It worked for Google’s CEO: This is the best way to respond to a tricky interview question

You can prepare for a job interview by studying weeks in advance, but there’s still no guarantee that you won’t be asked a question you have no idea how to answer. The trickiest — and most important — questions are designed to help employers gain a deeper understanding of details beyond what’s listed on your resume. A potential sales candidate, for example, might be asked to talk through how they’d approach a short sales cycle differently than a long sales cycle. A candidate interviewing for a managerial role might be asked how they’d handle customer objections or a team conflict. These questions aren’t always easy, and they often cause most people to stress and freeze up. Your brain on stress For years, researchers have studied how stress impacts the brain , and there’s a lot we can learn from their findings. When you experience something that triggers immediate stress, the amount of information your brain is able to process (a.k.a your working memory capacity ) decreases. Your working memory capacity is important for solving complex problems, such as tough interview questions. Imagine being cool as a cucumber during the first 10 minutes of your interview. Then, you get hit by a question that causes you to experience sudden stress, thus making it more challenging to fully process the question and give a good response. Take a few deep breaths Stress makes you more vulnerable to entering panic mode, which is exactly what you want to avoid. When you start to panic, your working memory capacity decreases even more. This might be followed by a moment of awkward silence, ultimately bringing the interview to a grinding halt. To prevent this from happening, the first step is to take a few deep breaths. Studies have found that deep breathing can prevent […]

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