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wigglewhiz) wrote2010-10-23 02:32 pm
Advice Sought!
Good arvo to you, friendly reader! Would you mind giving me a bit of advice? Kthnx.
As you know, I have an interview for a well-paying position with Company E a week on Tuesday. I am currently stressing and researching out my eyeballs for the interview because I WANT THIS JOB SO BAD.
I've been slightly tripped up by a question that's on the Pre-Interview Questionnaire that they recently sent me. It reads:
"Have you ever had any personality clashes or falling-outs with people in the workplace or community? If the response is 'Yes', 'Maybe' or 'Not that I am aware of', please describe the circumstances, how you handled it and what you learned from the experience (feel free to use the reverse of this page if needed)"
0_0
I've been asked a variation of this question in interviews as well, and I'm really NEVER sure what the *best* answer is. It seems clear to me that the answer that Company E really wants is "No" - because they've asked for expansion and explanation on any other possible answers. But to say "no" is ALWAYS a big fat lie and should identify you as such. Because who the hell HASN'T experienced conflict in the workplace of one sort or another?! Fairies, perhaps. Gumdrop catchers. Toadstool-painting elves.
*I* certainly have experienced conflict in the workplace - some doozies, in fact. Partly that's because I am a GIANT ASS, a bit of a bitch, a total perfectionist and fairly outspoken. And part of it is just the nature of the beast - I've worked with some assholes who make life a constant battle with EVERYONE, I've worked with some people probably just a little too similar to me, I've worked with some delicate flowers who've taken offense to the fact that at work I'm very business oriented (at WORK! Who knew?!) and really am not particularly interested in your office party/baby shower/chit chat and would quite like it if you would just give me that info that I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR TO GET MY JOB DONE.
On the surface, answering a question about conflict in the workplace is the perfect opportunity for you to showcase your mad Conflict Resolution Skillz (I have a City & Guilds in Conflict Management, believe it or not) - show how you identified a problem, dealt with it, and what you'll do differently to avoid/resolve conflict in future. However! It also smells of Interview Trappage to me - how do you talk about conflict without it appearing that:
1. You are badmouthing your former employer, which jobseekers are told to Avoid At All Costs, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect £200.
2. You are Trouble with a capital T.
I feel like I can't POSSIBLY say "no" to the question, because it would be bare-faced lying. I just can't do it. And besides, answering WELL seems ike a good way to actually score a few points. Possibly. If answered really well. There are a few scenarios I can draw on (because I am a BITCH), which I've caged in terms of the original question:
Circumstances: In my previous employer, I was at odds with the HR manager of the parent company. There were political issues between my company and the parent company, and the parent company had decided to remove functions from the subsidiary company and weren't doing too well at it. I was charged by my boss in the subsidiary company of assessing (on the fly) alternatives to the parent company's smash-and-grab policy, and as the expert in the field that the HR manager was trying to take back, I ran headlong into her plans and desires REGULARLY. Her project work was sloppy, inadequate, and had dragged on for two years at this point. She had no idea of the scale of the issues her inadequate plan drew up, no idea of the legislative conditions here (she worked in another country), and was VERY abrasive - not just with me but with her own direct staff. I took it upon myself to be a stick in the spokes to make SURE that things that needed considered WERE considered, and... she was not a happy bunny, and we had MANY horrific clashes that I won't bother to describe here or to you poor bored people reading! She also thought that since she was the HR Manager and mine was an HR function, she was the boss of me and would just tell me How Things Were. But my boss was actually the subsidiary company CEO, so....no. Fun!
How I Handled It: I continued with my secret project at the behest of the CEO, and I made sure that the HR manager wouldn't hear of it because it would drive her BERSERK. I phoned her where possible to make sure that there were no unfortunate "tone of email" issues, and followed up with emails so that there was a paper trail of everything I was doing. I assisted wholeheartedly with her project, offering advice wherever it was needed, and offering to undertake any additional analysis that she might need, rather than resisting her project on any basis. I invited her staff to train with me to have an insiders perspective on the local issues, to work collaboratively to reduce the rising "them and us" atmosphere and get "rival" teams working together.
What I Learned From The Experience: Communication is the key - if you have a conflict with someone, you need to maintain contact (and amend the communication method if possible/necessary) not just with them but with anyone else who may be affected by the tension between you. Conflict is also never a reason to become entrenched in your position - you do need to rise above, be magnanimous, and work in the best interests of the company rather than unreasonably defend your position at all costs or be affected by a dispute with an individual.
Circumstances: In the employer BEFORE my last employer, my team had an issue with another team we relied on, who consistently lost our paperwork and failed to make the payments that we had requested on time. We had to deal with the abuse from the unpaid customers, and I was NOT HAPPY. On the last occasion that it happened, I emailed the girl that had taken the paperwork FROM MY HANDS and asked why the payments hadn't been made. Apparently I made her cry, and her boss put in a complaint against me for making her staff member upset.
How I Handled It: I met with her boss (the girl in question wouldn't meet with us because she was so INTIMIDATED and SCARED and HURT, FFS), and aplogised unreservedly for any unintentional upset caused. I also used the opportunity of meeting with her boss to explain the issues we were having as a team with the work of *her* staff (which was news to her), and to agree on a new process that would stop the issue once and for all.
What I Learned From The Experience: I now PHONE people rather than email wherever possible, because you just can't know how the tone of your email can be interpreted. It's also best to make time to address problems promptly rather than allow the situation to brew to a point where both teams are sick of hearing the other whinge!
What do you think, readers? Are either of these scenarios useable? The first was... oh, fuck, HUGE and nearly ruined my working life. I obviously would be more careful in phrasing it to Company E, focussing on the differing end goals of our projects and whatnot. The job at Company E is a Project-focussed role, and the conflict in the first example is project related so... good thing? "I can handle projects which compete for time and resources?" BAD thing? "I'm one of those people who constantly hammers on about the PROBLEMS in a project and demands that people consider MAH EXPERTISE?" It's also... recent and still kind of painful for me how vicious it got despite my best attempts at remaining professional, so... perhaps I shouldn't go there?
The second scenario seems... almost contrived just to give an example of my amazing skillz. But it really happened, honestly it did. (and I wasn't as rational at the beginning, I was all: "SHE'S fucking upset? Maybe she wants to come and deal with Mr. S's ENDLESS ABUSE that he hasn't been paid YET AGAIN!!! I'm so TIRED of taking the fall for someone else's FAILURE! They're the PAYMENTS department, FFS, why can't they PAY PEOPLE ON TIME?!" etc etc etc. I'll be missing that part out, of course.
I am stuck. I would appreciate any advice you might choose to fling my way, because I really need to do better this time!
no subject
The second one seems to sound a bit more like "I was a MEEN BITCH and someone complained about me *not good* and so I said sorry and used the phone next time". But it is possibly good backup, if you're asked in the interview and it's going well, because you can say that the reason you learned about using the phone and not email in HR Boss's case was this comparatively less serious situation back home. Which I imagine is probably true.
I think so long as you're really careful to present the HR woman as a perfectly competent individual, just lacking in the specific knowledge for THIS project, it could work.