Handling Conflict Questions

Conflict questions test your emotional intelligence, communication skills, and ability to work with difficult people or situations.

Common Conflict Questions

• "Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker."
• "Describe a conflict with your manager."
• "How do you handle working with difficult people?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to push back on something."

What Interviewers Look For

• Ability to disagree professionally
• Listening and seeking to understand
• Focus on resolution over winning
• Not badmouthing others
• Learning from the experience

The RIGHT Way to Answer

1. Set Up Without Drama

Keep the situation description neutral and professional.

2. Show You Listened First

"I started by asking questions to understand their perspective. I learned that..."

3. Explain Your Approach

"I shared my concerns about X, explaining the data I'd gathered..."

4. Focus on Resolution

"We ultimately agreed to Y, which addressed both of our concerns."

5. Share What You Learned

"This taught me the importance of understanding stakeholder concerns early."

Example Answer

Situation: "On my last project, a senior engineer wanted to use a different technology stack than what I'd proposed."

Action: "I set up a meeting to understand his concerns. He raised valid points about maintenance complexity I hadn't considered. I also shared data about developer productivity with my proposed approach. We ended up finding a hybrid solution that incorporated his concerns about long-term maintenance while still using modern tooling where it made sense."

Result: "The project launched successfully, and we've since standardized that hybrid approach across the team. I learned to bring stakeholders into technical decisions earlier."

What to Avoid

• Blaming or speaking negatively about others
• Stories where you were clearly wrong
• Conflicts with no resolution
• Making yourself the hero who was always right