The stress interview is the one in which you're treated as though you're the enemy. The interviewer asks you a number of offensive questions that are designed to put you on the defensive or to make you blow your cool. The physical setting may also be deliberately uncomfortable-the room is full of smoke, has inadequate lighting, heating or cooling, uncomfortable chairs or too low a couch for you to sit on comfortably, or you may be asked to sit so that you have to face a bright window and can't see the interviewer's face.
In a tight job market, companies tend to use these "grilling" interviews to "separate the men from the boys, the women from the girls." They're a trick-and it's one you can learn to play.
First of all, don't put up with an unpleasant environment. Ask politely to sit elsewhere or to move so that you don't have to face a light or the window. Comment on the lack of heat or cooling in a commiserating fashion. "Gee, it must be tough to have to work when the heating (or cooling) isn't adjusted for your comfort. I hope they get it fixed for you soon."
Second, refuse the invitation to go on the defensive (or the offensive, if you happen to be a High D). Practice responding to tough questions (see the list in the next chapter) so that if you're asked one, your response will be easy and relatively automatic. You want to answer tough questions in a sincere, direct manner. You try to move through the volley of unpleasantness as fast as you can so that you can get on to the meat of the interview.
Also consider your own hot buttons. What kind of comments or questions tend to put you on the defensive? What in your background or experience could be embarrassing? What is on your resume (or isn't on there) that might need some explanation? Prepare these answers in advance, too. People who regularly conduct stress interviews have an absolutely uncanny ability to go for the jugular. And they'll be successful if you're not ready.
But if you've been subjected to a stress interview and handle yourself with confidence and aplomb, you'll find that you've made a conquest. They'll be trying to get you signed, sealed and delivered.
Many people say they don't want to work for a company that would employ stress interviews.
That's unrealistic. As you are fully aware, many jobs out there are full of daily stress. It's not unreasonable for companies to want to know how you react. If you keep your cool and respond well under fire, they'll be more likely to want you. That's the kind of executive timber they must have if they're going to survive in the tough competitive environment of today.
Multiple Interviewers
A relatively new trend in business interviewing is the "interview by committee." You are interviewed by a committee of from three to eight members. It's difficult to identify the one person who is the lead decision-maker-and in fact, there may be several decision-makers, with the person who ultimately gets the job being the one who has made the fewest mistakes with the group as a whole. It is difficult to identify individual personalities early enough in the interview. You may already have done some damage before you have time to sort people out.
When faced with a committee, you do want to try to answer a question in the style of the questioner. You want to look at the person who asked the question, and answer directly to him or her, looking away at the other members of the committee only incidentally during your response. If one person tends to monopolize the questioning, then you should make a concerted effort to bring in the others on the committee, and to include them in your answer by looking at each of them for at least one or two sentences in your response.
Several traps exist for the unwary in the multiple-interviewer situation. First, the contact with several people tends to make you more nervous than interviewing with a single person. These interviews are energy draining, and require you to make a much higher level of personal energy investment. You may be either too laid back or too up-tight. Second, you can easily get caught up in the "good cop, bad cop" routine. You may find yourself being led into areas which you don't want to dwell on, and answering the questions because the person who asked the questions is playing the "good cop."
Third, you may discover yourself empathizing with the person you met or interviewed first, and responding or deferring to him or her and not paying enough attention to others in the group.
The group interview is widely used by nonprofit charitable organizations; the interviewers are generally nonprofessionals and each member tends to have a different and separate agenda. The questions tend to be narrow in focus, and you have to direct the discussion into the more general areas which the interviewers need to consider.
Colleges, universities and many research laboratories are collegial in nature. They use the multiple interview because they want to find out how you would "fit in" with the other members of their group. They also are very concerned about your specific area of expertise, and how it helps make their work unit more complete. The questions in these instances will tend to be much more technical and/or work-oriented. You may also get involved in philosophical discussions, into matters of style, of corporate culture and of specific projects.
