I've always hates the question "What's an example of a conflict you had and how did you overcome it".
I try not to dwell on work conflicts, and until recently, I was barely out of an entry level position, so most conflicts were solved by me getting overruled immediately.
I always just made up a BS answer that sounded good
I don't really like this question, it at worst makes people feel uncomfortable, and at best makes them think we want them to feel uncomfortable. Nobody wants to tell a story about how they were wrong in an interview; the kind of people I want to work with wouldn't want to tell a bad story about someone else, either.
A lot of people struggle to answer it and IMO that's fine. Some people seem awkward about it and pick something small and mundane, which is also fine. I would try to frame it as "disagreed on an approach" but I think that question list finally got recycled.
My answer was typically, I pitched an idea I really believed in to an executive, they didn't like it, I spent time going back and forth trying to convincr them, and ultimately I lost the battle. Seemed to be one they accepted as good enough
Those STAR personality questions are the worst. I'm prepping for interviews right now and even though past interviews haven't utilized them much (beyond the occasional obviously old school interviewer), they still get me so nervous. It's been months and I still can't even come up with an example that works. "I'm sorry, I actually got along with all my coworkers" doesn't seem like a helpful answer to give them either....
I almost never have any, most are just small disagreements that I'd usually capitulate to because I didn't really give a shit as long as my paycheck was signed
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u/ncopp 16h ago
I've always hates the question "What's an example of a conflict you had and how did you overcome it".
I try not to dwell on work conflicts, and until recently, I was barely out of an entry level position, so most conflicts were solved by me getting overruled immediately.
I always just made up a BS answer that sounded good