Teamwork interview questions are a common type of behavioral interview questions. This means that to give a strong answer, you’ll need to refer to real-life examples of how you worked on a team to make an impact.
Interviewers ask questions about teamwork to assess your skills, like:
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Inter and intrapersonal relationships
- Giving and receiving feedback
- Dealing with difficult situations or people
In your answers, you want to show that you’ll fit in with the team, solve conflicts easily, and deal with day-to-day challenges with resilience.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- Common teamwork interview questions and sample answers.
- How to come up with relevant examples of how you applied teamwork skills.
- How to stay positive in case of negative or uncomfortable questions.
- How to use the STAR method to answer teamwork interview questions.
Don’t waste days compiling overused interview techniques. Get original answers to every single question you could expect.
The Most Common Teamwork Interview Questions
If you’ve just come here for a list of questions you should prepare for, here it is:
- Tell me about a team project that you worked on. What was your role in it?
- Describe a project that required input from people at different levels in the organization.
- Share a rewarding team experience. Why do you think it succeeded?
- Tell me about a time when you worked with a difficult team member.
- Give me an example of a team project that failed. What did you learn from it?
- Can you give an example of how you’ve handled a conflict within a team?
- How do you keep a team motivated during challenging times or when facing project setbacks?
- Can you discuss a time when you received constructive criticism from a team member?
- Tell us about a time when you had to adapt quickly to changes within a team or project. How did you manage?
Below, you’ll see good sample answers to these questions. Pay attention to how these candidates incorporate concrete examples into their narrative. (And use the answers as a reference point to prepare your own.)
Teamwork Interview Questions and Sample Answers
Tell me about a team project that you worked on. What was your role in it?
Sample answer (Marketing):
Describe a project that required input from people at different levels in the organization.
Sample answer (HR):
Share a rewarding team experience. Why do you think it succeeded?
Sample answer (Civil engineering):
Tell me about a time when you worked with a difficult team member.
Sample answer (Sales):
Give me an example of a team project that failed. What did you learn from it?
Sample answer (Marketing):
Can you give an example of how you’ve handled a conflict within a team?
Sample answer (Project Management):
How do you keep a team motivated during challenging times or when facing project setbacks?
Sample answer (Retail):
Can you discuss a time when you received constructive criticism from a team member?
Sample answer (Marketing):
Tell us about a time when you had to adapt quickly to changes within a team or project. How did you manage?
Sample answer (Customer Service):
How to Answer Teamwork Interview Questions
Our Chief career coach Pamela helped thousands of job-seekers answer common interview questions and land the jobs of their dreams. Below, we’ll share some of her top tips for answering teamwork interview questions.
The first step to giving a strong answer is understanding what your interviewers really want to learn.
Questions related to teamwork are aimed at gauging your:
- Communication skills
- Inter and intrapersonal skills
- Problem-solving skills
- Conflict resolution skills
- Intercultural awareness
When answering, your goal is to talk about instances where you used those skills to achieve desired results. Using concrete examples from your past is crucial because questions about teamwork are behavioral interview questions.
The assumption is that your past performance is the best indicator of how you’ll behave in the future. A surefire way to come up with good answers is using the STAR framework (Situation–Task–Action–Result) and always picking a real-life situation to illustrate your point.
Here’s how to come up with the perfect answer that will provide all the relevant details and position you as a great team player.
Choose a recent experience
Most skills relevant for successful teamwork are soft skills. Soft skills can be developed and worked on over a period of time.
This is why it’s important to choose a situation that happened recently in order to show the current level of your skills.
If you pick a situation that happened years ago, could you guarantee that you’d react the exact same way today?
Ideally, pick a situation from the last year — but it’s ok to go a bit further back for a particularly interesting or relevant story. And if you’d do something differently today, make sure to bring it up.
Keep it relevant
Pick an appropriate story that will best illustrate the type of collaboration skill needed for a position.
For this, you’ll need to study the job description.
Review it to get a better understanding of the type of collaboration mode required in this job.
For example, teamwork in marketing will be centered around creative brainstorming or collaborating on campaigns or strategic roadmaps; in customer service, it’s going to be focused on collaborative problem-solving and efficiency. In software development, it might be about mentoring others.
Then pick the most relevant example you have. It’s a good idea to prepare a few examples that represent different types of team projects, so you’re covered for several scenarios.
Stay positive
Interviewers can put a specific spin on a teamwork interview question and make it focused on an unpleasant situation:
- Tell me about a failed team project
- Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult coworker
- Can you recall a situation where you had to push back on an idea or a suggestion
- Tell me about a time you had to say no to a coworker
- Tell me about a time when you had to give negative feedback
The key to answering such questions is to put a positive spin on your reply: no badmouthing, no dwelling on the negatives, no complaining or playing victim.
Instead, focus on how you solved the problem and the positive lessons you learned from it. Icing on the cake is describing how exactly this negative experience made you a better team player.
In addition to teamwork, aim to showcase other positive skills here, like de-escalation, compassion, transparent communication, resilience, and the capacity for self-reflection.
More info about how to answer questions about conflict here:
Use the STAR method
As mentioned, use the STAR (Situation–Task–Action–Result) framework to answer teamwork interview questions.
This framework will let you be detailed on the one hand, and structured and concise on the other. Plus, it will be engaging and interesting for the listener.
- Situation = Set the context of a situation
- Task = Describe what you had to do in order to achieve or solve something
- Action = Describe how you did it, step-by-step (this is supposed to be the longest and most detailed part of the answer)
- Result = State the results and lessons learned.
For a detailed guide on the STAR framework, read: The STAR Interview Method: How to Answer + Examples
And for more information and a sample answer, check out this video:
To nail your answers down 100%, use an Interview Simulator to practice them and get instant feedback on the quality of your answers, from your pace of speech to use of filler words and eye contact.
Summary of the Main Points
Here’s a recap of the most important things to know about teamwork interview questions:
- Teamwork interview questions are a type of behavioral questions. The best way to answer those questions is to refer to specific situations that illustrate your teamwork skills.
- Key skills interviewers want to assess by asking teamwork questions are: communication, collaboration, active listening, conflict resolution, resilience, giving and receiving feedback.
- Use the STAR method to answer interview questions about teamwork.
- When coming up with an answer, pick a recent story that best illustrates the type of teamwork most likely to be relevant to position (consult the job ad to figure out what that means in your case).
- When asked about a “negative” situation, that is, how you handled a high-stress situation, negative feedback, or a difficult coworker, stay positive, don’t badmouth, and focus on what that experience taught you.
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FAQ
Why do recruiters ask questions about teamwork?
To see if you’re easy to work with, to gauge your inter and intrapersonal skills and communication, how you resolve conflict, how easily you can fit in with the team, and similar.
What to pay attention to when answering questions about teamwork?
Make sure you’re using the STAR method to answer these questions; when choosing a story or example, make sure it’s recent and relevant, that is, it represents the type of teamwork needed for a position you’re applying for.
What if they ask me about a difficult coworker or a tricky situation?
If a question is about a negative situation or a difficult coworker, be sure to stay positive, don’t badmouth other people or play the victim, and focus on what you learned from the experience and how it made you a better team player.
How to decide which story to use to answer a teamwork interview question?
Study the job description to discover the details of the role and what kind of teamwork it encompasses. Then, go through the last year of your professional experience and pick the most relevant story. Don’t pick a story that happened several years ago — people change and there’s no way to guarantee that you would react the same way today.
How to respond to interview questions about teamwork?
Pick a recent, relevant story and use the STAR framework to tell it. Aim to display your teamwork skills like great communication, compassion, resilience, and conflict resolution. Give credit for successes with your team and don’t be self-centered, as that’s the opposite of a team player. Stay positive and list what you learned from each experience and how it made you a better team player.
I work a job where team collaboration is minimal. How do I answer questions about teamwork?
Even if your work doesn’t involve heavy teamwork, there must be instances where you had to coordinate or share information with others. You can discuss that, or how you contributed to a larger team goal. You can even talk about collaboration with people from other departments. Finally, if your job doesn’t offer many teamwork opportunities, you can find an example from a previous job, or from a situation outside work, like volunteering, club memberships, sports, or group hobbies.
I feel like I work better as an individual contributor than a member of a team. Should I be honest about it?
Honesty is important in job interviews, so you can address this, but it’s also important to frame your strengths in a positive light. So if you feel like you perform better as an individual, you can share it, and share the reasons behind it, like better focus or efficient time management. But then, you’ll need to demonstrate that you understand the importance of teamwork and that you’re able to support team goals and teammates too, with examples of when you did it. Finally, use every opportunity to demonstrate key teamwork skills, like your communication skills, flexibility, and adaptability, so that they’re aware you can be a team player even though it’s not your personal preference.
How can I improve my teamwork skills in the workplace?
By fostering clear communication, sharing your ideas, listening to others, and making sure there’s mutual understanding on tasks and objectives. Practice empathy and understanding, and show respect for other people’s ideas and opinions, even if they differ from your own. Be open to feedback, and be careful about how you give it in return: be objective but kind. Finally, be focused on the solutions, not the problems.
