Having a sense of humour can often help you remain sane under pressure and even diffuse tension in difficult situations. This week’s KIQ wants to find out how you have applied humour in a work environment.
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You have to take your job seriously, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a stony-face Buddha figure all of the time at work. Being able to let go and having a light-hearted attitude are traits that some employers desire. This is certainly the case for Southwest Airlines in the US.
One executive who worked for the airline for eight years revealed the most difficult question he asked job applicants: “Tell me about the last time you used your sense of humour to help defuse a potentially sticky situation at work”.
He explained that Southwest looked for candidates with positive attitudes. While you can teach somebody practical skills, having an optimistic outlook is not something that cannot be taught. The executive noted that if an applicant stumbled on this question he or she would find it difficult to secure a job at Southwest.
How would you tackle this question? Let us know in the comments.
Comments
2 responses to “Killer Interview Question: Have You Used Humour To Get Out Of A Sticky Situation?”
Maybe not a sticky situation but certainly brings down the wall.
Customers walks in
Me: ‘What brings you in today?’
Cust: *stupid look* My Legs?
Me: So thats not your unicorn outside?
Cust: Makes them laugh everytime.
Defence walls are broken!
Well there was one time when I was in a job interview and the person interviewing me realised that I’m actually four toddlers sitting on each other’s shoulders wearing a man sized suit, but then I made a joke about it and they totally forgot. Pretty slick, hey? *Wink wink*