TRAPS: You
don’t want to come across either as a hothead or a wimp.
BEST ANSWER:
Give an answer that’s suited to both your
personality and the management style of the firm. Here, the homework you’ve done about the
company and its style can help in your choice of words.
Examples: If you are a reserved person and/or the
corporate culture is coolly professional:
“I’m an
even-tempered and positive person by nature, and I believe this helps me a
great deal in keeping my department running smoothly, harmoniously and with a
genuine esprit de corps. I believe in
communicating clearly what’s expected, getting people’s commitment to those
goals, and then following up continuously to check progress.”
“If anyone
or anything is going off track, I want to know about it early. If, after that kind of open communication and
follow up, someone isn’t getting the job done, I’ll want to know why. If there’s no good reason, then I’ll get
impatient and angry…and take appropriate steps from there. But if you hire good people, motivate them to
strive for excellence and then follow up constantly, it almost never gets to
that state.”
If you are
feisty by nature and/or the position calls for a tough straw boss.
“You know
what makes me angry? People who (the
fill in the blanks with the most objectionable traits for this type of
position)…people who don’t pull their own weight, who are negative, people who
lie…etc.”