5 Interview Questions to Learn If a Job Seeker is an Exceptional Team Player

One of the key concerns employers express about new employees is whether or not they could become exceptional team players at work. Since past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, employers need to ask job interview questions that might demonstrate if the job seeker has been an exceptional team player in the past. These five job interview questions can assist employers to examine the job seekers' record of contributing to workplace teams.

Job interview question #1 - Tell us about your most memorable experience participating in a team at work?

Some job seekers will want to share team experiences about college or high school sports or group activities like marching band. Although valid experiences, these team experiences are not the same as being a team player on workplace teams. To learn whether the candidate could be an exceptional team player, listen carefully to how they describe their most memorable experiences. Do you get the sense they really enjoyed the team experience or are they just saying so? Do they talk about their role on the team? Do they say what made the experience so memorable?

Job interview question #2 - Tell us about the worst experience you had participating in a workplace team?

With this job interview question employers seek to find out if and how the job seeker may have handled a failed team experience at work? Where does the job seeker place blame for the failed team experience; on other team members? Do they take any of the responsibility for the bad experience? Exceptional team players will share what they may have learned from the experience? Do they say that they have avoided team work because of the experience?

Job interview question #3 - What strategies would you use to effectively join an existing team?

Answers to this job interview question should give a sense of whether or not the job seeker understands the processes and phases involved in building workplace teams? Does the applicant speak to finding out more about the team members? Does the job seeker speak to the challenges of possibly being the outsider at first and that it might take time to become one of the gang? Exceptional team players always know that learning something about the individuals first, is one strategy to become one of the team.

Job interview question #4 - You are on a team and things are not going well; what do you do?

To answer this job interview question, exceptional team players might share the fact that sometimes the only way to solve dysfunctional teams is to break them up. Having said that, good team players know that sometimes intervention and team mediation works. Listen for whether the job seeker speaks to the team solving the problem or the team asking a supervisor to solve the problem? Good team players know that alliances build within teams and depending on the specific issue, one or two team members may have to take the lead to refocus the team on the issues at hand.

Job interview question #5 - Tell us about your experience with self-managed workplace teams?

If the job seeker doesn't appear to know the term "self-managed" team, then the employer can assume that the job seeker might not have had workplace training on how teams can work together to meet desired workplace objectives.