It's that time again, time for the Interview Question of the week.
When you are looking for a new job, being prepared for your interview is key to standing out in the sea of applicants. To help you prepare, each week we tackle another tough interview question and break it down to see where the traps are and come up with a strategy to answer it effectively.
So, without further ado, here is the Interview Question of the Week:
Question:
Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a co-worker who wasn't doing their share of the work. What did you do and what was the outcome?
Why it's a trap:
The interviewer wants to find out if you are a team player and how you deal with conflict. It can be hard to know how to answer the question. On one hand, you don't want to come across as a push over, but on the other, you don't want to make is seem as though you are unable to deal with conflict.
The best answer:
The best way to answer this question is to be honest. Before the interview, think about a real life time when you were in this situation and try to break it down. It can be hard to remember exactly what happened, so you'll want to be sure to prepare this answer ahead of time. Be sure to chose a situation where the way to handle it was clear, where you were a team player and one where there were no gray areas.
For example, you could say: “I was working on an important project with a co-worker named Bob. Bob was a great employee and I always valued his contributions to any project. But this time, it felt like he wasn't participating. As the deadline drew closer,although I realized that his contribution was minimal, I decided to wait until after the project was completed and talk to him about it. After talking to him about my concern, I realized that he had been dealing with many other responsibilities and also had been going through a tough time personally. I'm glad that I talked with him about it, otherwise it would have damaged our great working relationship. As a result of our discussion, our ability to work together improved dramatically.”
This shows that you are a team player, but not afraid of dealing with co-workers and addressing concerns in a professional manner. The most important thing is to be sure to select a short, clear cut scenario and practice your answer ahead of time.
What do you think of this answer? Are there other questions you would like to see in this series? Let me know in the comments.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for ManufacturingWorkersBlog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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