Speaker 1: Conflict at work is inevitable so often in an interview you'll be asked how do you handle conflict. Today I'm going to give you an example answer to that interview question so that you can give an effective example answer in your own interview that shows that you can handle conflict, resolve it and clearly show how you do that. So by the end of this video you'll have the questions that you need to look out for in your interview, how to structure your answer and also a solid example answer and a ton of useful resources to help you pass your interview. If you're new to the channel welcome welcome I'm Amri Celeste an interview coach and HR recruitment specialist. I cover tough interview questions and answers on this channel. If you want to connect with me on social media then it's Amri Celeste on LinkedIn and on Instagram as well and don't forget to like and subscribe it's a huge help to the channel. So first let's look at what the question type is because then you'll know why the interviewer is asking. So how do you handle conflict is a behavioral interview question. Behavioral interview questions are questions about your behaviors which might sound obvious but it can be difficult to work out when you're sitting in an interview hearing the actual question. So whereas a situational interview question might be tell me about a time when or a situation where something happened, behavioral questions are more about your character so how you work with others, what your goals and aspirations are and how you handle failure or difficulty. So your answer tells the interviewer how you handle disagreements, difficult situations and similar and it also tells the interviewer your perspective on conflicts as well as your ability to relay how you handle and resolve them. So if you're being asked the question it's not necessarily because there'll be conflict in the actual role they may just want to know how you interact with others, maybe groups of people if you'll be working in a team or it could be a kind of role where you might be engaging with multiple people with varying different personalities which can sometimes result in conflict such as a manager of a team or a complaints handling role. You could be exposed to conflict in that kind of role too. Or HR, human resources is a role where employees may come to you with conflict related scenarios or queries that you need to look into or resolve. So anything similar to those types of roles might invite this type of interview question. Now if you actually are going for an HR or human resources role you can check out my jobs in HR or recruitment playlist here and look through those videos to get an idea of the questions for your HR or recruitment interview. So if you struggle with behavioral questions then you can check out this video covering the top behavioral interview questions and answers. There's tons of examples in there and I'll also link that video in the description box below this video. Now you may not be directly asked how do you handle conflict? You might be asked how do you deal with conflict? How do you handle conflicts at work? How would you resolve conflict with a co-worker? Tell me about a time when you had a conflict at work? You might be asked about dealing with difficult people at work, dealing with difficult co-workers. So be prepared to answer similar sounding questions because you can usually use the same answer or a very similar answer for all of them. What not to do? When answering this question it's really important that you avoid giving answers that are too vague or too generic. For example saying I always try to be respectful and compromise. You can include this as part of your answer but it doesn't give the interviewer a concrete example of your conflict resolution skills. And definitely avoid saying I don't get into conflict. It's one of the common interview mistakes and as I said at the beginning of the video conflict at work is inevitable. It's sometimes not your fault or caused by you but you still need to demonstrate how you handle it if you ask this interview question. So let's look at a strong example answer. I believe that open and honest communication is the key to resolving the vast majority of conflicts. If I've encountered conflict at work with a colleague I try to understand their perspective and address any underlying concerns. I also try to be open and find a compromise and a solution that works for both of us even if I'm not 100% happy with it. In the past I found that setting aside time to have a one-on-one discussion can be very effective and during any conversation I listen actively and stay respectful even if I don't necessarily agree with the other person's point of view. Now this is a short sweet simple answer it's not overly complex it's not long and it explains your approach and explains what you would do in theory which is enough for some interviews. I mentioned earlier you can include that type of thing in your answer. However if you watch my videos regularly you're going to know where I'm going with it. A lot of interviewers will want you to include an actual example so the theory of how you resolve conflict will not be enough however well you articulate it. Why? Because an example allows the interviewer insight into how you actually deal with a conflict in real time in a real situation. Not a theory not this is how I would do that. So now I'm going to share an example answer that includes a specific scenario that you can use and bear in mind the length of your answer as well so if you add on an example that would make your answer longer so if you are doing that then you don't need to go into as much detail in that first section that I just covered. So here's the first part for how do you handle conflict. I have a colleague who has a very different communication style to me. I'm quite responsive and prefer to keep everyone looped into updates and changes while I'm working. My colleague is more focused on powering through work as opposed to emails or meetings to keep everyone in the loop along the way. I was assigned to work on a project with this colleague so I've specifically chosen a situation where you've kind of snuck in that your communication style is responsive which basically means that you respond quickly regularly and positively because in most jobs a responsive style is preferred over radio silence or working in a silo which means kind of isolating yourself. It demonstrates a collaborative approach to working and communication and if you're being asked this question it's likely that the role you're interviewing for requires a collaborative style. You might have noticed already I'm using the STAR method to structure this example. What is the STAR method? Also known as the STAR technique. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. The STAR method automatically puts your answer into story format without you having to think about it and that is one way to make your answer super memorable but also if you don't include things like the actions you took or the ultimate result then interviewers can mark you down if they're using a structured framework to score your answers. I've seen interviewers assess candidates against the actual STAR method and then complain after the interview that the candidate didn't cover the situation, task, action and result and they were waiting to hear it. So far are you finding this helpful? If you are then do click like, subscribe and leave a comment. It's a huge help to the channel and ensures that this video will show up for more people looking for this question and you can also buy me a coffee if you're getting results. That also helps to keep the channel going and there's a link in the description below on how to do that. So the next part of this answer is the task. As part of this project our team was responsible for presenting results to the client and we needed to make sure that all of the deliverables in the project were completed on time. I noticed that my colleague was not responding to my emails or messages in a timely manner which was causing conflict within the team, causing delays and putting pressure on the team. So in that section you're just showing the task part of the STAR method, so what needed to be done or solved or what you needed to do. Now if you do get tired of feeling nervous and unsure during your interview then do join my interview mastery program. It's designed to address these concerns plus more like learning how to sell yourself, feeling confident in your interview and dealing with brain freeze and getting rid of interview nerves and anxiety. So if you do want recruiters to prioritize you there is a link to my interview mastery program in the description box below this video. So the next part of the STAR method is the action. I decided to set aside some time to have a conversation one-on-one with my colleague to address the issue. During the conversation I explained how their lack of communication was impacting the project and the rest of the team. I included the delays and the extra pressure as a result. Your action, especially when it comes to questions like how do you deal with conflict, has always got to center around communication, particularly for interpersonal conflict such as personality differences, misunderstandings or competing goals. So the last part of the STAR method is the result. My colleague apologized and explained that they were overwhelmed with other responsibilities. We were able to come up with a plan to cut down their workload to include only essential tasks and spread anything else amongst the wider team. Ultimately the project deliverables were completed on time and my colleague made an effort to improve their communication going forward. Now if you thought that I was done with resources to help you pass your interview you are sadly mistaken. So here are the top 20 interview questions and answers in this free guide that I've created for you. It's free as I mentioned and you can grab it in the description box below this video. Now if this was helpful and you haven't already then do like and subscribe and leave a comment and I will see you in the next video.