Practice 30 IRS Agent interview questions covering tax law, compliance investigations, and taxpayer interaction scenarios.
Question 3 of 30
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Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
"I was helping a client prepare their past-due taxes. It was clear they didn't know what they were doing, and they continually challenged my help by projecting their fears on me. They kept going back and forth from being ingratiating to defensive. These things happen, and I understood where their responses were coming from. So I kept doing my job, actively listening to them, and assuring them I was doing everything I could to help them navigate their situation."

Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
This question is layered and can be interpreted in many ways. How you will interpret this question will give your interviewer insight into your outlook on the world. Not only is the interviewer trying to get an idea of who you are, but also an idea of your communication skills. It will also inform them of what you perceive as a difficult person. They're keeping a keen eye out for any 'red flags.' In the simplest terms, in this scenario, the last thing you want is to plant the seed that the difficult person in this scenario was you.

Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
When relaying your example of a difficult person, pay close attention to the nuance of this question. It doesn't suggest a personal problem between you and the difficult person but wants to know your interaction with the situation, and how you communicated with them. Objectify the situation, exhibiting an emotionally mature perspective, and how you navigated this terrain, ultimately leading to a successful resolution. Avoid assigning blame. You don't want to come across as part of the reason you and this difficult person didn't get along. Focus on the positives, and how the overall outcome benefitted the team. You want to come across as a people person with enhanced communication skills. This question is meant to assist in evaluating your non-defensive communication skills, your aptitude for diplomacy, de-escalation, and negotiation. Take care to exemplify this mentality.

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Written by Kevin Downey
30 Questions & Answers • IRS

By Kevin

By Kevin