How to Answer ‘What is Your Work Style?’ in an Interview

During the job interview process, recruiters and hiring managers may ask candidates about their work style. This question helps to assess the candidate’s soft skills and helps the hiring manager understand if the candidate will fit into the company culture. Variations of this common interview question may include asking about your work personality, preferred work environment, and how you manage relationships with your manager and coworkers.

Organizational and HR experts recognize four basic work styles. You may have skills in more than one style, and you may even be strong in all four categories.

1. 1. Organized and detail-oriented: These are the perfectionists who spend a lot of time pouring over each detail for accuracy. They may be slower to complete tasks than others on the team, but they produce high-quality work.
2. 2. Logical and analytical: People with this work style may spend a lot of time analyzing an issue and working to solve a problem in the most pragmatic way possible. In doing so, they may be less communicative than those with other work styles.
3. 3. Big picture- and idea-oriented: These types often have great ideas and understand the larger goals of a project, but may have trouble focusing on each small task required to achieve those big goals.
4. 4. Supportive: People with this work style are relationship builders who want to be emotionally supportive in addition to completing work tasks.

Share your skills and examples from previous jobs to demonstrate your working style in an interview. Consider these five traits when talking about your work style:

1. 1. Demonstrate your problem-solving skills. Provide answers that show how you work through challenging situations. Hiring managers often want to know if you can arrive at proposed solutions before asking team members or managers what to do.
2. 2. Explain how you work with other team members. Teamwork is an important aspect of many jobs, especially in a role where you’ll be working across departments to achieve common goals as part of a team. Cite specific examples of how you function as part of a team and how you work to resolve conflicts within a team.
3. 3. Show past examples of attention to detail. This is especially important in roles that are detail-oriented, such as writing, editing, programming, and data analysis jobs. Explain your process, including methods you take to ensure accuracy, and share your organizational skills.
4. 4. Showcase your communication skills. Explain how you proactively communicate problems and provide progress updates. Additionally, be clear about your communication style with clients and team members.
5. 5. Understand the big picture. This is especially important for managers or individual contributors who work with minimal supervision. Focus on answers that demonstrate your ability to connect the dots between your specific job role and larger company goals.

Follow these tips to best prepare for the interview question:

1. 1. Use the job description as a guide. Before a job interview, look through the key phrases and requirements in the job description. Prepare several answers so you can demonstrate how your personal work style is a good fit for the job and the company as a whole.
2. 2. Avoid negative answers. Focus on the positive aspects of your work style. For example, if you dislike working in large groups, you might say “I’m very effective working on projects independently, but can jump in and be a team player when needed.”
3. 3. Prepare for follow-up questions. A hiring manager may ask you a related follow-up question, so prepare to speak about your work personality, optimal work environment, and interpersonal skills.

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