The “Toxic” Red Flag

Recruiter: “How do you manage difficult stakeholders?”

Applicant: “I don’t. Their functional manager has that responsibility. If stakeholders are difficult, unreasonable, unresponsive, and that behavior isn’t actively being addressed by leadership, I will quit.”

Ohhhh, was that not the answer you thought you were going to get?

Did you expect me to expound upon what great a facilitator I am? “Building bridges,” finding common ground, using my powers of empathy, remembering the servant in servant-leader?

Nope, not doing any of that…

What I AM doing is immediately thanking the interviewer and taking a hard pass.

Stop asking applicants how they deal with difficult people, and start asking why management is jeopardizing the company’s brand and future by keeping well-known PITAs around. A revolving door of talent isn’t going to fix your toxic culture…