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82 Boost Your Hiring IQ

ANSWERS
The Strongest Answer
(A) This is a very good example of dealing with conflict through
communications. It answers the question and gives you good
information about the person. There is a sense of politeness
and respect about the conversation that this person had with
her coworker. There is also a reference to being able to learn
quickly that would be worth probing further to determine
whether this person would be able to pick up the details of
your job quickly. Sometimes when a candidate does not have
experience but can learn quickly, it may be worth the invest-
ment of time and training to bring that person up to speed.

The Mediocre Answer
(B) The tone in this answer should be viewed as a red flag. It might
reflect this candidate’s inability to deal with gray areas. In
other words, does she only see black and white? In this case she
only saw that the policy was being broken, and she felt
strongly enough to go the HR with the grievance even after
she talked with her boss.
The possible red flag is this candidate’s flexibility. Will her
strict interpretation of policy be a problem? Or is this an indi-
cation of an employee who is strong enough to stand up for
what she believes in? You will have to determine if this person
is a good fit for your particular company’s culture and the gen-
eral standards for adhering to policy.

The Weakest Answer
(C) This answer is poor on many counts. First, the comments are
very general, such as “I get along with everyone,” and, “I’m
the type of person who doesn’t have conflict at work.” While
these are admirable statements, the candidate later contradicts
herself by saying that there are plenty of times when there
could have been conflicts. A red flag in this answer is that the
candidate may react to problems with passive behavior instead
of with assertive behavior by talking the problem out.

RATE YOURSELF
If you chose answer (A), give yourself 5 points.
If you chose answer (B), give yourself 3 points.
If you chose answer (C), give yourself 0 points. ______