I have an internal interview this friday and preparing myself. (The interview is with Hiring Manager and HR representative).
What are good answers to the following questions;
Have you ever had difficulty getting along with co-workers? How did you handle the situation?
My answer would be to potray this as a misunderstanding of expectations, leading to a poor relationship. I work in finance and I have seen this a lot with engineers on site. I have had to organise meetings so that we are on the same page. The answer I would give is aimed at showing engaging in difficult conversations with team members, but with a positive spin.
Describe some situations in which you wished you had acted differently with some one in your work group. What happened?
This is tricky, I am trying to find an answer which is not negative.
For #2, as long as you didn’t do anything horrific, it’s fine to say that you wish you had done something differently, handled a misunderstanding, etc… For example, I had a boss once that I didn’t think was very good… today I look back at things differently and realize that the context was what made it difficult and not the person (in my case, it was a remote relationship). Fortunately we are still friendly today, but I wish I had trusted his judgement more. It was a learning experience, and that’s really what they want to know… how you’ve learned and grown from your interactions, and at least some reassurance that you won’t be a loose canon.
As for #1, one way to handle difficult co-workers is to try to limit your interactions to the business-necessary events and to ensure that you communicate needs clearly. You can try to be more sociable too and see if you can improve the relationship over time over beers, lunch, and/or other events, and that’s worth trying, but just understand that it doesn’t always work. The goal is to be professional, but if you can’t be friendly and find common ground, then limit the kinds of interactions that will exacerbate problems or make them a problem for yourself and the company.