Job Interview Question: Who wouldn’t you work with?

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “Who wouldn’t you work with?”

What a question to be asked in the job interview!

This is a bit of a ‘trap’ so watch out. These types of job interview questions are rare, but if you are asked one of them out of the blue and you haven’t prepared yourself you will be thrown off-balance.

In the job interview, when you are caught of unawares, your stress level rises and you will often blurt out the first thing that pops into your head (and that isn’t always the best way to answer tricky job interview questions)

How to Answer the Interview Question

The interviewer here has framed the question so your answer will be negative (naughty interviewer!) To answer this job interview question simply follow these 3 steps to reframe the interview question allowing you to give a positive response

Step 1 – Start with a positive generalization

As the interview question is framed negatively “who wouldn’t you want to work with?” you need to flip this around “In all my roles I have always gotten on well with all my previous colleagues” This sets out the theme of your answer and seeds your positive character (this question, in essence, is about understanding who you are and what makes you tick)

Step 2 – detail the perfect colleague

Next, describe the type of person you do enjoy working with (focusing on their work ethic) “I always enjoy working with someone who has an eye for detail and ……” by describing the perfect person, the employer will actually associate these traits with you (even though you are saying the positive statement about a fictional person)

Step 3 – if you get pushed, give a solution

Step 1&2 works in most job interviews. But if you are pushed to describe the type of person you wouldn’t want to work with give a generic answer “I would prefer not to work with someone who is lazy or a bad timekeeper..” Many interviewees, who are asked these tricky job interview questions, due to nervousness, will often name someone they didn’t get on with! This is a big no-no

To end this interview question, when pushed to give a negative, finish by explaining what you would do in that situation “…if they were lazy and we had a deadline to meet I would be assertive and professional and asked them to…”

Job Interview Advice