There is a usual kind of interview: where did you study / work / as with English - and suddenly "Do you often watch porn?" or splashing water in your face. Do not be surprised! These are standard elements of a stress interview. And to figure out why exactly you are being tortured, we asked specialists to answer our questions.

QUESTION 1

HOW DO I UNDERSTAND WHAT A STRESS INTERVIEW IS HAPPENING?
“If at a meeting they demonstrate a tough communication style, violate the rules of politeness and invade personal space, if they criticize you, then you have come to stressful interview , - explains Emma Stepanyan. "Basically, they boil down to non-standard or unexpected questions and unusual communication formats." And even candidates with a solid resume and not a very young age are usually "poked".
Also, for a stress interview, you may be offered:

The phrase "Well, why were you fired?"

Popular

QUESTION 2

WHO IS TESTED BY THIS METHOD MOST OFTEN?
There are vacancies that imply the candidate's ability to find a way out of difficult situations, resolve conflict issues. If you come to take a leadership position or a job related to rush jobs, be prepared for a possible attack.

QUESTION 3

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A STRESS INTERVIEWER?
Make you nervous! And check if you can keep the situation under control. “If the slightest mistake of an employee costs the company a lot of money,” says Lolita Vinogradova, “it is important to weed out unstress-resistant people. When a person is out of balance, it is difficult for him to control the situation. Then his true face is revealed. "

QUESTION 4

DO YOU NEED PERSONAL QUESTIONS IN SUCH INTERVIEW?
“There are, alas, non-professionals,” explains Yulia Denesyuk, “who, having a distant understanding of the rules and intricacies of conducting a stressful interview, ask unethical questions, express an unflattering opinion about their appearance, style of dress and manner of speech. Often such a person himself does not know what answers he wants to receive, and starts a tricky conversation solely for the sake of the process itself. "

QUESTION 5

MAYBE THE EMPLOYER IS JUST TRYING TO MAKE THE SUBJECT TO AGREE TO A LOW WAGE?
Experts argue that by forcing the candidate to experience stress, they are not pursuing the goal of selling the vacancy for less than it is worth. Finding the perfect employee is much more important. However, Emma Stepanyan admits that sometimes the purpose of such an interview is still to reduce the cost of future cooperation. At the same time, at the interview, an HR employee can concurrently conclude about the candidate's ability to negotiate price negotiations and about his bargaining ability.

QUESTION 6

WHAT QUESTIONS CAN YOU ASK IN A STRESS INTERVIEW?
“What's with your diction? Can you pronounce the words more clearly? "
“Am I crushing? How will you work with clients if you are such a sissy? "
"When are you planning to have a baby?"
"Do you live alone, with your mother, with your husband?"
“Would you like to make ten thousand dollars a month? What personal and professional qualities will allow you to come to our company and receive this money? "
"Do you want to leave Russia?"
"Name 10 differences between the moon and egg yolk."

QUESTION 7

HOW TO RESPOND TO UNPLEASANT QUESTIONS?
Such a conversation is akin to torture. The conditions are unequal: those who have the right to ask questions also receive tacit permission for any form of obtaining information; the applicant must be ready for both the flying glass and the disclosure of intimate secrets. But is such frankness necessary?
HR professionals believe that humor and equanimity are the main means of dealing with uncomfortable questions and situations. You don’t think that when asking a question about your favorite adult movie, the recruiter wants to hear a new name in order to replenish his personal collection. And do not mumble that you are not watching. Just say, “I don’t understand what this has to do with my future work, so I’d prefer not to answer this question.” Nobody will find out why you are hiding the title of the tape. This is the essence of a stressful interview: embarrass you and see how you get out of it.
Think of a stressful interview as a game and feel free to ask if you don't understand the question. " The best way do not give in to provocation - treat such issues with a grain of humor and not snap at rudeness, - advises Emma Stepanyan. - In this case, everything is important - posture, intonation, speed of reaction. The faster you react to questions, the more natural you look. "
“Know how to set boundaries,” adds Maria Razbash. - If they are doing something completely inadmissible, behave calmly, but with dignity. Inappropriate questions can be stopped. Most importantly, if you feel that you are being humiliated, leave immediately. The approach to the employee mirrors the interview. And remember that not only the company chooses you, but you also choose the company ”.

QUESTION 8

HOW TO COME TO YOURSELF AFTER THE INTERVIEW?
There are things that are offensive anyway. This is how the psychoemotional system of a person works. You can laugh it off by explaining why you haven't married at 28, but if a crumpled paper is thrown in your face, there’s no time for humor. Try to assess the circumstances and understand what the interviewer's goal was. It could be just a desire to test your emotional background, or this "evil HR" wanted to see how embarrassing you would be. Would you agree to work in a company where employees are screened in this way?

QUESTION 9

IS IT POSSIBLE TO REVEAL IN ANYWAY IF YOU HAVE BEEN TREATED UNFAIRLY?
Yes, even in your office, your hands were reaching for the Egyptian vase that you wanted to put on the head of this staff infection! But decent girls don't do that. They go to study the law. If you decided that you were unreasonably denied a job, ask for a written refusal. “According to article 64 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the refusal should be based only on the professional qualities of the employee, therefore, the questions at the interview should be related only to this,” explains Olesya Serebryakova. - But how do you prove that the interviewer indulged in insults? After all, most likely there will be no witnesses, and the court is often skeptical about the evidence made with the help of a dictaphone. "

QUESTION 10

IS THIS INTERVIEW MORE HARMFUL OR GOOD?
HR professionals are already convinced that the harm is often greater. Yulia Denesyuk adds that a professional recruiter has a large arsenal of other methods to evaluate a candidate and understand whether he is suitable, and he uses stress interviews in exceptional cases. But you can't know whether a professional is sitting on the other side of the table or an amateur trying to increase self-esteem at your expense or just have fun. C

OUR EXPERTS

YULIA DENESYUK
Business Development Department Specialist, HR Empire HR holding

EMMA STEPANYAN
Director of the branch of the recruiting agency AVANTA Personnel (Adecco Group Russia)

LOLITA VINOGRADOVA
business coach, stress interview specialist

Olesya Serebryakova
HR Manager, "Diversified Enterprise" Ostrov "

MARIA RAZBASH
psychologist, leading trainer of the Center for Positive Psychology A. Sviyash

BY THE DISTRIBUTION

PASSING INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE:

“One job interview of mine
HR manager lasted 3 hours. I needed to imitate calls, analyze the psychotype of my interviewer. Then I was asked to take a test - 44 questions in 15 minutes. It turned out that since my school days, when I last did such arithmetic tasks and logic problems, I had passed a lot! As a result, I didn’t go to work in this company ”.

Olga Zorina (22)

EXPERIENCE OF THE INTERVIEWER:

“Sometimes, in the middle of an interview, I put candidates out the door:“ I got up and left here! ” Someone starts to get ready, to which I ask in perplexity: “Do you give up so easily? Well, where is the interest in the position? " Once upon a time a young man without higher education and work experience answered: “I will not leave. I have come to get a job and have not yet told everything about myself. Let me finish, and then perhaps you will change your mind. " We took it. I didn't care that he came with an empty resume, because I knew that such a person would achieve a lot. "

Lolita Vinogradova

TEXT: Natalia Zhilyakova

Checking candidates for a vacant position is a serious ritual for which interviewers prepare with the utmost care. They develop new types of tests for applicants, invent tricky questions. Large-scale work is underway to find vulnerabilities and "boiling points". For a number of professions, it is important not only to be an excellent specialist, but also to be able to withstand constant pressure, especially psychological pressure. Stress interviews are used to select such candidates.

Who is at risk?

This type helps not only to find out the professionalism of a person, but also to assess how a particular applicant approaches the performance of duties. The stress test allows you to simulate the behavior of the applicant in non-standard situation... In most cases, it is used when checking a limited list of professions. Among the "lucky ones":

• banking workers,
• sales workers,
• advertising and customer service managers,
• insurance agents,
• PR specialists,
• psychologists,
• reporters, journalists and presenters (announcers) of the live broadcast,
• executives, executives and office managers,
• service workers.

A wide range of job seekers are subjected to stress tests. They can be both ordinary employees and top managers. For the former, the test is carried out to determine the degree of resistance to stress, loyalty, not conflict. For the second - to identify the ability to lead and accept correct decisions in a non-standard and nervous atmosphere.

For fruitful activity, you must have both professional knowledge and personal qualities that will allow you to diplomatically resolve "acute" situations. No resume can fully capture this ability. A personal meeting is the only way out. In such cases, a special type of interview comes to the rescue - stressful.

What should you expect during your interview?

The interviewers always have a new trick in their stock, and they also do not mind using the tools tested over the years. Just about them will be discussed. Sophisticated methods help to assess the endurance and resilience of a person to a stressful situation. Many job seekers who have never faced such treatment in an interview become stupid, lost, or angry. This is not good, the interview ends up rejecting their candidacy.

Among the many common techniques recruiters prefer to use, there are eight of the most popular. Very often they are introduced into the process for express verification. Some techniques are used individually, others are skillfully combined. The main thing is to achieve the goal - to find out the characteristics of the applicant's personality.

1. "Endless waiting"

The situation looks like this. The candidate arrives at the appointed time. The secretary or recruiter asks him to wait a bit. Ten minutes pass, fifteen. The request is repeated, while the recruiter can calmly talk with someone or just walk around the office and drink tea. This situation can last from half an hour to an hour. And only after that the interview will begin.

In this case (as always in the interview), it is important what position the candidate is applying for. If you are a private, you are supposed to humbly sit and wait for an invitation to enter the office. In order for the process not to get discouraged, you can entertain yourself with a book, magazine or other things. By demonstrating complete calmness, the candidate demonstrates the ability to control emotions and usefully spend their free time.

For managers, this behavior is not acceptable. It is necessary in ten to fifteen minutes to ask the secretary or recruiter about the reasons for the delay. If there is no clear answer, inform about the impossibility of further waiting, politely say goodbye and leave. As a rule, after some time (in the next five to ten minutes) the candidate will be called back with a proposal to postpone the meeting to a more convenient time. For professionals occupying leadership positions, the ability to delicately resolve conflict situations for the benefit of oneself is of great importance.

1. "Cyclic questionnaire"

Another favorite trick of interviewers. It consists in the following: the candidate is invited to perform tests (fill out a questionnaire). As a rule, it will not be possible to cope the first time. Moreover, the applicant will have to rewrite the assignment several times. The reasons may be incomprehensible handwriting, mistakes and similar trifles.

Interviewers in this way test endurance, loyalty to the organization and the ability to carry out routine work. A little advice: if there is nowhere to sit (there is no table and chair), it is not necessary, modestly twisting in the corner, to write “on your knees”. It is worth finding out where to go to which room to complete the test. The candidate must respect himself.

1. 1. "Under the guise of a boor"

In this game, the recruiter chooses several tactics of behavior. It can be rude. The candidate is constantly interrupted, not allowed to find out or explain anything, criticized and reproached. The applicant has the impression that he came under fire. In such a situation, it is important to focus on the questions and wait for the interviewer to finish speaking. After that, he will clearly state the answers and arguments to the previously voiced questions.

Inappropriate questions about work in the same place, about the reasons for attending this interview, the transition to "you" - all this is aimed at knocking the ground out from under the applicant's feet. It is appropriate for the candidate to emphasize his achievements and personal merit in the answers. If the recruiter switched to "you", then you should politely inform him about the inadmissibility of such liberties. This is especially important for applicants for leadership positions.

1. "No brakes"

An unpleasant and daring way of working with a candidate. The interviewer asks questions that are many and not related to professional responsibilities. He is interested in everything that, one way or another, concerns the applicant - sexy and family life, religion. As a rule, the recruiter actively comments on the answers and presses.

Questions for a stressful interview are selected individually depending on the position. Among them, the most typical and most common ones can be distinguished. Basically, they relate to two areas - professional and personal. Questions for testing stress tolerance in the professional sphere may be as follows:

• How are you better than other candidates?
• Why should we hire you and not another candidate?
• When can we expect the first outstanding results from you?
• What salary do you think is more suitable for your knowledge?
• Tell us what kind of specialist you are.

The main purpose of these questions is to determine how the candidate will handle the anxiety at the very beginning of the interview. They are also aimed at determining the applicant's self-criticism and the ability to control emotions. If the applicant begins to embellish reality, it means that he is confused or very nervous. The applicant must answer the questions clearly and clearly, as accurately as possible.

There are many examples of stressful interviews. Each meeting develops into a funny or not very story. In such interviews, not only the level of self-control of the applicant is important, but also the professionalism of the interviewer. Such meetings are stressful for a person. A competent recruiter must correctly "grope" the character of the candidate and return him to his former calm state, which was before the interview.

How to prepare for a stress interview?

Candidates facing such a meeting should Special attention devote time to solving non-standard puzzles. This will help you approach the search for answers to the tasks in a non-standard way. Reading special literature on the topic of self-control and self-improvement, you can also attend self-development trainings. It is quite difficult to explain how not to get nervous if the situation goes beyond the comfortable environment. Self-confidence and professionalism will help to find a worthy way out in any situation. It is important to focus on the goal and respond appropriately to the situation - with restraint, courtesy and delicacy.

Check out our article on How to Prepare for Your Job Interview:

By asking provocative ones, interviewers do not pursue the goal of finding out the intimate secrets of the applicant, they are simply assessing the level of self-control. It is important for them how the candidate will be able to delicately get out of an unpleasant situation. During a stressful interview, you should not lose your temper, react violently to what is happening. It is simply a test that both the applicant and the applicant have the right to stop at any time.

Video - "Stress interviews when applying for a job"

If a job seeker is insulted, shouted at, or overlooked at the interview, he may have ended up in a stress interview. Natalya Chailytko, director of the Status Personnel Center, tells about when this method is really justified when hiring and how to create a stressful situation correctly.

- I have been studying the topic of stress interviews for over 15 years and have been doing them for about 11 years. During this time, I got my own opinion on how to carry it out, what rules must be followed and in what cases it is prohibited to carry it out. I will share my experience.

Director of the "Human Resources Center" Status "

When to conduct a stress interview

I treat stress interviews with great care. In no case should you conduct it without having experience in this. A poorly conducted stress interview can seriously harm the applicant. At the very least, this can lead to a decrease in his self-esteem.

In my practice, there have been cases when a job seeker fell into depression, refused to look for a job, because he was afraid that he would have to experience serious stress again.

But even if I know how to conduct stress interviews, I recommend doing so only if necessary qualities cannot be verified by any other method.

If the manager insists on either another way to check the candidate you do not see, then I will give several recommendations.

3 rules for conducting stress interviews

1. A stress interview is effective if it lasts 10–20% of the interview time, and not during the entire interview.

2. A stressful situation should be selected based on:

• Vacancies. Employees different professions experience stress from different situations. For example, an accountant can be checked for stress resistance to revisions, a sales manager - for conflicting behavior of clients, project managers for timely completion of a project, etc.
• The candidate's temperament. For example, accelerating the rate of speech, communicating with several people at the same time is not a stressful situation for a person with a choleric temperament.
• The type of perception of the candidate's information (auditory, visual, kinesthetic). Kinesthetic can be put in an uncomfortable chair, audial can be interrupted, visual can be interrupted by "random" people passing by

3. A stressful situation cannot be created at the first interview. You can only get to know the applicant when you have already held one, or better, two meetings. And only then choose the right technique.

How to create a stressful situation

There are many standard methods of creating a stressful situation. For example:

• The interviewer invites the applicant to sit in an uncomfortable chair
• Forces to fill out the questionnaire "on the knee"
• Asks "head-on" why the applicant came, announcing that he is not suitable for their company
• Shines a bright lamp in your eyes
• Ignores the applicant's answers using a monologue form, preventing the candidate from responding to questions asked
• Affects family or intimate matters
• Interviews are constantly interrupted by people who "accidentally"

And now - a few examples from practice.

An example of a method for a kinesthetic. The head of the furniture showroom was looking for employees for various vacancies - account managers, furniture designers, accountants. He used one method for all of them. He bought a chair - with a hard seat of intertwined metal rods, high back from metal twisted drills. He put it in his office and invited the candidates to sit down.

In the middle of the interview, they were told a legend - supposedly in the company long time worked a man who died in the workplace. This chair was his favorite. After death, his ghost comes to the office to sit on this chair.

Can you imagine the state of a candidate who has already sat on this uncomfortable chair for 15 minutes, felt all its features and then he was told this? Only highly stress-tolerant candidates do not jump or run away.

So the head of the company revealed the motivation of the candidate - whether he wants to become an employee of the company after such a test. The result was known either immediately or the next day.

It has been like this for 7 years, with the help of a "beloved" metal chair in the office of this company, candidates are tested for stress resistance ...

An example of a method for visuals. These are people who communicate little and work a lot with documents - personnel officers, an accounting officer, designers, lawyers.

For the interview, the candidate is asked to bring a photo from his personal archive - in which he is with his children, spouse, and parents. In the middle of the interview, when more than one technique has already been used, it is proposed to cut the photo, thereby “dividing” the people in the photo (the cut can be between people, at eye level, “cutting off” the legs ...). The cutting line is always specified.

To this unusual request, the candidate almost always experiences severe stress - he thinks that if he cuts the photo now, he will either get divorced or lose his child, parent.

Here with the naked eye you can see the motivation: is the candidate really capable of anything in the future for the sake of this company?

An example of conducting stress interviews for audiences. As a rule, these are sales managers, account managers, HR and PR managers, etc.

At the first interview, the interviewer "takes" the candidate into the past: he asks to remember with what words his mother scolded him, or a teacher at school, or former boss... This is how the interviewer collects a package of phrases that represent a stressful situation for the candidate. For example, these can be phrases:

• "Well, what the fuck are you a businessman?"
• "You are nobody and there is no way to call you"
• "Anyone else is better than you"
• "You are zero without a stick"
• "Well, how long can I suffer with you?"

And during stress interviews, a similar phrase appears in turn. For example, it is pronounced by an accidental employee or a manager tells stories about already dismissed employees using these phrases.

And yet: not a single, even the most competent stress interview will give a 100% result of how a person will behave at work. It's one thing to test a candidate by immersing him in stressful situations and the other is a real work environment.

Imagine that you come for an interview, you are asked the usual questions, and then all of a sudden, for no apparent reason: "Tell me, how often do you fall in love?" Do not rush to slap the recruiter in the face or run out of the office. Chances are, you just ended up in a stressful interview.

In what form is such an interview conducted?

In stressful interviews, candidates for the position are communicated in a harsh, harsh, often impolite manner. Asking unexpected, strange, personal questions, simulating awkward situations. May cause physical inconvenience: they are not offered to sit down or are seated so that the light hits the face, they are kept too high or too low temperature indoors, they smoke. Often people communicate with the applicant on "you". Sometimes they are forced to wait for an interview for a long time in an empty corridor without benches. A recruiter can offer to fill out a variety of questionnaires; sometimes applicants answer questions for several hours.

The interview can include elements of a stressful interview: unexpected questions, the sudden appearance of third parties.

Why is this needed?

Stress interviews test the following business qualities of job seekers:

• speed reaction;
• the ability to solve several problems at the same time;
• stress tolerance;
• the ability to concentrate in any environment;
• the ability to behave competently in a conflict situation;
• desire to defend their interests;
• loyalty to the future employer.

Such interviews are conducted when they want to select candidates for the position of executives, top managers, sales agents, realtors, journalists, and all those whose working day passes in a stressful environment. If you're applying for a hectic position, prepare yourself to go through an unusual interview when hiring.

It will be better if you start to perceive what is happening as a kind of game. The recruiter does not want to offend and offend you, does not doubt your professionalism. The interviewer's goal is to put you in an awkward situation, as close as possible to the workdays in your future position. Your task is to show that you perfectly meet all the requirements of the company.

Remember that not only you are being checked, but you are also looking at your future employer. During the interview, you will be able to assess how much you need the vacancy and position for which you are applying.

How do you know if the interview is being conducted correctly?

A stressful interview is a very delicate process, one wrong action of the recruiter during the interview can cause psychological trauma to the candidate. The script must be very precise. This technique should be used in extreme cases when other methods will not give the desired result. Employees with psychological education who practice manipulative techniques can competently conduct interviews. Companies whose HR specialists are not properly qualified sometimes even invite outside recruiters.

Unfortunately, there are sometimes non-professionals among the cadre employees who use interviews as an opportunity to mock applicants. Or people are pursuing the right goals but choosing the wrong means. The following signs will help to distinguish a professional from an illiterate recruiter:

• A professional will never negatively assess the appearance of the interlocutor: "Well, you are fat!". At most, he can afford the question: "Could you lose weight if your position requires it?"
• He will not use direct physical influence: only inexperienced HYCARs throw crumpled pieces of paper into their faces and splash water from a glass.
• A professional always finishes an interview: he always explains why this test was needed, notes the positive aspects of the applicant, warmly says goodbye. Without getting the candidate out of the stress state, the recruiter risks inflicting psychological trauma on him.

If you realize that you are being interviewed by an amateur, you have three options:

• interrupt the recruiter with the phrase: “I think this can end our conversation”, and leave;
• reach the end of the interview, draw conclusions about the employer and start looking for another job;
• go through all the trials and get this position if it really suits you.

How to behave in an interview?

If you notice signs of a stressful interview, tune in to a positive outlook and try to enjoy the game. Remember the goals of the recruiter. He's trying to piss you off - don't let him do it! Try to remain calm and calm, communicate politely, and listen carefully to questions. If the interviewer notices that you are angry, making excuses, lying, confused, unable to concentrate, the stressful interview will fail.

Act out of feeling dignity... Remember, the test is not for fun; the interviewer assesses how you will behave in a difficult work situation. You can calmly answer questions about your personal life: “I don’t understand how this has to do with the topic under discussion,” and then offer to continue the interview. Behave in accordance with the position you are applying for. If the sales manager can wait for the interview to begin, then it is more appropriate for the manager to apologize after a while: “Unfortunately, I don’t have time to wait right now.” Usually, personnel officers immediately call back with a proposal to postpone the meeting to a more convenient time.

Use a sense of humor as appropriate. For example, when asked why you were fired, you can answer: "For the fact that I am the only one who in the workplace thought about the company and its prosperity."

Do not tolerate physical discomfort. Ask for a replacement chair, if yours is broken, move the lamp that shines directly into your eyes, close the window. If you were not offered a chair, be sure to ask: "Where can I sit?"

Stop outright rudeness. If someone threw a pen at you or splashed water from a glass in your face, get up and leave, having previously said: "I think further dialogue is impossible."

Remember, you can always end the interview. Prepare a stop-phrase, for example, "I suggest finishing the interview, this job is not suitable for me." Saying it, say goodbye to the recruiter and leave.

When an unqualified employee conducts an interview, candidates often have a desire to "take revenge" on the company that subjected them to this test. Try not to go over to insults and physical violence, remember your business reputation. An attempt to go to court in order to receive compensation for moral damage under Article 151 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation makes sense only if the interview took place in front of witnesses or there is a video recording. If there is no evidence, you will only waste your time and nerves.

There is no unequivocal opinion among staff members whether a stressful interview is really necessary. Most are inclined to believe that this type of interview is intended for a narrow range of positions and should be conducted by specialists in the field of psychology. social action... However, given the "fashion" for given view hiring tests, mastering the basic skills of participating in a stressful interview will be beneficial to every job seeker.

March 31, 2010 at 07:30 PM

About stressful interviews

• Career in the IT industry

Some time ago, an article appeared on Habré, which talked about the concept of a stressful interview. I wanted to collect more information about him to fully cover the issue.

A stressful interview is an interview in which the candidate is trying to unbalance, put him in a situation where he feels uncomfortable, or simply do something that the applicant is not ready for.

A few years ago, an experiment was conducted - for people who thought they were interviewing for a top managerial position, the recruiter would suddenly throw a glass of water in their faces. This experiment was so famous that nowadays taking "a glass of water in the face" is one of the first mentioned when talking about stressful interviews.

The reactions were varied - someone wiped himself off and continued the conversation, someone left in shock, others fought back - they threw something at the recruiter in return. One man showed excellent reaction when he dodged (then left the premises). The insecurity of the experiment manifested itself in the fact that one girl, while the water was still in flight, managed to grab a chair from under her and try to hit the offending person, in this case the recruiter had already shown dexterity - if he had not had time to evade, it would have been impossible without medicine. (unfortunately, I could not find a video of the program in which this experiment was shown)

It is believed that a stressful interview is useful when interviewing a person who in the future will have to deal with stress in the process of work. In my opinion, this is not so - such a method, as can be seen from the experiment, removes the mask from a person and shows his real qualities, which makes it possible to more accurately judge whether he is suitable for a certain position or not. For example, a leader needs aggressiveness, and a public relations officer needs resourcefulness and tolerance.

Nowadays such methods of conducting interviews (not so harsh, of course) are used in the IT sphere as well. For example, I know a person who came across elements of pressure during an interview for the position of Analyst.

So, what can await the Habrvian.

1. Will start before you enter

A common introduction to stress is to marinate the person while waiting for the interview itself. In this case, it is worthwhile to estimate in advance how much expectation this vacancy is worth and serve this time. You can stock up on a book.

2. Filling out the questionnaire in uncomfortable conditions.

This technique was even mentioned in People in Black, as well as a way out of the situation - make yourself comfortable (who does not remember - starting from the fourth minute)

3. The interview can be conducted in an uncomfortable room.

- too bright or dark, stuffy / cold, smoky, etc. You just need to be prepared for this.

4. Unequal forces.

The interview can be conducted in such a way that there are either many applicants, or vice versa, there are representatives of the employer, moreover, one sits down opposite you, leans towards you and at first shows great interest. Another sits down so that it is uncomfortable to look at him (from behind or from the side), while you are told that this is very important person and it is imperative to impress him. The third is also located somewhere in the back as an observer. This situation, when the “big brother” sees you, but you do not see those who are looking at you, can be solved by turning the chair to see all the interlocutors.
The “interested” person sitting opposite does not make a pleasant impression either. He deliberately does not use the so-called joining technique in communication. V ordinary life we mirror each other's gestures and postures, but in this case your interlocutor deliberately moves away, turns away from you, responds to your smile with a cold look.

5. During the interview itself

unexpected questions can be asked, the pace, tone and engagement of the recruiter with the conversation can change dramatically - that is, he can just think, get distracted or make a call to someone.

Topics can be covered:
- The shortcomings of the applicant, which are immediately discussed, criticized and ridiculed;
- Reasons for dismissal from previous jobs.
- Interest in the candidate's personal life. Moreover, to moments that may have no connection with work and are quite intimate. One woman, for example, was asked the following questions: “You have two children and you worked without interruption. Did you go to work when the child was very young? I do not like women who leave their children! Why did you need a second child? Was he born in a second marriage? So you also have a problem with men! Some women think that it is possible to keep a man with the help of a child. Naive, huh? "

And in a certain company, all applicants at the interview were given a condition (of course, a fake one) - to have a plastic surgery paid for by the company - this was how the depth of loyalty :) of the applicant was checked.

6. Among the insane approaches are also the following:

(although he is more about managers and managers) The option was to place the candidate in "real field conditions", when HR, disguised as a client (as a rule, angry) burst into the office where the interview was conducted and, turning to just anyone, dragged those present into the conflict. Much depended on the reaction of the applicant: on the one hand, he is not yet an employee, he cannot interfere, and on the other hand, a scandal within the walls of a reputable company is not best indicator, other clients will react to this, so it is necessary to smooth it out faster using possible means.
A job seeker who is not indifferent to the company in which he intends to work and who embarks on the path of resolving a conflict with an unknown client-bully - it was this indicator, along with others, that was assessed when making a decision.

7. And of course the good old "good and bad cops".

For example, an evil one puts pressure on the interviewee in every possible way, and a good one at this moment suggests thinking about positions that are more worthy of a candidate like him.

In total, a universal recipe - be calm and polite. You may or may not make concessions, but politeness, even gloomy, should not leave you. Remember, you can end everything at any time - just say goodbye to a tactless or rude interviewer.

By by and large, the methods of personnel selection also characterize the company in which to work. And the applicant, in turn, may wonder if he needs it? So a stressful interview provides important information not only to the employer, but also to the job seeker.
And finally, a video. Fiction, but reflects the essence well.