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Tell me about a time you had a big
disagreement with your boss.
"Tell
me about a time you had a big disagreement with your boss. What did you do and
what was the outcome?"
Here is another 'tell me about' question. You will have to think of an example
of your own. The items you need to include in your answer should consist of you
showing proper communication, taking appropriate action, and ending with a good
outcome. It's perfectly natural to disagree with your boss. It is important how
you react when you have a disagreement. Show the interviewer that you are
professional about disagreements.
"I
never really had a big disagreement with my manager. The only thing I can think
of was when I recently got back from a business trip, my manager told me I had
to go on another one the next day. In my previous company, it wasn't common to
send someone on a business trip immediately, but another employee got sick so I
had to fill in."
"I
had a disagreement with my boss on how to do an assignment. It was easy to
resolve by having a discussion on the pro's and con's of both methods. We
didn't come to any conclusion which way was better, and I ended up performing
the work the way my manager wanted. This was because in case I couldn't finish
the assignment, he could easily pick up where I left off."
"I
don't think I've had a large disagreement with my boss before, but I do
remember a small disagreement. I received an email from my boss telling me that
he wants me to stop the work I was doing on my project and give it to a
co-worker. He wanted me to start on a new project immediately. I spent two and
a half weeks on this project and I only had three days left. I really wanted to
finish this and it didn't make sense for me to hand this project off to someone
else. So I put some thought into it, went over to my boss's office, and asked
him why this project couldn't wait three days. He made his argument and I still
didn't agree. We discussed this for a while and we compromised by having
someone help me finish the project I was working on so I can have some time to
kick start the next project. That's the only experience I had with a
disagreement, but I learned that it only takes simple dialog and a little
compromise to overcome a disagreement."
I know this answer is long, but all types of 'tell me about' questions are
long. You have to tell a story in the shortest way for them to understand while
explaining the disagreement along with the outcome. It's a huge question and it
will take a long time to master 'tell me about' questions. That is why you
should diligent on these types of questions. |