When have you worked with difficult individuals? For example, people that may have very poor communication skills. How do you handle these situations?
Employers may ask you to tell them about a time you worked with difficult people to make a behavioral assessment regarding how well you work alongside others and what strategies you use to handle conflict at work. Your response to this question will allow the hiring manager to glean insight into your personality, perspective, and approach as a professional. They are evaluating whether you're a good fit for their organization and workplace culture.
"Working with difficult personalities is something that comes along with the job, from time to time. Being an urban planner, I find that the more difficult situations to navigate come when we need a work-around with a city design and dealing with city officials. The government is not the easiest to navigate and the employees are not always given the ability to make decisions. If I do not get the answer or response that I am looking for, I will call another time, until I reach someone that is interested and can steer us in the right direction."
Answering this question can be a challenging task, as it requires you to avoid speaking negatively about your colleagues while explaining a difficult situation you encountered. There are difficult personalities in every industry and it's always best to talk about those situations in as positive of a light as possible. While discussing the situation, reflect on the experience and try to be accountable for your own actions. Consider whether there is something you might have been able to do to avoid the conflict you experienced.
As you finish your response, describe how you resolved the situation. Detail the specific actions you took to overcome the challenge you faced and mend your relationship with your colleague. From here, end your answer by discussing what you learned from this experience and how you've grown from it.
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I was in charge of sending out inspections for the General Business Licenses. When people didn't respond, I would send multiple emails requesting the information or send emails to their managers, copying the previous emails I sent to those people.
Rachelle's Feedback
Were you able to help these people become better communicators in the end? How did copying their managers on the email sequences help the situation?
