3 Questions to Ask During an Interview to Determine Stress

Most of us experience stress during our work week.  However, some people experience an extreme amount of workplace stress daily.  It’s no wonder, more job hunters are looking for roles and positions that offer low stress day-to day.

If you’ve already tried to balance your stress at your current job, it may be time to start interviewing for a new one. Unfortunately, sometimes asking questions about workload can give the impression you want to slack off.  Here are three questions that will help you determine the stress level for prospective roles/positions.

#1: Why is this position open?

Asking this question will help you understand the role in terms of the overall company and team.  Often jobs are created because there is a new need in the company.  However, sometimes the role is a replacement, Understanding why someone left this role can help you determine what’s expected and the anticipated stress level.

#2: Tell me about the typical day-to-day of this position.

Not only is this interview question a great way to see if the job will line up with your skills, but it also will give you an idea of who you’ll be interacting with and what you’ll be doing on a daily basis. Look out for phrases like “it depends”. This shows that the role is evolving and changing every day and this can be a sign of potential stress.

#3: What defines success for this position?

This is an all-around exceptional question to ask a prospective employer because it allows you to clearly identify the job expectations. However, it also works to scan for a stressful job because it allows you to assess how stressful the clearly defined goals will be to achieve.

Stress in the workplace often occurs when you’re responsible for things you cannot control. Understanding what defines success for the position will allow you to assess whether or not that role is empowered to actually achieve those results.

l the job will be. In your next interview, be sure to ask these interview questions to gauge just how stressful a new job might be in the future