Competency Interview Questions

Master 25 competency-based interview questions covering behavioral scenarios and skills assessment.

Question 15 of 25

Are you capable of handling disputes in a professional manner? How do you respond to customer complaints?

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Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"I handle customer complaints with extreme care! Customers and clients are the lifeblood of any retail business, so it is important to hear them by empathizing, understanding and initiative to resolve the issues they bring to you."

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"I can always handle disputes professionally. In a call center, you have to learn to put yourself in the customer's shoes and recognize that you are not personally responsible for the problem. Once I separate emotions from the situation, I can speak calmly and clearly over the phone."

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"Unfortunately, customer complaints happen all too often, but that's part of the job. One instance that comes to mind is when we were expected to update a feature set for a particular client. We missed the deadline. I called the client to let him know that we would have an in-between solution, but his ideal deadline was not feasible. Understandably, he was pretty livid. By demonstrating active listening, legitimizing his concerns, and assuring him of a more realistic timeline, as echoed by the stakeholders in the project, I was able to calm him down."

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"I'm comfortable handling parental complaints when they occasionally happen. I know, as a parent myself, that almost any concern or complaint stems from looking out for what they believe the best interest of their child to be, and I can certainly empathize with that. I approach all complaints or concerns with delicacy and an open heart and make sure they feel heard and understood. By doing so, we can always find a better path forward together."

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"I'm capable of handling disputes professionally and have plenty of years of experience, from my jobs in the service industry to sales, and marketing. Though I no longer work directly with customers often, I do see the complaints when a marketing campaign didn't live up to their expectations, or we didn't deliver on a deadline. I believe customer service to be of the utmost importance and pride myself on understanding the situation and always going above and beyond to make sure the customer is happy."

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"As uncomfortable as customer complaints are, it's part of my favorite part of the job, because I get to problem solve and get creative with our clients' needs. If the complaint is due to employee behavior, I handle that concern discreetly and never in front of the client."

Christine Pasqueretta

Christine Pasqueretta is a human resource and recruitment professional with experience creating, developing, implementing, leading, and measuring HR impact initiatives.

If you are interviewing for a customer or client facing role, you must show off your conflict management abilities. The interviewer wants to know that you are capable of handling uncomfortable situations while nurturing valued client relationships and still keeping the company's best interests in mind. Give an example of a time you successfully resolved a customer-related issue.

Christine Pasqueretta

Christine Pasqueretta is a human resource and recruitment professional with experience creating, developing, implementing, leading, and measuring HR impact initiatives.

"Last week, a customer called me very angry regarding a glitch in one of our software products. I listened and told them I would be happy to help. I asked more questions to understand the problem and then suggested once I had a better idea of what might solve it. The customer was very relieved and grateful that I took the time to listen and make sense of the issue. I was able to de-escalate the issue very quickly. I believe that most customer complaints come to a resolution through a gentle and collaborative approach."

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Anonymous Answer

Yes, I can handle it professionally, I explain both parties to focus on the task, not the particular problem, we come here for work, not any disputes. Customers are a most valuable person, so first I try to understand what they want, is it solvable promptly and if the answer is yes try to, I will try to find him the solution.

Rachelle's Feedback

It sounds like you are very level headed in the workplace. I have reworded slightly for flow, focusing more on the customer aspect.

"The customer is the most valuable party so I will always try to understand the core of what they want. I ask myself, 'Is this problem I can quickly solve?' If the answer is yes, I will find a solution. If I cannot quickly find a solution, I will escalate the issue to my supervisor."

Anonymous Answer

When a customer is complaining, I first listen to them carefully, actively, trying to understand what went wrong and what caused his/her discomfort, and then I apologize for the shortcoming- if there was one. I take immediate action to fix the problem. If the issue is sorted, and the customer is happy, that's great. However, i still make sure to discuss the matter with my colleagues and supervisor and generally take note of what happened, so we can prevent the same situation from happening again.

Rachelle's Feedback

This answer is all-encompassing, and the interviewer should be happy to hear that you know how to handle the situation while also taking the opportunity to learn from the situation.

Anonymous Answer

In most cases, audit clients challenged the findings I was raising. There were disagreements around rating of a finding, and with an active listening and an open mind, we were able to reach a common ground to resolve the disagreements.

Rachelle's Feedback

This would be a challenging situation, no doubt! It seems your level-headed nature and professionalism have helped you through many challenges along the way.

Anonymous Answer

"Through my experience in retail, I have gained the relevant skills here. It's important to empathize with the customer, so they know you understand them and always focus on the solution to their issue.

Cindy's Feedback

Good start. This question is a good one to answer through example. Have you encountered a professional dispute? How have you managed to reach a consensus or at least avoid bad feelings?

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Competency Interview Questions

Are you capable of handling disputes in a professional manner? How do you respond to customer complaints?

25Competency Interview Questions & Answers

1.Tell me the ways in which you brought value to your most recent position.

2.How do you deal with conflict on your team?

3.Why are you the best candidate for this position?

4.What skills did you learn in your most recent position that will help you in this new role?

5.Give me an example of a challenge you overcame in your last position.

6.What decisions did you routinely make in your last position?

7.How do you deal in uncomfortable situations?

8.Name a few things you were asked to do in your most recent position that you weren't necessarily trained to do. How did you cope?

9.What feedback did you receive from your most recent manager?

10.How did you go about suggesting changes in your most recent company?

11.How has your current job changed over the years?

12.How do you explain complicated concepts to those who may not understand?

13.Give an example of when you used your listening skills to complete a task properly, or solve a problem.

14.Tell me about an achievement you are proud of. What skills did you use to achieve this goal?

15.Are you capable of handling disputes in a professional manner? How do you respond to customer complaints?

16.Do you have confidence in your communication skills? What is your communication style?

17.How did you maintain a good relationship with your most recent boss?

18.Tell me about a time when you took a creative approach to solving a problem.

19.When have you taken an unusual risk in the workplace? What was the outcome?

20.In your opinion, why is it important to develop relationships with coworkers?

21.How do you handle a larger than average workload?

22.How do you deal with stressful situations in the workplace?

23.Do you consider yourself a patient person? How do you increase your patience level in challenging situations?

24.Have you requested extra responsibilities in any of your previous roles?

25.With the ongoing changes in this industry, how do you keep your knowledge current?