Interview Questions – ‘Have you ever dealt with a difficult person?’
For Service-leavers who haven’t got recent interview experience, the prospect can seem daunting. Here, we dissect another of the more common but no less difficult interview questions so that you can show your best side to interviewers and land your next post-Services role.
‘Have you ever dealt with a difficult person?’
The real questions…
Behind every single interview question you’ll ever be asked are two important questions that the interviewer is asking themselves: ‘Can this person do the job?’ and ‘Will they get on with everyone?’ Arguably, the first is a ‘must have’ and the second is a ‘nice to have’ but keep in mind that they’ll probably be seeing other people for the job, so you’ll need to pay attention to both issues.
This question is clearly about your ability to get on with people.
Nobody’s perfect
Good start… Recognising that in others, really helps; and recognising that you’re not perfect either, isn’t highlighting a weakness, it’s being truthful and sensible.
Strategies
What general strategies have you developed to handle disagreements and even conflict, that you can draw on in moments of disagreement? Thinking about communication is a good place to begin.
Keep it positive
Depending on the situation, remember that the interviewer may have some sympathy with the other party. You need to suggest that you are big enough to see things from different perspectives, rather than blaming others for the inevitable disagreements among colleagues.
Talk about incidents rather than personalities
The question is about how you ‘dealt with’, not what you felt or feel. You need to be slightly detached and objective, again to avoid talking about people in a negative light, that, even if you think you are 100% right, is never a good look.
Talking about a specific situation, rather than a person or point of view, is a good idea.
Understanding people
Ideally, what you describe through your answer, is that you understand people and that disagreements only amount to temporary setbacks – and that with the right attitude, you can move on and get the job done.
Answer the question…
There’s still a need to answer the actual question. Use a real-life experience and discuss what happened and what specific role you took in resolving the issue.
What did you learn?
Demonstrating that you learn from your experiences, discuss what you might have done differently to avoid the situation in the first place, or perhaps even to resolve it in a quicker or better way. This involves taking ownership of your own imperfections which take guts.
