“Who Is Your Best and Worst Boss?” asks an interviewer.
Interviewers may ask you about your experiences with previous supervisors in order to learn more about your ideal working relationship with your boss. By discussing some of your best experiences with them, you may show your previous supervisors how you handle both positive and difficult working relationships. When asked about your best and worst supervisors, you can show your professionalism and interpersonal abilities. This article offers advice on how to answer this question and provides sample responses you may use as a guide. It also discusses why a prospective employer might ask about your best and worst bosses during an interview.
why interview inquiries ask about your best and worst supervisors.
Asking about your prior supervisors might reveal a lot about your work habits and skills to interviewers. Interviewers are initially assessing your work habits and the kind of leadership style you value with this inquiry. When talking about your best and worst supervisors, you typically mention specific qualities that you either didn’t like or particularly valued in a manager. Interviewers can utilize this information to determine how well you fit with the organization’s present management and leadership philosophies.
Interviewers may also utilize this question to determine how you would react when asked about previous coworkers. You can tell a lot about your ability to take accountability at work by the way you talk about your prior managers. Despite the fact that many people work for managers who aren’t a good fit for their management style, competent candidates take ownership of their own professional growth and success. They also appreciate former bosses, regardless of how they personally interacted with them. Interviewers will give preference to candidates who can discuss both positive and negative issues in a courteous, solution-focused manner.
How should you react to your greatest and worst bosses?
To prepare for a thorough response that eloquently explains both your favorable and unfavorable contacts with managers at work, review the following rules:
1. Be trustworthy
Since both good and poor experiences with a manager are asked for in this question, it is beneficial to be consistent when defining your ideal bosses at work. If you loved one manager because of their personable approach, don’t discuss how you didn’t appreciate the hands-on leadership style of another boss. When hiring managers observe consistency with the traits you value, they might learn more about your own work habits.
2. List examples
Consider giving specific situations, acts, or inclinations as an illustration of why you liked or disliked a management. This enables you to focus more on specific elements of their working approach and less on their personality or character. You can mention how you handled the situation or how that manager affected your career when you use examples.
3. Take accountability
You can show that you are accountable for your own career by outlining how you responded to each manager’s leadership. When discussing your relationship with your favorite manager, you can discuss how they motivated you or helped you advance your career. When addressing a negative experience with a boss, it’s critical to be open and honest about the lessons you learned from seeing them lead or the strategies you used to keep a positive working relationship despite not liking their management style.
For instance, who is your best and worst boss?
Here are some sample responses that demonstrate how to react to questions about your favorite and least favorite managers:
Table 1
“Despite my long-standing desire in moving industries, my present manager, who I look up to as a career role model, is one of the reasons I’ve remained in this position for so long. They are skilled at seeing the unique characteristics of each team member and crafting initiatives that are suited to our abilities and passions. From the moment I started working for the company, they made an effort to get to know me, find out about my goals, and assist me in developing professionally. I want to apply that distinct project management approach in my future job.
While I was there for two years, I had another manager with whom I hardly ever spoke. Having the option to learn from your management is advantageous in any job, but I really cherished the ability to hone my independence and advocacy abilities. I took away from that experience the need to seek out guidance from a range of sources while working with a manager that has a hands-off management style.”
Table 2
“My favorite boss was a great leader because they encouraged me to consider and plan my own personal growth. They advised me to assess my performance rather than simply listing things I could do better, and to make goals for the skills I wished to develop. This helped me succeed at work and gave me a sense of responsibility and self-awareness that I now carry over into both my personal and professional lives.
The most challenging situation I’ve ever been in with a supervisor was when the previous manager abruptly resigned and the company had to pick an interim manager right away. The scenario wasn’t ideal because the manager was new to the company and had less experience than the majority of the workforce. The entire team worked together to manage ongoing projects and assist the new interim manager. Despite the conflict, it helped us all come together and clarify our individual roles.”
Table 3
“I continually want to enhance my leadership skills, therefore I assess each of my managers for empowering traits and opportunities for growth. The five years I spent working at the same company saw my supervisor go back and forth between being my worst and best management. When I first arrived, they had just become a manager. Being new to our roles, we both lacked confidence, which made it challenging for us to complete the task.
As they gained experience as a leader, they provided me with more guidance and implemented some of their brilliant ideas to improve the team. Observing them be proactive about becoming stronger leaders and having more confidence inspired me to take the initiative in my own job. I stopped constantly asking multiple department heads for advice and started thinking of one particular boss as my most important mentor.”
