The Essential Interview Question

It's interview season, and we've been interviewing for several positions over the last few weeks.   Although the course of the conversation with the candidate always varies some, there is one question I like to ask at least twice, in two slightly different ways.  

"Tell me about the last time a customer or coworker was mad at you - how did you handle the situation?"

Getting along with your coworkers is at least as important as the job function - even if you do your job perfectly, there is a net productivity loss if no one else in the office can stand to work with you.   As such, you might think that discovering how a candidate might work with others would be a good idea and you'd be right.   Oddly enough, however, many prospective employers don't think to ask questions along these lines or if they do, they are questions which are guaranteed to get "the right answer".

  

Compare the question above with ones which I've heard many times: "How do you handle conflict?", or "How well do you work with others?"    No candidate would answer these questions with "Not very well" (if they did, you'd thank them for their time and send them on their way).   Instead, they answer with what they think you want to hear.    Answers such as, "I would approach the individual directly" or "I would try to learn the best way to work with that individual" are common - and largely theoretical.       When I am interviewing a candidate, a warning flag is the candidates use of the phrase "I would".   Of course I am interested in what the candidate would do, but knowing what they did do is likely to be far more indicative of their behavior.

A candidate who says they haven't had anyone mad at them is a question because it may mean they are either disingenuous (everyone has someone mad at them at one time or another) or that they have no strong opinions.    The former is obviously a problem, while the latter may prove troublesome if the position involves any decision making or leadership responsibilities.  Of course, an answer such as "Why sure - it happens all the time" is deserving of further investigation as well.

The best answer I have heard was a situation in which the individual took responsibility for the situation, then worked to resolve it directly with the individual.    This demonstrated responsibility (taking ownership) and humility (willing to admit they were wrong).    The individual was hired, and has been a strong performer on the team.

The answer to this question can be very enlightening, as we have seen, and there is another individual whom you should pose this question to at least occasionally: yourself.   How do you handle conflict with your coworkers?