How to Deal With Negative Questions in the Job Interview

You feel prepared for the interview. You are confident walking through the door to meet your interviewer. You have your positive experiences and stories ready to answer questions.

The interview followed the interview smoothly when all of the sudden started throwing "curve balls." Began the interview by the negative example of the situation demands - sometimes you fail or have problems of response.

About your disability and access are ready to talk when challenged in a difficult situation. You become disoriented and lose the trust of our customers. The lost two opportunities to get a second interview - or provide.

Most researchers are not trying to be tough when requesting information on the negative - trying to discover if there

So what do you do when you encounter those "curve balls?" You deal with them in a positive manner.

Here is an example of a question seeking negative information and how to deal with it.

Question –

"Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with someone at work and how you resolved it."

Answer –

"I usually get along very well with almost everyone."

"There was an incident that happened with a person who was not pulling his weight on the team and it was affecting morale. All the team members were getting disgruntled but nobody was doing anything about it."

"I took it upon myself to have a talk with the person when the opportunity presented itself. It didn't start out smoothly – he was defensive at first and resented my speaking to him about his work behavior. I was careful to let him know that I wasn't judging him but rather was concerned about the team and the ability for everyone to get along."

"Eventually he confided in me that he had some family problems at home that were affecting his energy level and patience. I listened attentively while he told me about his problems."

"Once he became aware that his behavior was affecting other's work he made a special effort to be more open and receptive. The team spirit improved greatly after that – as well as the productivity."

If this is your answer carefully, you see that offers many positives. The answer is to start using positive statements:

Next, the positive use of the word is about the style: "I make sacrifices ....

This example also shows a sense of caring about fellow employees – taking the time to find out what the problem was and being a real "team player."

You can see that there is a good deal of positive information that can be emphasized in an answer - even if it is an example of a time when things were negative.

Sometimes interviewers are trying to avoid making a hiring mistake that was made in the past.

Have made the event that there are problems in the past with this company, see evidence that these problems will be no obstacle for you. You have the interviewer that you do what you must do to solve a problem or at least get the facts about the problem, is shown.

Turning negatives into positives is an important skill to learn. When you are asked a negative question, stop and think about how you can refocus the question to include some positive qualities.

Sample answer – excerpt from "Perfect Phrases for the Perfect Interview," Carole Martin 2005 (McGraw-Hill)