I have heard a lot of people say, that when they see a statement like “Work in high stress environment” or “Working under pressure” in a job description, they automatically skip the position.
The reasoning usually is, that if there is some stressor, the company is bad. They lack processes, they push their people, bosses are toxic etc.
There definitely are companies like that. But a lot of positions in good companies have a “high stress environment”. Consulting, support, sales, on-call, divorce lawyer, surgeon and many more. The stress there isn’t there because the company is doing a bad job. It is part of how the world works. The boss is the best, the company has amazing processes and benefits, they protect you, but the stress still slips through.
Customers will try to push you – there will be some really aggressive ones – people will get divorced, outages will happen, car accidents will occur.
Someone, who is capable of working in high stress environment, is therefore very valuable. This is actually one of the most valuable skills out there.
Another important point is, that this does not mean, that the people doing the job are actually stressed all the time. It’s more about not letting the stressors get under your skin. You do not freeze or panic under pressure. You perform well. Analyze and execute.
The calmest people you will meet in your life are working in the most stressful environments.
So maybe next time, do not skip the job offer, but think about if you would be able to manage the stressors expected on the position.