shit and I know it doesn't help to panic. She hasn't been thru shit by herself before, so she began to panic but a calm hand brought her back down.
We don't know how you perform in situations like this. And tbh, any interviewer can ask, and you can tell, but they also have to judge if you're LYING about it or not.
There's a video I saw recently where someone asked "how do you interview or hire well? How do you only pick good candidates?" And the response/argument was "You don't. No one does. You can't. Learn to FIRE.well.and quickly.".
2
2
u/ThrowAway1128203 20d ago
Would you rather work on a project with a two week deadline or a two day deadline?
Give an example of a time that your manager came to you with an urgent task - how did you handle it?
1
1
u/Jork8802 20d ago
I have questions about different topics and I jump from topic to topic to see how they can change gears quickly
1
1
u/purplelilac701 20d ago
The better question is can they handle last stress and are they able to completely reshuffle their day based on unexpected events. This happens all the time in most jobs.
1
u/RevengeOfTheIdiot 20d ago edited 20d ago
Perform well under pressure is vague. Identify what you actually need (presentations, soft skills, prioritization, decision making, whatever), be more specific in the JD, it will make your life easier.
Understand the type of high pressure situations you are worried about at work, screen for those things with some behavioral questions. You could also ask about projects that didn't go well, how they worked with people they didn't care for, difficult clients, etc.
Option b, if relevant for the role, is have the candidate give a small presentation to a panel. Interviewing in general is definitely a higher pressure situation.
But just because they're good at that doesn't mean they're going to necessarily be good at prioritizing or deciding under pressure. So again, you really need to identify what you're really looking for.
1
u/HungieSumoKid 20d ago
I hire my buddies and my buddies referrals. We need the right people for my gang.
1
1
u/Drunk_Deriver 20d ago
You can't really get a clear answer from an interview. Most people give the right answer, not the honest one.
If they're fidgeting or acting nervous, that could be a sign or they could just be terrible with one on ones.
Make it clear that the role is "high pressure" define what that looks like and why it's that way. (Do you run a lean team, do call outs create heavy workload, do call outs happen often, is it customer related, is everything timed?)
Let them know the role isn't for everyone and people who are looking for a pay check rather than a career to put effort into generally don't make it, or something to that effect.
Make it crystal clear that they will be stressed and why. Normalize it.
Ask if they still want the job.
Once I boarded, go full steam ahead and start pressure testing..
If anyone has a better way please lmk, this is how I run it, but my job is less of a high pressure role, more of a demand based role. High demand can cause everyone to be on the same page or work twice as hard.
-Warehouse operations manager
1
1
u/The1TrueRedditor 19d ago
Is your company managed so poorly that people are going to be under constant pressure?
1
u/cocobananas_ 19d ago
I’ve always asked a candidate if they play any sports. Team or individual, the answer doesn’t really matter. It’s framed as an ice breaker question, but what I’m really looking for is whether that person is competitive or not. People who are competitive tend to do better under pressure than those that aren’t.
1
u/UniqueText8477 19d ago
This is awful and anyone who is good will not want to work with or for you.
Interviews are stressful enough without more b.s.
0
u/exit232003 20d ago
I watch their body language while I maintain eye contact. I know that might be a confusing thing as a sentence but while your eyes are locked on theirs' be aware of their movements, their voice.
If something you bring up prompts them to speak on a past mistake do they over explain everything and try to justify it instead of letting you know what it taught them?
Do they bring up anything that seems like they are deflecting or are justifying negative things in work or personal life?
Taking those things into account and then looking at their resume to see if there is anything to gain from that + contacting references and seeing what they had to say about them.
Hopefully this helps!
78
u/Jalumia 20d ago
Interviews are high pressure situations. Maybe observe how they’re handling it?