How to Reply to Interview Questions About Past Co-Workers

You might not know the specific questions a recruiter or hiring manager will ask during your interview, but the one thing you can bet the house on is that you'll have to answer tough questions about your previous employment. Aside from the typical questions about why you left each of your previous jobs, you'll probably have to answer interview questions designed to elicit information about how well you work with others, namely past co-workers.

Team Projects

During your job interview, it's likely that you will be asked about a project or work assignments where you worked as a team member. Describe the specifics of the project and let the interviewer know that you have changed the actual names of the employees involved because their identity isn't as important as the project outcome. For example, you could say, "Our team consisted of the sales manager, two marketing specialists and one sales assistant," instead of identifying your co-workers by their full names and positions. Focus on the end result and don't attribute blame for any missteps to specific co-workers.

Interpersonal Relationships

Common wisdom says that job candidates shouldn't badmouth their former co-workers and managers, because the only person it sheds a poor light on is the candidate himself. Therefore, refrain from giving details about your working relationships unless they were especially helpful in your professional development. For example, say, "I learned a great deal from my previous manager, and I credit him with inspiring me to become a novelist after working as a news journalist for several years under his tutelage." Whatever you say about your co-workers, make it positive but don't go overboard with so many accolades that the co-worker sounds like he walks on water.

Probing Questions

Many interviewers ask behavioral questions to get an idea of how you handle workplace issues that require you to assert your functional expertise, communication skills and ability to resolve workplace conflict. When you answer those, "Tell-me-about-a-time-when," questions that probe for information about possible conflict, couch your answer in a way that doesn't speak about others in a disparaging way. Even if the recruiter pushes you to disclose whether you ever had any problems in the workplace, don't spill details about your working relationships. Everybody knows -- including recruiters and hiring managers -- that co-workers have their ups and downs, but the interviewer will appreciate that you are professional enough to refrain from speaking poorly about your colleagues.

Nonverbal Cues

As hard as you might try to keep your interview responses on a positive note, your nonverbal cues might hint at some antagonism you felt toward a co-worker at a previous job. An effective way to prevent this from happening is through rehearsing your answers -- practice responding to difficult questions until you can respond fluidly without exhibiting any nonverbals cues, such as the tone or inflection of your voice, shifting in your seat or breaking eye contact, all of which could make the interviewer wonder if you're telling the truth.