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Kritika Kulshrestha
Senior Associate, Duff & Phelps, India
Krithika is a communications expert and has worked with Cornell University, Deloitte Consulting, Austin Business Journal etc. She has written and edited 9,500+ articles spanning retail commerce, AI, machine learning etc.
Tricky workplace situation handled
By this mentor in various human skills
1
- Empathy is about realizing that everybody in this world is going through some challenge, some situation that you may not go through. But you should stand by them emotionally and mentally. You're in it with them. I often empathize with people around me.
2
- Emotional empathy is when you can understand the emotions a person is going through; cognitive empathy is when you're being empathetic with your mind, by actually helping the people out.
- Empathetic concern is when you're not actually doing anything to help them out, you're being a listener; cognitive empathy means you've actively doing something concrete to help the person.
- Emotional empathy
3
- What you won't do to yourself or what you find intolerable for yourself, is unacceptable for someone else, too. That's empathy. You don't have to go through their situation to know how they're feeling. Imagine yourself in their shoes.
1
- Recruiters ask situational questions to understand how a candidate thinks and behaves. How will the candidate handle a tough workplace situation? How will a candidate manage a team in a difficult environment? Answering these questions gives recruiters a good idea of culture fit and also gives them an insight into a candidate's personality.
2
- I would be patient, take a step back and list some concrete reasons why this new idea makes perfect sense. If they still refuse to believe in the concept, I would ask them why they thought they way they did. I would ask them their reasons for resisting the idea. Asking your team questions is important. You get to know how they're thinking and why they're thinking in a particular way. Through the discussion, it's then possible to arrive at a middle ground. We can land on a common idea that works for everybody.
- I would have a heart-to-heart conversation with the employee to understand their personal life more deeply. Often, people's personal problems can affect their work. It's important to know what's holding them back.
- I would keep my personal preferences aside and be entirely professional. I would make it clear to this person that the success of the project mattered the most. So, we would use our strengths to finish the project successfully. Focus on the long-term goal. Not the short-term pain.
- Initially, I would feel disappointed. But then I wouldn't let that stop me from reorienting myself to the new goals. In this new world, we're expected to think on our feet, adapt and pivot quickly. If you don't adapt to the dynamic environment, you will get left behind. Be agile.
3
- In situational interviews, always imagine yourself in that situation. Then, put empathy at the forefront of every response. What does the other person think? What could the other person possibly want? Put yourself in the shoes of the other person when you're trying to tackle situational interviews. Another way to find the best response to a situational interview is to leave ego aside. In fact, you should forget you have an ego. Empathy is more important than ego.
4
- This is an example I use from my own experience. There was a time when I was interviewing with multiple companies - looking for internships, full-time jobs, etc. I researched every company and the role thoroughly. Each role was slightly different from the other. Second, because these were media related positions I was looking for, I approached every question as a conversation. For the technical round of the interview, I prepared, I studied. But when I went in I mentally prepared myself for any question that came at me. No matter the question, I didn't let it affect my confidence. Even if you're messing up, pretend like you aren't. Pretend like you know what you're doing. But do this smartly.
5
- Listen carefully to what the interviewer is asking. Many times, the answer to a question is hidden in the question itself. Sometimes in our haste to respond, we forget to listen. Don't do that.
6
- The recruiter is asking how the interviewee worked with their team. But the interviewee did not listen properly to what was being asked. The entire focus of his response was on how he alone handled the task. He should have avoided using words like "I did most of the work", "It took a lot of time and energy", "I'm hard-working usually" etc. Nowhere in this response did he talk about the team work. It was all about him.
7
- The interviewee could have been less aggressive in his response; he implied all the blame on his boss. He shouldn't have used words like "I challenged the way my boss handled things". He could have approached the question with more nuance. For example, I would said: I was fired from my previous job because of certain disagreements between my boss and me. My boss had a different way of handling projects and there were multiple instances when we didn't see eye to eye. I am a perfectionist and when I care about something enough I fight for it. I do not hesitate to state my views. I believe any organization should respect its employees enough to create an environment where they can speak their mind without the fear of being judged.
8
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- Make every negative statement a positively negative statement. What do i mean by that? Instead of saying, "I hate software development," try saying, "I prefer to work on creative projects rather than software development". You can even make this statement more positive by saying, "While software development is one of my strengths, I feel I'm more suited to a role in business development or client servicing because of my communication and people skills." In this way, you're not sounding negative to the recruiter. Make every negative thought or word into a positive statement.
