How to answer "How do you approach teamwork?" in a job interview

Have you ever struggled to answer teamwork questions at a job interview?

There's no need to feel this way!

Use these tips to talk about your experience and express your enthusiasm for teamwork to land your dream job.

Teamwork is a universal skill required in almost all jobs across industries. Recruiters are interested in seeing how you:

• Interact with others.

• Work within a group.

• Thrive in a work environment.

Recruiters gauge your ability to work in teams and your interpersonal skills from your answers. Although there isn't a perfect reply, these tips can help:

• Give examples with positive outcomes. Think about past examples where your contribution made a difference.

• Use recent experiences if possible. Reflect on your previous job or a recent voluntary project you undertook.

• Show your understanding of why teams succeed/fail.Rehearse a situation where your manager gave positive feedback to the team.

• Frame your answers using the STAR model. Check out this Byte on how to use STAR for more information.

Let's see a typical question and how to approach it.

Question: Do you prefer working with others, or alone?

I love working in a diverse, supportive environment. In my previous job as an instructor, the school wanted to promote the students' participation in a cultural pub quiz. My job was to find a way to attract people to the event. I brainstormed ways of promoting it with my colleagues and used a colleague's idea of creating a poster for the event. After a week, student participation went up by 30%.

I can work on my own, or in teams. I don't mind. I can adapt to everything the team requires.

The first answer shows a specific, positive example with a positive outcome. The second is vague and incomplete.