3 Common Teamwork Interview Questions

Employers ask teamwork interview questions to learn if you have the skills and personality to work well with others. When assessing such skills, they are looking for someone who has excellent communication, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills. They are also looking for a candidate who is personable and enjoys being around other people. By having solid teamwork skills, you can add value to their team.

Follow these tips to successfully answer teamwork interview questions:

• Relate your answers to the job. When answering a question about teamwork, think of examples that are directly related to the job you’re interviewing for. Share previous experiences from past internships, jobs, or volunteer experiences that showcase your teamwork skills.
• Use the STAR method. This stands for situation, task, action, and result. By describing the context of the situation, the task you were presented with, the actions you needed to take, and the end result, you can give the interviewer a thorough idea of how you used teamwork to solve a real problem in the past.
• Be positive. Whenever discussing previous experiences where you worked on a team, always emphasize the positive outcome of the situation. Show the interviewer that you enjoy working with others and can get along with anyone.
• Show your active listening skills. There are ways you can show your teamwork skills without actually saying anything. One way is by using active listening during your interview. By being attentive as your interviewer speaks, you are showing that you have good listening skills, which goes a long way in a group setting. Maintaining eye contact, nodding, sitting up straight, and asking thoughtful follow-up questions are all ways to show you’re an active listener.
• Learn how you work in a group setting. It’s likely than an employer will ask how you work in a group setting. Prepare for this question by learning what kind of team member you are. For instance, you may see yourself as a group leader. Likewise, you may think of yourself as someone who always has creative ideas to share.
• Practice common interview questions. Learn common interview questions about teamwork and then practice your responses to them. You can do this by asking a friend or family member to do a mock interview with you. Make sure to have them provide honest feedback so you can tweak any of your answers.

Use these example teamwork interview questions with answers as inspiration while you prepare for your interview:

Tell me about a time you had to use teamwork to solve a problem.

During my marketing internship, my manager tasked all the interns with creating a campaign for one of our pro-bono clients. The problem was, we only had a budget of $1,000 to work with. As a natural leader, I assumed the position of account director. My team members split off into their respective areas based on their strengths and skills. As the account director, I met with the client to discuss ideas for their limited budget. We came up with some exciting ideas, and I shared them with my team.

Since each team member was so passionate about what they were doing, we ended up creating an awesome campaign despite the little budget. By regularly communicating with each other and sharing our ideas, we were able to work together to make something truly impressive. When I presented our work to both our manager and client, they were floored with our results.

Do you prefer to work in a team setting or independently?

Although I have experience in both kinds of work settings, I tend to lean toward working with a team. I find that when multiple people work on a project, we can also benefit from each other’s unique perspectives and ideas. Assigning tasks to people based on their strengths and talents is how you can really get things done efficiently. Likewise, I consider myself a people person, so working with others makes me feel fulfilled with my work.

How would you manage to work with someone you disagree with?

Throughout my career, I have grown to understand that we all have very different opinions and life experiences. When working with someone I disagree with, I try to see their perspective to find common ground. If I still can’t understand their thought process, I explain my own point of view in a caring and compassionate way. There have been times that even after a discussion, we still can’t understand each other’s views. In these cases, I work hard to find a compromise that we both can live with.

What role do you take on during group projects?

As an analytical person, I tend to take on the role of researcher. Finding new information and data is a talent of mine, so I always volunteer to do this kind of work. Likewise, I am quite good at looking at the results of projects and drawing tangible results from them. Since I am also comfortable with public speaking, I tend to take on the role of presenter. Since I understand the data we find, I can clearly present this data to people not working on the project. I am also quite confident in answering any questions people may have during the presentation.