How do you deal with distracting coworkers who stand in the way of your progress?
When asking this question, the interviewer wants to learn more about your communication and time-management skills. They want to see how you handle distracting coworkers and if you can remove yourself from the situation and stay on task to complete your work in a timely manner.
Even the most well-meaning coworkers can distract you from getting things done at work occasionally. The funny and entertaining coworkers who like to chat online and send YouTube videos are often the ones who can get in the way of your productivity if you let them. How do you respond? Show off your ability to set professional boundaries when needed.
"I typically just set a kind but clear boundary and tell my coworker that I need to focus at the moment. For example, I will offer an alternate time for a catch-up over lunch. It is important for the sake of workplace culture to set aside time to be social with coworkers, so I usually just let them know when I'll be available for a quick break in the day."
"If I have a distracting coworker, I will immediately highlight the distraction while remaining kind. I feel it's always best to nip issues in the bud before they get out of control. Overall, I'm very good at setting personal and professional boundaries, so this has never been much of an issue for me. I've found that if I'm clear that my time is currently allocated to another task, people respect that and are happy to catch up and be social at another specified time."
