Tell me about a time when you worked with a person who did things very differently than you. How did you collaborate?

"(Situation) I recently collaborated with an engineer who had a very different style of organizing and prioritizing work. I approach my work by scheduling meetings in advance and using lists. The engineer was rarely prepared for meetings and spent a great deal of time talking about their personal life. (Task) I believed that we could work well together if we had clear boundaries and expectations. As the technical lead on the project, it was up to me to outline these boundaries. (Action) I took it upon myself to speak to that person about our different styles and come to an agreement on how we could work best together. (Result) The engineer agreed and ended up adopting some of my organizational tools, and I learned from this person how to better embrace last-minute changes and creative pivots."

"(Situation) When I began my most recent role, I replaced a manager who very much believed in a dictatorship management style. (Task) It was a huge challenge to undo the damage created among the team. (Action) Without too much disruption, I implemented a more relaxed management style. My team was so used to a stringent workplace that they resisted my methods at first. (Result) Once I developed trust as their manager, we were able to create a healthy workplace culture, and productivity increased by 24%."

Since everyone's work style is unique, it can be challenging to collaborate with everyone 100% of the time. However, there are many roles at Raytheon that require team-based work a majority of the time. The interviewer wants assurance that you are a team player, regardless of personality or work style differences.

The goal of your response is to describe your approach to collaborating with others while highlighting how your collaboration style will be a good match for the new team you'll be joining. Answer this question by telling the interviewer about a specific time you worked with someone who approached their tasks or communication style differently than you.

Behavioral-based interview questions that begin with 'Tell me about a time...' are best answered using the STAR method, and Raytheon interviews are likely to focus heavily on this type of question. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer. Outline the situation and describe why it was a challenge to collaborate with this person. Focus on describing the specific actions you took to ensure a successful collaboration.