"Dealing with conflict" interview questions – and follow up questions.

April O Neill

“How did you cope with the most difficult colleague you’ve ever had?”
“Have you ever had problems getting on with anyone?”
“Tell of me of a time when a disagreement occurred and how you dealt with it.”


I am *awful* at this type of question when it comes up in interviews. I flail terribly. Even if I answer the first question ok, the follow up question – “What would you do if the situation failed to resolve despite your efforts?” – always throws me.


Can anyone give tips on answering these questions well?


Thanks!

JJJJNR

A : Never had any issues with anyone so can't speak about it, if it was an issue I would speak to my supervisor and ask their opinion.

chris85

JJJJNR wrote: »

A : Never had any issues with anyone so can't speak about it, if it was an issue I would speak to my supervisor and ask their opinion.

The opting out of the conflict response there. Why do so many people view conflict as a negative things, it can be a hugely positive thing.


I would answer by suggesting if there is a direct conflict with yourself and someone else than you would firstly seek to identify the issue with the person directly and then try resolve if possible. If this doesnt work I would consider escalating to my line manager should it be required.

I also feel conflict can be a very good thing within a company once it is constructive. A heated discussion within a team could be viewed as conflict from the outside but others would view it as a passionate debate which helps the problem being solved quicker. Many times I have had to conflict with my managers views on something as I felt It beneficial to the company, I am glad I have confidence to do this and it drives a discussion with management on the direction to take with it.



Spin the negative word of conflict into a positive!

April O Neill

JJJJNR wrote: »

A : Never had any issues with anyone so can't speak about it, if it was an issue I would speak to my supervisor and ask their opinion.

No, this is terrible. Everyone will come up against conflict in work at some stage.

April O Neill

As an example, in my last interview the question was worded:

"Have you ever heard anyone in the lab discussing you to someone else, in a negative way? If so, how did you handle the question?"

What a horrible question. It honestly to feels like an attempt to dig dirt.

chris85

April O Neill wrote: »

As an example, in my last interview the question was worded:

"Have you ever heard anyone in the lab discussing you to someone else, in a negative way? If so, how did you handle the question?"

What a horrible question. It honestly to feels like an attempt to dig dirt.

you could answer that by starting with how you work well with other colleagues and arent aware of this behaviour in the past but you have had previous instances of conflict in the workplace and these have generally been with other colleagues/management when you are pushing your idea to them and the conflict is constructive rather than destructive and you are working towards a common goal.

Irish_Elect_Eng

People often assume that this question is about interpersonal conflict.

If you feel uncomfortable speaking about your experiences of interpersonal conflict then use an example of another type of conflict.

For Example: Resource Conflict.

"How do you handle conflict?"

"On my last project I had a resource issue where a software engineer that I required as a term member was already assigned to anther project"

"I approached the other project manager and we discussed this resource conflict, but could not resolve the issue without impacting either project as the resource was required by both projects in the same time period"

"So we agreed to escalate the issue to the project director and after explaining the conflict to him we decided that it was appropriate to hire a software sub-contractor for my project"