How to Answer: How do you handle conflict?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Music Therapist job interview.
4. How do you handle conflict?
How to Answer
In any profession, you will inevitably be faced with conflict. It could be a dispute with a coworker, your manager, a patient, or a family member. The interviewer wants insight into your communication and conflict resolution skills to determine if you will be easy to work with if hired. Give an example of when you encountered conflict in the workplace and how you handled the situation. If you have not experienced conflict in the workplace, describe how you would handle a dispute.
Written by Krista Wenz on November 7th, 2021
Answer Example
"I handle conflict by meeting it head-on. When I have a conflict with another person, I like to ask them to speak in private and discuss what is going on. I do not like to leave the conversation until we have amicably resolved the conflict and both of us are happy with the resolution. For example, I had a conflict with a family member who attended family music therapy sessions with her son. During the session, she would constantly tell her son that he was not playing the instrument correctly and disrupt the therapy. After the session was over, I asked if we could speak in private, which she agreed to. I explained how her correcting her son during therapy was counter-productive and that she was interrupting the session. I explained that he needed to play the instrument how he wanted and that the idea of therapy is not to play the instrument perfectly but to enjoy the experience. The patient's mother was unaware of what she was doing and thanked me for bringing it to her attention. After that, she made a point of staying quiet and letting her son enjoy the experience."
Written by Krista Wenz on November 7th, 2021