It is critical to prepare for technical questions as well as “What Would Your Coworkers Say About Your Personality?” while preparing for an interview.
Your capacity to operate as part of a team, fit in with the corporate culture, and establish a professional network can all be influenced by how you interact with your coworkers.
Interviewers frequently inquire about how your coworkers would characterize you in order to determine if you would fit well into their company’s group dynamic, so it’s critical to spend time reflecting on how your coworkers see you and finding methods to link your personality traits to the job.
In this article, we will go through the reasons why employers want to know how your coworkers would characterize you and give sample responses to help you prepare for this topic in an interview.
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Why Interviewers Ask This Question
Employers inquire about how their employees characterize you in order to gain a general idea of your personality and self-awareness.
Some companies may compare your response to how your references characterized you in order to examine the accuracy of your self-evaluation.
They seek comprehensive responses that demonstrate how your different personality qualities might assist you in adjusting to a position at their firm, as well as instances of occasions when those attributes contributed to your success in the workplace.
Because this question is open-ended and encourages you to consider yourself from the perspective of another person, a detailed and careful response demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills and perceptiveness.
When discussing how others describe you, use specific, relevant examples and smart word choices to demonstrate to the employer exactly how those characteristics might help their firm.
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Tips To Answer – What Would Your Coworkers Say About Your Personality?
1. Be truthful and attempt to provide a real response. When the interviewer asks this question, they are attempting to understand who you are as a worker and as a person.
And if you provide an answer that seems too phony or rehearsed, people won’t feel comfortable trusting or employing you!
2. Choose one or two characteristics to make your response concise and easy to convey.
With interview questions like these, you don’t want your response to go on for too long, so choose one or two topics to discuss.
By discussing five distinct topics, you will do more harm than good, and your response will become fragmented and impossible to give convincingly!
So choose one or two characteristics that you believe are accurate and useful – particularly characteristics that will assist you in THIS employer’s position.
When they ask how your coworkers or friends would characterize you, this is the greatest approach to impress them.
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3. Keep your response brief (approximately one minute)
The sample responses above are approximately the maximum amount of time I would recommend discussing. Don’t chat for more than two or three minutes here.
If in doubt, simply ask, “Did that answer your question, or do you want me to go into further detail?”
That’s preferable to chatting for three minutes without halting, because the recruiting manager may have only wanted a quick, straightforward answer when asked how coworkers or previous bosses would characterize you.
What Would Your Coworkers Say About Your Personality? Sample Answers
Sample Answer 1
“My Coworkers characterize me as someone who takes the initiative and isn’t scared to make decisions. When other individuals are undecided, I’m typically the one to give a recommendation or make a decision.
They’d also say I’m calm and confident under pressure. Even when things are difficult, I’m generally the one that stays cool and thinks through an issue logically.”
Sample Answer 2
“My Coworkers would describe me as a stronger individual contributor than a leader because I haven’t formally managed a team yet in my career and just performed a small amount of project leadership in my previous position.
But it’s something I’m starting to work on. In my previous role, I had the chance to teach two new team members, both of whom became top producers in our department by the end of the year.”
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Sample Answer 3
“My colleagues would describe me as attentive and detail-focused. He seldom had to check up on me since he trusted me to function on my own.
We checked in once a week, but otherwise, I was on my own. I love this sort of work atmosphere, and based on what I read in the job description, it appears that you provide a comparable setting. “Could you perhaps tell me more about the atmosphere here?”
Sample Answer 4
“My coworkers regard me as a natural leader. I frequently take the lead on initiatives and promote communication between various groups to ensure that we are all on the same page.
This is why, at my previous work, my supervisor assigned me the task of coordinating projects between our department and two others.”
Sample Answer 5
“I believe that both my friends and coworkers would characterize me as resourceful and someone who solves problems before they are questioned.
In my most recent employment, for example, I saved our manufacturing department $25,000 by detecting an electrical problem before it did any damage.”
Conclusion
Hopefully, the advice and examples above have given you a decent sense of how to construct your own response.
Finally, here are a few more critical errors to avoid:
First, don’t say anything if it’s entirely false. You could be tempted to say anything you believe the hiring manager wants to hear, such as, “I’m sociable and outgoing.” But the fact is that the employer is eager to get to know you. AND, if you’re talking a total falsehood, they’ll see straight through it.
So be honest and offer good characteristics – preferably traits related to their profession – but don’t put yourself under pressure to lie or be phony.
Even though a profession appears to be well-suited to the extroverted and loud kind of person (for example, sales positions), introverts and quiet individuals are nevertheless hired!
Some of the finest salesmen I’ve encountered in my career are introverts who are terrific listeners and ask a lot of questions before they do any actual “selling.”
Aside from that, simply make sure you have a response ready in general. It is likewise incorrect to state, “I’m not sure” or “I don’t know.”
To summarize, rehearse your answer at home using the samples and recommendations above, and you’ll be ready every time the interviewer asks, “what would your boss/coworkers say about you?” or any of the other relevant questions we discussed.
When they ask, “How would your coworkers characterize you?” it’s not a trick question. It is not anything to be concerned about. However, you must plan ahead of time. Fortunately, you now know how to accomplish it!