Interpersonal and teamwork interview questions
Interpersonal questions are about working with other people: conflict with a coworker, disagreeing with your manager, giving and taking feedback, a difficult customer. They are the questions interviewers use to judge whether people will want to work with you.
Describe the other person fairly, even when they were wrong. Then show what you said or did to move things forward, and how the working relationship ended up, not just the task. A conflict that resolved itself without you doing anything is not a good example.
Every answer below follows the STAR method.
What interviewers listen for
- The other person's point of view, described fairly.
- What you said or did to move the situation forward.
- How the working relationship ended up, not only the task.
Common mistakes
- Making the other person the villain.
- A conflict that resolved itself without anything you did.
15 interpersonal questions
- How have you successfully navigated and resolved a significant conflict in your professional environment?
- How do you approach resolving disagreements with superiors or team members?
- How do you respond to and learn from professional criticism or feedback?
- What approach do you take when providing constructive feedback to colleagues or subordinates?
- How do you ensure effective communication within your team and with other departments?
- Describe a situation where you had to negotiate with stakeholders with conflicting interests. How did you approach it?
- How do you approach giving and receiving peer feedback in your professional interactions?
- Describe a situation where you had to work with a difficult coworker.
- How do you present critical new information to a group of colleagues?
- How would you help a new employee who is facing technical difficulties?
- Can you discuss a time when you had to navigate a project with a diverse, multicultural team?
- What's your approach to building and maintaining strong professional relationships?
- How do you handle situations where you have conflicting priorities with a colleague or team member?
- Can you provide an example of a time when you had to mediate a conflict between team members?
- How do you handle situations where you need to persuade stakeholders or team members to change their opinion or approach?