Tough Interview Questions - Do you work well under pressure?

Following is a tough interview question:

Do you work well under pressure?

Similar interview questions:
How do you respond to pressure? Tell me about a time where you had a tight deadline you had to meet. Do you like working under pressure?

Why the interviewer is asking this question:
The interviewer is seeking to understand your ability to handle pressure in a work situation. However, the question is closed-ended, so technically a simple yes or no is sufficient. Yet almost any interviewer will go past the yes/no response to ask for specifics and/or details. Note also that if the interviewer is asking this question, it is an indicator that: a) working under pressure is a part of this role; and b) it is likely that some in the past have not worked well under pressure in the role (and failed). This could be a red flag to you as an interviewee that you may want to explore this topic further, although not within the context of the initial interviews. This could form the basis of a good question to ask a potential future co-worker, either in a future "sell" interview or as a personal reference check on the employer: "How much pressure is involved in this role? Can you give me some examples? How do employees typically respond to this pressure?"

The best approach to answering this question:
Most jobs involve some level of pressure to deliver. This pressure can be in the form of time constraints/deadlines or in the form of management or co-workers providing pressure to deliver. While some forms of pressure can be healthy and help us to achieve superior results than we would have otherwise achieved, pressure can also have a negative side to it. Stay with the positive side of pressure when you respond by giving an example of a time where you delivered great results while under pressure.

An example of how to best answer this question:
"I believe that I'm very good under pressure. As an example, we recently had a client presentation scheduled just three days later. We all knew that would not be a sufficient amount of time to fully prepare. However, that was the only date the client had available, so we all needed to make it work. I took the initiative to divide the work among the members of our team to make sure we had all of the key information covered, then added several of our key analysts in the meeting as a way to cover any additional questions which we would not have time to fully develop in the presentation materials. We all put in extra hours to do our best in meeting the needs of the client. In the end, it was one of the best client presentations I have been involved with in my entire career. The client complimented us on our ability to prepare on such short notice and eventually awarded our firm the contract over two other firms that were in the running."

An example of how you should not answer this question:
"Well, I guess it depends on what kind of pressure. I like to take the time to do things right and I don't want anyone riding me or putting unnecessary pressure on me. Most of the time, we could have had plenty of time to deliver if management had just properly planned. But I end up getting things at the last minute and told to deliver or else. I can't stand that. In fact, that's why I'm looking for a job right now."

Remember to answer each interview question behaviorally, whether it is a behavioral question or not. The easiest way to do this is to use an example from your background and experience. Then use the S-T-A-R approach to make the answer a STAR: talk about a Situation or Task (S-T), the Action you took (A) and the Results achieved (R). This is what makes your interview answer uniquely yours and will make your answer a star!