How To Answer “Describe A Time When You Disagreed With Your Supervisor” In An Interview

“Have you ever disagreed with your boss? Tell me about it.”

This is one of the conflict-resolution interview questions that you can encounter in a job interview. When asked to describe a time when you disagreed with your supervisor, what they are really asking is how good your communication skills and how you will handle conflicts at workplace.

Disagreements happen and it’s not a crime to have different views with your supervisor once. What you do about the disagreements, however, says a lot about who you are.

How you interacted with your former boss determines how the interviewer will conclude your personality. The interviewer uses these type of interview question basically to see if you are the right candidate for the job.

Tips for answering this interview question

1. Pick a good example

When answering this interview question, you want to pick a scenario that portrays you in a good way. Pick a case where you actively worked to resolve the conflict you had with your boss and not the cause.

You also, want to be very specific, avoid general examples that do not really answer the questions and that are cliches.

Pick an example that clearly shows you have good conflict resolutions skills as well as good interpersonal skills.

2. Be specific about your actions

As you describe what you did to resolve the disagreement you had with your employer, you need to be as specific as possible. This is because it is very easy to get side tracked and lost in a story that you forget what you were saying.

Why did you disagree with your supervisor and how did you resolve it? Answer these two questions to make your description short and straight to the point.

Your answer should take less than 5 minutes.

3. Practice makes perfect

Practice makes perfect, the more you practice answering ‘describe a time when you disagreed with your supervisor question’ the better you will be at answering it in an interview setting.

Be it as easy as it might seem, you can easily make mistakes when answering this interview question. You should be very careful with how you answer, otherwise, you will end up compromising yourself without noticing.

So, what are the mistakes you should avoid when describing how you resolved a conflict you had with your boss?

Mistakes To Avoid When Answering ‘Describe A Time When You Disagreed With Your Supervisor’

When answering this interview question stay away from claims that may bring you out in bad light.

1. Speaking ill of your former supervisor

Ever though you disagreed with your former boss, never ever talk ill of them. No matter what kind of a relationship it was, you won’t be adding any pointers by portraying your boss as evil.

2. Pretending that you never disagreed

Everyone disagrees with someone at work some time. It might not have been ugly but there is that one time. One thing is that employer will always see through your lies.

Sample Answer To ‘Describe A Time When You Disagreed With Your Supervisor’

Here is how an answer to this question can be described.

“Once I disagreed with my boss about how to best help a customer. Rather than showing that I was questioning his authority in front of the other employees, I talked to him when alone. I was not only open but honest about problem I had with the way he wanted to handle the issue. As it turned out there was just small misunderstanding that could be solved without making too much fuss about it. That disagreement taught me a thing or two about the importance of communication to ensure that we don’t create a mountain out of an ant hill.”

At the end of the day, the interviewer is only looking for someone who will be a good fit in the company and work well with the others.After all, don’t we all say we can work well with the other employees when writing a CV? This is your chance to prove it. When answering describe a time when you disagreed with your supervisor avoid being defensive and let your answers portray you as someone good with conflict resolution.