Page 23 - How To Answer Interview Questions (II)

Job Interview Question 6

Describe a time when your team did not agree.

The cooperation of countless people on teams is how business is done. Yet, no team always gets
along perfectly. When that happens, what do you do? How do you handle conflict? Can you lead
others to consensus?

Conflict resolution is an important skill. How you deal with any conflict says a lot about you, your
personality, and your professionalism.

This question can pertain either to a team that you led (how do you manage people who disagree?),
or to a team that you are on (can you mediate between team members and exercise leadership even if
you weren’t assigned as leader?).

Always, when asked to describe any situation in an interview question, use the STAR

format:

Situation or Task (Set up the story—what happened? What was your goal?)
Action (What did you choose to do and why?)
Result (What happened as a result of your actions? Quantify this wherever possible.)
Ideally, your story should tell about how you:

asked questions to achieve understanding of the conflict
found common ground
presented data to influence the decision-making process
realized a productive or profitable outcome