When communicating complex ideas, you keep your message simple and straightforward – avoiding technical jargon and overusing statistics. You don’t expect people to have the same background knowledge as you and are careful to introduce your idea in clear, concise terms. You find that giving examples, using pictures and graphs helps clarify difficult concepts and can be useful as people have different learning styles. You always encourage questions and if somebody is having difficulty understanding, you are quick to adapt your style.

When responding to conflict resolution questions, answer with confidence since you're being considered for a supervisory position where you will frequently be required to work in teams, delegate responsibilities, and handle difficult problems.

The following is an effective way to answer conflict resolution questions:

Before proposing a solution, I collect all relevant facts surrounding the conflict. Conflicts are often resolved if sufficient time is devoted to determining root causes, while disregarding trivial or irrelevant facts.

An effective answer can also be supplemented with the following response:

When resolving a problem between employees, I serve as a neutral third party. When needed, I establish rules of conduct. For an organization to operate efficiently, employees must be on the same page. At most organizations, bad feelings exist among some employees, so a manager is responsible for ensuring that employees are placed in situations where they're comfortable to focus on their job responsibilities. In other words, employees must be situated around others they can work with so productivity is not affected.

Strategy Statement: 

The interviewer is interested in knowing how you are able to perform in a workplace where you are not the one who is ‘making the calls’. The typical workplace environment involves a tiered structure where there are those who make the decisions and those who perform the work. An entry level position most often assumes the role of the latter. 

Sample Response: 

I am a performer of tasks. As a new employee, I understand that many of my duties will be directed by those above me. These will undoubtedly involve changes, and as long as I understand how the changes are related to the betterment of the company/business/corporation, I am fully ‘on board’. I once worked for a corporation where one of my duties was to prepare the annual report. As a result of input from the overseeing board and members, the format for that report was changed significantly. Although this meant that I had to relearn the report-writing process, with my understanding that this change would mean that the report was more accessible and easy to read, I had no problem with the demands of that change.

Most recently, we had a new hire (Prakash) that was really struggling with getting to work on time, and I knew the boss (Dan) was getting irritated. Over lunch one day I explained to Prakash how important it was to our boss for everyone to be there at least 10 minutes early. It was personal with the Harry, but you could really get on his bad side when you were frequently late. The new employee was grateful for the advice. At his previous employment, the boss was only concerned about the work getting done on time; he/she did not "watch the clock".

Yes, I've worked with someone whom I found difficult to like as a person. However, when I focused on the skills they brought to the job, their ability to solve problems and the two things I did appreciate, slowly my attitude towards them changed. We were never friends, but we did work well together.

At my most recent position, one of my co-workers, John, did an outstanding job of calming an irate customer, solving the customer's problem and completing a sale. When our boss asked me how things were going, I told him everything was going fine and that John had just completed calming an irate customer and closing a sale. It was a win-win-win- for our boss, Johnn and the customer.

I worked closely with Shilpa who, for the most part, always carried her fair share of the work load. During a stressful time, working on a project with a deadline, I realized Shilpa's contributions to the project were almost minimal. I made the decision to wait until after the project to speak with her. I'm glad I did, because I learned she'd been going through a very tough time in her personal life and she appreciated my willingness to go the extra mile so the project was completed on time. As a result, our ability to work well together significantly increased.

One of the interview questions you may be asked is what you are looking for in your next job. The interview wants to know whether your goals are a match for the companies needs.

You can begin your answer with this question: Tell me, Mr./Ms. Interviewer, what is a typical career path at OPL for someone with my skills and experience?

(Based on the answer you can then respond to the original question using the phrases from the answer to frame your response).

What is important to you? Two things are very important to me. One is my professionalism at work; the second is my family life.