Think about a difficult boss, professor or coworker. What made him or her difficult? How did you successfully interact with this person?
Your interviewer is curious what you would consider difficult, how strong your interpersonal skills are, and how well you work with personalities from different perspectives and backgrounds than your own. How you answer could also be informative of whether you have issues with those in positions of authority. "To get us off the ground every day, there's lots of hard work involved with lots of different kinds of people doing different jobs. It's the fact we all love the airline, believe in what we do and have a lot of fun doing it that really helps us pull together to create the fantastic customer service that we've become world famous for." This is an opportunity to show your interviewer that you can adapt and work well with most personalities, despite and perceivable differences. Offer a non-contentious challenge you faced with someone who you had a professional relationship with. Avoid speaking poorly of anyone and end your example on a positive note.
"I once worked at a locally owned shop where the owner was very demanding. When the owner would walk into the store, employees would announce over their headset system that the owner was in the building, so that everyone felt prepared for his entrance into their department. The owner had great intentions; however, his people skills were a little rough. I could see that he meant well, and I recognized that he wanted to do a lot of good things. When we interacted, I always took his feedback with the understanding that he didn't mean things as harshly as they came out. When communicating with someone, you should always consider their intentions first."
"I once worked for an executive who was very difficult in meetings and with interacting with groups of others. I took it upon myself to help this person interact better with others. When she would delegate, others would say she barked orders and backtalk about this person. But that wasn't helping her grow. I would try to help by backing her up and reiterating what she was trying to say to the group more professionally. It took some time, but she learned to adapt in a way that made people more receptive to her."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
One of my flaws is getting in with people who don’t rate my quality. This happens rarely but when it does I remind myself that they are similar to me just act differently. They expect excellence and where I try to instill that in others they aim to do it themselves. Recently when dealing with a particular agent it was a new airline where I had been the SME that allowed them to see I was someone they could rely on.
Jaymie's Feedback
Good start! Can you give a more specific example that explains a situation or encounter you had with someone at work? Try to go into more detail on what made that agent difficult to work with and what specific techniques you used to build a relationship and helped them see the value that you brought to the team.
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