Soft Skills Flashcards
Can you describe a situation where a team did not work as intended? Whose fault was it?
○ I would recommend starting with a situation where your team did work as intended and talk about how it wasn’t working at first and what you did to fix it.
○ Never blame someone specific – instead, say that there were “personality conflicts” and that you worked to resolve them.
○ To make things even easier, you could re-use the story you told in question #1 but instead position it as a failed team situation that turned into a successful one.
What was the most difficult situation you faced as a leader and how did you respond?
Point out how you stayed calm and collected in the face of a challenging situation, and how your cool decision-making process led to a positive outcome. Maybe 2 of your subordinates couldn’t get along and you had to arbitrate; maybe you were 3 months behind on a project and had to get a team together to finish it in 2 weeks. Just make sure that it’s a real problem, as opposed to only getting an A- when you should have gotten an A.
Do you work better as a leader or a follower?
Resist the urge to say “leader” and instead talk about how you can function as both a leader and another member of the team, depending on what the situation calls for. You don’t want to hog the spotlight or do everything, but if leadership is required, you can step up and handle it.
What is your leadership style?
A “moderate” answer works best here. You’re responsible and can make sure things get done, but at the same time you don’t annoy your teammates by micro-managing. If you’re interviewing for an Analyst or Associate position, you do want to be a bit more “hands-on” and point out that you often go in and correct mistakes to make sure everything’s perfect – since you’ll be spending around 50% of your time doing this.
