How to Answer: Have you ever had an issue with a manager or supervisor? How did you resolve the situation?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Fire Inspector job interview.
3. Have you ever had an issue with a manager or supervisor? How did you resolve the situation?
How to Answer
The interviewer wants to hear how you work with authority figures and how you resolve conflict. Explain a time when you had an issue with a superior and how you resolved the conflict. Be sure not to call your supervisor names or use any other derogatory terms, giving the impression that you are difficult to work with. Turn a negative situation into a positive one.
Written by Krista Wenz on May 27th, 2021
Answer Example
"I once had an issue with a supervisor when working as a probationary firefighter. My battalion chief had asked me to write an incident report after the engine I was working on was struck by a car while we were on a call. I was the only witness, and he needed it for his report. I completed the report and put it in his in-basket on his desk since he was on a call. An hour later, he returned and he called me into his office and started yelling at me for not doing the report. He told me that I would not pass probation if I could not follow orders and continued berating me for about five minutes. When he was done yelling at me, I told him I had completed the report and put it in his in-basket. He looked, and there it was. He then said that I should have just left it on his desk, and he dismissed me from the room. I went and made a fresh pot of coffee and took a cup to the chief, along with some cookies a firefighter's wife had made. He gave me a big smile and said he was sorry but then told me never to let it happen again. It actually turned into a funny situation."
Written by Krista Wenz on May 27th, 2021