“Could you tell me about a time you worked as part of a team?”
- CHOICE 1: I helped build our professional services with a team of peers. We wholeheartedly provided our thoughts and ideas and shared our professional experience. I clearly remember us process mapping with a big whiteboard, in free-flowing, brainstorming way.
- CHOICE 2: The new product launch would be one of the best examples of teamwork that I saw at my last job. They established good camaraderie, learned from each other, and discussed how to continue to be successful working with other departments in the company.
Can you tell which answer is right? Did you say CHOICE 1? Woo hoo! But do you know why CHOICE 1 is right? And why CHOICE 2 is wrong?
CHOICE 1 is the better answer because it shows great recall of an actual time you worked as part of a team. And this answer would be even better if you showed what you looked like as a team member in action by sharing some details of a challenge the team faced and what your role looked like within that team.
CHOICE 2 is wrong because while it sounds like a great answer, it doesn’t show that you had been part of that team! Remember that our interview question asks “Could you tell me about a time you worked as part of a team?” This answer would have been much better if you shared a team experience of your own. Or, if you really don’t have one, admit it and express your openness about learning and how you observed the great teams at your last job and learned from that.