Thursday, September 12, 2013

Job Interview Answers ‘About Co-Workers/ Supervisors’

By Angela Wahome,

Tell me about a time you had a problem with a supervisor.
This is one of the classic traps so be very careful when answering this interview question. By asking this question, the interviewer is testing to see how easily you would bad mouth your boss (or even your new boss). Do not give any examples of problems you had with supervisors in the past. Instead, just simply say you can’t remember any major problems you had with you supervisor. If you do however choose to talk about a problem you may share about one that had little to do you or your relationship with your boss, but rather something that you had no control over. For instance, “I noticed there was tension due to a lack of cash flow. I then set out to find a free marketing advertising solution that could increase the number of clients. After ideas were implemented there was an increase the profit margin by 30 % per month.”
Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a co-worker who wasn’t doing his/her fair share of the work. What did you do and what was the outcome?
Interviews SupervisorsI worked closely with Ann who, for the most part, always carried her fair share of the work load. During a stressful time, working on a project with a deadline, I realized Ann’s contributions to the project were almost minimal. I made the decision to wait until after the project was completed to speak with her about what was happening. I’m glad I did, because I learned she’d been going through a very tough time in her personal life due to significant loss in money as her husband lost his job. She shared that appreciated my willingness to go the extra mile so the project was completed on time. As a result, our ability to work well together significantly increased.
Give me an example of a time when you took the time to share a co-worker’s or supervisor’s achievements with others?
At my most recent position, one of my co-workers, Njenga, did an outstanding job of calming down an irate customer, solving the customer’s problem and completing the sale. When our boss asked me how things were going, I told him everything was going fine and that Njenga had just completed calming an irate customer and closing a sale. It was a win-win-win situation for our boss, Njenga and the customer.
Have you worked with someone you didn’t like? If so, how did you handle it?
Yes, I’ve worked with someone whom I found difficult to like as a person. However, when I focused on the skills they brought to the job, their ability to solve problems and the two things I did appreciate, slowly my attitude towards them changed. We were never friends, but we did work well together.
Remember, not to focus on the negatives but show; a solution and where there was no solution talk about how it created a new opportunity as well as what you learnt from the situation.

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