Competency Interview Questions

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

Question 17 of 25

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

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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 value having a strong working relationship with my boss. I want to learn what they do and take on as much work to help our team as possible. I scheduled regular update meetings with my boss and went the extra mile wherever I could."

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.

"Communication. I always let my boss know where I stood on projects. Sometimes the communications were daily, sometimes weekly, depending on the situation. There were never any surprises."

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 find it important to understand what motivates my boss and what his pain points are. I can not only make myself more valuable by taking some items off of his plate, but I can also help collaborate on issues with him. Spending time understanding who he is as a person, so we develop a strong rapport, allows us to work collaboratively and effectively, all the while enjoying our time 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 find maintaining good relationships with bosses pretty natural. I show them respect as well as maintain interest in their professional opinion and personal life and treat them with kindness. It's a pretty sure fire way to stay in good standing. I ask her opinion on my curriculum, to be observed and evaluated, and for feedback. All of these factors culminate in a solid relationship based on mutual respect."

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 genuinely like my current boss. I reached out to her specifically because I liked her, her company, and platform. We have good communication and can give each other honest and open feedback, which I think is important for our relationship as well as the business."

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 maintained a great relationship with my most recent boss by readily accepting feedback and implementing it immediately. He is a very busy person, and I learned early on that he needed to know that his advice meant something to me."

Christine Pasqueretta

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

The interviewer wants to know that you are capable of maintaining a harmonious relationship with those who are considered your leaders.

If your relationship with your boss wasn't fantastic, what efforts did you take to make it better? Here are some suggestions:

- Try to understand what your boss values the most
- Keep your cool, even when you want to lose it
- Anticipate their needs and stay one step ahead
- Take leadership opportunities to show your worth
- Adapt to their preferences

Some basic ground rules for a stable working relationship with your boss are open communication, proactive listening, and not taking things personally. Discuss the ways that you cultivated a healthy relationship with your boss.

Christine Pasqueretta

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

"My current boss is a very particular individual. Over the years I have taken the time to understand her preferences, her stress triggers, and what she enjoys seeing in my work. I find that if I stay one step ahead and maintain a positive attitude, we can work productively together."

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Anonymous Answer

I try to finish my task on time; if I have any question or struggling with the job I ask for help, I put myself away from workplace conflict. I am focusing on the task.

Rachelle's Feedback

Great strategy for maintaining a strong relationship with you boss. Well done!

"I maintain a good relationship with my boss by finishing my tasks on time, asking for help when I struggle, focusing on my job, and staying away from workplace conflict."

Anonymous Answer

I cultivated a healthy and positive relationship with my boss by setting expectations from each other and open communication through formal or informal catch-ups. I know what my boss expects of me, and so I always aim to exceed those expectations. I received a rating of 2 on my recent performance evaluation, which meant I often exceed performance expectations. I am pro-active and always on top of what my boss assigned me to do.

Rachelle's Feedback

Healthy relationships are very important, and it's great that you recognize this and are able to nurture them in your current workplace. Your answer should instill a lot of confidence in the interviewer.

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Competency Interview Questions

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

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?