Fast Enterprises, LLC Mock Interview
Practice 28 Fast Enterprises interview questions covering implementation consulting, client communication, and technical problem-solving.
Question 19 of 28
How would you handle a situation where a colleague was being very difficult to work with?
How to Answer
Example Answer
Community Answers
Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.
In the team based atmosphere at Fast Enterprises, departments with different skills and backgrounds can often see things from different points of view and these situations can cause some internal conflict between coworkers. With this question, your interviewer is looking to hear how you handle situations where you are working with someone that can be seen as difficult. To give them the sense that you are able to work through conflict in a professional and sensible manner, try to talk through how you handled a conflict at work previously in the past and highlight the interpersonal skills that you used to help make it a positive situation.
Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.
"In all honesty, any great work atmosphere that I've been a part of in the past has involved conflict between colleagues. In situations I have witnessed, conflict has stemmed from very open-minded people giving their two cents in particular situations and two people not seeing eye to eye. This happened recently to me in the planning phases of a new project. On of our UX Designers and I had a disagreement on the final layout of a new software roll out we were planning. It worked best for both of us to talk about our ideas and list the pro's and con's for our ideas. I kept an open mind to learn from her point of view and she did the same to me on my end. This led us to come up with a great compromise in the end."
Interview Coach
Jaymie
A real coach, not AI. I read every answer myself and write back with personalized feedback.
Typically responds within 24 hours.
0 - Character Count
Anonymous Answer
I handle citations with difficult colleagues by firstly communicating to the colleague and asking for their perspectives on the situation. Then, I try to come with an effective compromise that uses the best of both my own and my colleagues' strategies or perspective. Communication between colleagues is essential as to not create a messy project made out of compromise but instead a strong project that uses collaboration and multiple perspectives.
Stephanie's Feedback
This is a well-rounded, thoughtful response and shows a high level of emotional maturity. Good job!
Anonymous Answer
To be very honest, any work atmosphere that I have been a part of has involved a conflict between colleagues. In situations I have witnessed, the conflict has stemmed from very open-minded people giving their two cents in particular situations and two people not seeing eye to eye. This happened recently to me when I worked as a food service assistant. One of my co-workers was just standing in the kitchen, using her phone and not doing anything. On the first day, I thought maybe she was going through something so I did not disturb her. But when she showed the same attitude the next day as well, I tried talking to her. Her response was very cold and she did not seem to care. So I reported this to the supervisor who then took action. I think that respecting a work environment is really important.
Stephanie's Feedback
This sounds like a tricky situation! While you certainly took effective steps (attempting to talk to your colleague and then looping in your supervisor when you didn't get a response from her,) I suggest changing this example to a workplace scenario where you DID get the outcome you were hoping for (example: you talked to the co-worker and were able to come to an agreement.) While looping in your supervisor was appropriate in this situation, you don't want to give your interviewers the impression that you're frequently going to need a supervisor's support in solving workplace conflict.
Unlock All 28 Fast Enterprises, LLC Questions
Prepare for Fast's rigorous case-based interviews and client scenario questions.
Get StartedJump to Question