Explain a challenging situation you encountered when working with someone with an opposing opinion

Updated for 2022: Conflict interview questions are some of the most common behavioral interview questions that hiring managers like to ask.

The idea is to find out about your ability to handle conflict–conflict with coworkers, conflict with supervisors, how you handle conflict in general–and the range of your interpersonal skills in the workplace.

There are many variations on the theme of conflict questions that are very common to come up in an interview. Here are some of the variations you may be asked:

Conflict Examples: Behavioral Questions

• Tell me about a team project when you had to work with someone difficult.
• Tell me about a time you had a conflict at work.
• Give an example of a time you had to respond to an unhappy
  manager/customer/colleague.
• Tell me about a time that you disagreed with a rule or approach.
• Describe a situation where you disagreed with the supervisor
• How do you handle conflict? Give me an example.
• Tell me about a challenge or conflict you’ve faced at work, and how you dealt with it.

Recently, I was conducting an interview skills workshop for managers at a large corporation. The subject of conflict behavioral questions came up (this big multinational company uses primarily behavioral questions when interviewing candidates).

One manager shared a memorable answer to “How would you handle a conflict at work?” A recent candidate responded: “I’d invite that person to meet me in the parking lot after work and sort it out man-to-man.”

Guess what? He didn’t get the job.

Before we tell you how to answer conflict interview questions like a champ, here’s a little refresher on answering behavioral interview questions in general.

NOTE: This is Lesson 10 from the Big Interview interview training system. Take a quick look here if you want to learn more about it.

Behavioral Conflict Interview Questions

Most job interviews include behavioral questions (those questions that typically start with “Tell me about a time…” or “Give me an example of…” or similar).

With behavioral questions, interviewers seek examples of how you’ve handled specific situations in the past. In this case, how you handle conflict in the workplace. The idea is that past job performance will say a lot about how you would handle yourself if hired for the job at hand.

We have written extensively about behavioral interview questions and how to answer them on our blog, covering all of the major competencies such as Leadership, Communication, and Teamwork.

Learn more about behavioral interview questions and some general advice on preparing for and answering them.

What is a Conflict?

A conflict is a clash of interests, ideas, perceptions, or feelings that can create a lot of disharmony and hard feelings.

Conflict is tricky to deal with in any aspect of life, and in the workplace can cause a great deal of tension, distrust, and disruption.

Some kind of conflict is somewhat inevitable when you have more than one person in the same space, especially if they are pursuing a common goal.

The important thing is to know how to handle conflict so that it can be resolved peacefully and productively.

Most jobs require you to get along with different types of people. Some of your coworkers, managers, and/or clients will turn out to be idiots, slackers, and/or weirdos. Disagreements are bound to arise.

To succeed at work, you must be able to deal with conflict professionally. This is particularly true in certain jobs (project management, customer service, law) and in certain company cultures.

Your interviewer wants to get a sense of how you will respond to conflict. Anyone can seem nice and pleasant in a job interview, but what will happen if you’re hired and Gladys in Compliance starts getting in your face?

Conflict interview questions are common because everybody wants to hire a good “team player.” (Conflict is probably the most common behavioral question subject) Interviewers often ask about your team experiences and they like to ask specifically about one that involved a conflict or “difficult person.”

Our complete training system for job interviews gives you video lessons, sample answers, and an interactive practice tool for all of the different versions of conflict interview questions.
Get Started

How to Answer Conflict Interview Questions

Questions about conflict can catch you off-guard. After all, you’ve probably been focusing on how to talk about all of the positive and wonderful bullet points on your resume.

Nobody likes to talk about conflict at work. Most work conflicts are boring. Plus, you’d probably prefer to pretend that you are an absolute delight to work with and that nobody has ever had an unkind word to say about you.

Behavioral conflict interview questions force you to talk about a less-than-delightful situation. It can be difficult to come up with a good example on the fly — and even more difficult to describe a conflict concisely and in a way that presents you in a favorable light.

This is why it’s important to prepare an example in advance using the S.T.A.R format.

STAR stands for Situation/Task, Approach, and Results.

It tells a story from beginning to end and really showcases your competencies.

In our software Big Interview, we’ve developed a tool specifically for building your STAR interview answers. We call it the Answer Builder.

Once you login to your Big Interview Dashboard, you can navigate to the “Practice” area and choose from four different practice options: Practice Interviews, Interview Roulette, Question Library, and Answer Builder.

Once you have selected the Answer Builder you will be directed to a screen that allows you to go through the STAR format step-by-step, carefully laying out your answer.

Remember, the goal is not to script out an answer word-for-word. The STAR format allows you to structure the general shape of your response by jotting down bullets for each of the key aspects of the story.

When you feel confident in your STAR answers, it’s time to start practicing!

Return to the Dashboard and navigate back to the “Practice” tab. Select “Practice Interviews.”

From here you can choose what type of interview you would like to practice. Since we are discussing behavioral interview questions that demonstrate competencies, we will choose “Competency/Skillset” to practice our STAR answers.

Now you can select which competency in particular you would like to start practicing.

Once you have selected your competency question set, you will be taken to the practice area. A pre-recorded interviewer will ask you a set of questions about your chosen competency. You will have the opportunity to practice your answers using your STAR bullet points as notes.

Continue to practice until you can seamlessly give a complete answer without referencing your notes.

When you have mastered your answers, navigate to the “My Videos” tab where you will find all of your recordings.

From here you can send your video to be reviewed by trusted friends and mentors, get AI feedback, or simply review and grade yourself.

It’s much better to work out all the kinks before the day of your Big Interview, so don’t miss out on the like your next job depends on it!

Interview Questions About Conflict (Examples)

Here’s an overview of how to use the STAR format specifically to present a conflict experience:

Briefly describe the context for the conflict that arose. Provide just enough background information for context.

Example Situation/Task Bullets

• I was managing the creation of our new corporate brochure and we were on a very tight deadline because we had to have brochures printed in time for a big upcoming trade show.
• I was in charge of delivering on time and I had to manage team members from Marketing, Sales, Graphic Design, and Product Management.
• The designer that was assigned to the project was very talented, but unfortunately missed a deadline that I assigned. When I approached him about it, he blew up at me.

Why We Like Them

These bullets provide good context — it was an important and complex project with a tight deadline. The designer not only missed a deadline but threw a fit when called on it. This is a real conflict with a coworker that could have led to disaster if handled poorly.

Tip: Don’t get too caught up in unnecessary details. The interviewer doesn’t need to know about the color scheme of the brochure, the history of the trade show, or the designer’s weird wardrobe choices.

Talk about the key actions that you took. In the case of a conflict story, the focus should be on how to resolve the disagreement in a professional and productive way.

Example Approach Bullets

• I was taken aback by his response, but I remained calm. I acknowledged that the deadlines were tight and explained again the reasoning and the importance of having the brochure ready for the trade show.
• He relaxed a little when he saw that I wasn’t attacking him. He told me about all of his other competing projects and how overwhelmed he was. I asked him if there was any way that I could help him come up with a solution.
• Eventually, we agreed that it would help if his manager had a better understanding of how important and time-consuming this project was. We decided we would speak with her together.
• She ended up assigning some of his other projects to another designer, which took some of the pressure off of him.

Why We Like Them

This candidate walks through the actions taken and why. He shows that he stayed calm under pressure, tackled the issue head-on, and was able to persuade others (the designer and his manager) to his point of view.

Tip: Again, stick to the actions that are most relevant and that show your conflict-management prowess.

Every good interview story includes a happy ending. End your response with a description of the positive outcome(s) of your action. These results can be quantifiable (increased sales 20%, saved the company $25K) or anecdotal (The client was thrilled and sent my manager an email, my manager loved my approach and gave me a promotion).

Example Results Bullets

• As a result, the designer was able to focus on the brochure and meet the deadlines.
• He apologized for his blow-up and thanked me for my help.
• We successfully completed the brochure in time for the trade show and received numerous compliments from both our own sales reps and potential customers.
• Our trade show presence led to $300,000 in new sales leads and I believe the new brochure played a key role in that.

Why We Like Them

This is a nice, concise happy ending. The candidate describes the resolution of the conflict, the positive effect on the relationship with the designer, and the business outcome.

Tip: The bottom-line results ($$$) make it even more impressive. This is not possible with every conflict-resolution story, but you should always pick the example with the most significant results.

Watch this brief video to learn a little more about Big Interview, and then take a quick look at the step-by-step system we’ve developed to get you ready for your interview.

More Tips for

Handling Behavioral Questions About Work Conflicts

• Choose an example that shows you taking an active approach to resolving an important conflict, such as a real conflict with a coworker, or a conflict with a supervisor.
• Be specific. Don’t give a general answer like, “I deal with conflicts all the time and have learned to stay calm and that communication is key.” It’s boring and it doesn’t answer the question.
• Don’t choose a minor disagreement (“He didn’t want Italian for lunch”) or a conflict that was resolved by someone else or just went away without direct action. The idea here is to show off your interpersonal skills and problem-solving ability.
• Avoid examples that could make you look bad. For example, don’t share a time when your mistake or miscommunication CAUSED a conflict.

• The most memorable and compelling stories include enough detail to paint a picture. Show why this conflict was important and that you handled it capably.
• However, you must make an effort to keep the story concise. It’s very easy to go off on tangents (especially if you haven’t prepared in advance). Keep it focused.
• Stick to bullet points. Don’t try to memorize a script.

Take the time to practice telling your story. This is especially important when telling a story about conflict.

Conflicts often lead to arguments, problems, and damaged or broken professional relationships. You want to feel confident discussing the sensitive details in a way that gets your points across.

Remember you can >a href=”https://biginterview.com/plans”>sign-up for Big Interview to get full access to our suite of practice tools.

Your subscription is backed by our 30 Day Money Back Guarantee, so you have absolutely nothing to lose by giving yourself the best chance possible for success.

We stand behind our training 100%. If you aren’t thrilled with the improvement in your interviewing, just email us and we’ll immediately refund the purchase.

Your future awaits, good luck!