Who else can relate to getting into an interview and feeling absolutely blindsided by their questions? These moments can be stressful, but with proper preparation, you’ll be good to go!

Here are two of the most commonly asked interview questions, and how to answer them.

1. “Tell me about yourself.” 

The dreaded, “Tell me about yourself…”

This question can feel overwhelming, but it's really just a way for the interviewer to get to know you and open up the conversation. The key here is to not overshare (they aren’t looking for your whole life story), but elaborate more on the things they may have picked up on from your resume.

The best way to answer this question is actually with another question. Saying something along the lines of, “I’d love to, where would you like me to start?” This signals to the interviewer that they need to tailor the question more to you, and will prompt them to pose their question in the way they'd like to hear your answer.

2. “How do you handle stressful situations?”

For a question like this, you’ll want to provide a professional, on-the-job example that correlates to the job you’re interested in. The employer is asking you this because they want to know how you’d handle a stressful situation with their company.

If you don’t have an on-the-job example, it’s okay to provide an example from your personal life, as long as it can be made relevant to the job you are interviewing for.

If you can’t think of an example from your professional or personal life, go ahead and provide a hypothetical scenario.

At the end of the day, the most important thing here is to keep it positive. Refrain from going down a negative rabbit hole explaining what occurred to create this negative experience for you. Your response is meant to highlight your skills and what you did to resolve this issue.

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