Behavioral Interview Answer

Joe’s Question:

I always have a hard time answering this question,

“Have you ever had a situation where a co-worker wasn’t doing their share of work, If so, did you ever do anything about it, and was the result of your actions?”

I want to make sure the interviewers know that I have no problem working with others.

James’s Answer:

Before I answer this question, I will go over STAR formula that I use when answering a behavioral interview question.

STAR, which stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result is one of the best methods to answering behavioral base questions.

First you explain the Situation or Task, then the Action taken, and finally, what happen in regards to your actions (the Result).

Now a great way to answer this interview question is by using an example from one of your previous jobs and what you did to resolve the situation.

Let’s examine the interview question, “Have you ever had a situation where a co-worker wasn’t doing their share of work, If so, did you ever do anything about it, and was the result of your actions?”

What I would suggest is to use a situation that resulted in a position outcome for both you and you co-worker.

You could say that work with someone that wasn’t very organized and was always playing catch up with her work. She spent more time looking for things than actually working.

Since I worked in a team environment, my work was depended on what she did and she frequently was late with her share of the work, which made me look incompetent. One time my team almost missed the deadline, and we could have lost the client because of it.

I was very frustrated about the situation and decided that it was time to find out why she wasn’t completing her assignments on time. I set up a meeting between me and her. I expressed my concerns to her. She explained to me that she was never very good at organizing her desk. She said that she would love to be more organized, but she doesn’t know how to.

I explained that I can understand that not being organized can really be tough and that I can help implement a plan to organize her workspace. The next week, I took 30 minutes each day, out of my day to help her organize all of her files and computer files.

I noticed after I helped her, that she was meeting her deadlines and that the team in general was much happier and more productive, including me.

Good Luck!

Contact: James Malervy
Email: james@superstarinterviewguide.com
Web: www.InstantJobInterviewTools.com