How do you communicate with people who intimidate you?
Most of us have found ourselves in a situation where we find a co-worker, classmate, or even professor a touch intimidating. When we feel intimidated by someone, the conflict is often internal vs. external. Feeling intimidated can make us feel threatened, even if it's unintentional. This internal conflict can lead to a fight response such as arguing or flight response, such as losing words or experiencing a mental block.
The interviewer wants to see that you have the ability and maturity to recognize when feelings of intimidation occur. Discuss what you do, or have done, when facing feelings of intimidation.
Since the interviewer asks, 'How would you...' it is acceptable to use a hypothetical example, giving an overview of how you would react in this situation. However, if you want to use a real-life example, try forming a response using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result.
"(Situation & Task) Earlier in my admin career, I had a couple of clients who would be very aggressive on the phone when placing their orders. They weren't mean per se; they were just very straightforward and frank when they spoke to me. I knew that I needed to help these clients with their requests, but sometimes I would get so nervous about doing the wrong thing that I would blank out mentally and do the wrong thing anyways! (Action) To overcome these feelings of intimidation and ensure that I performed my admin tasks up to my employers' expectations, I made myself a telephone script and memorized it. This script helped me to remain on track with my tasks when those intimidating clients would call. (Result) My script worked very well because, rather than focus on getting the call over with, I began to focus on the conversation and what I should say or do to meet the clients' expectations. Over time, I became more confident, and I believe these clients could sense that, which is when they softened their approach with me."
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