June 2020 – Have you ever been asked this question in a job interview – How do you perform under pressure?

Any idea why prospective employers ask this question?

According to Indeed.com, performing well under pressure is both a personal and professional quality that makes the difference between an average employee and an excellent one.

I find this intriguing.

Is Indeed.com claiming that the ability to handle pressure is the differentiating factor between being an amazing human and a mediocre one!?

We have a pandemic going on, financial woes, we haven’t had a haircut in months, we’re homeschooling, and we’re trying to put a healthy meal on the table.
Is there anybody out there who is feeling a lot of pressure right now?

If you’ve lost it at any point over the last 3 months does this make you a below-average human? I think not. I think it makes us human – plain and simple.

Everyone has their breaking point.

The interview question about pressure is a silly one. I mean does anyone actually answer that honestly? Everyone knows the right answer to this question. You’re supposed to smile and project a confident and competent attitude, thereby assuring your future employer that you can handle whatever type of pressure-cooker environment gets thrown at you.

I run my own business and I work in events! The whole job is about pressure. Yet, you would be surprised at how many people I have worked for and with in my 20+ year career who can’t deal with pressure. I’ve had people who rocked the pre-event tsunami of pressure only to melt down onsite at the event when the event plan goes sideways.

And, I’ve seen the opposite – people who struggled to keep up with the pre-event workload and then arrived onsite and rocked it.

Pressure intrigues me, so last month I did a webinar on the ‘Power of Pressure’ and the science of performance. My biggest take-away was this mathematical equation:

 

 

 

 

Remove or decrease any one of the three contributing factors and pressure dramatically lessens.

It makes so much sense to me.

Understanding this equation is going to help me to better manage event-related pressures when events return.

In the meantime, I’m cutting myself a break right now when it comes to the pressure of living through a pandemic. Who’s with me!?

Signed ‘Freaking out in Gatineau’ (aka Krista)