Interview Question: ​"How would you describe your relationship with your former boss?"

Although you shouldn’t lie about your relationship with a former boss/manager, you should always speak positively about them and the relationship you had. We all know that not every boss is a good one. In fact, there are plenty of overly aggressive, extremely unqualified bosses out there who make working with them extremely unpleasant.

That being said, if you badmouth your boss, it gives you a negative image and the hiring manager might perceive you as a person who isn't easy to get along with, or who might even give their own company a bad reputation if they hire you and you don’t get along with the boss there.

This question is meant to show employers how you are to work with, more than it's used to show how your previous managers/bosses were to work with.

Tips:

• Never badmouth or go into detail about the negative behavior you experienced from a previous boss.
• Focus your response on showing the hiring manager what a great person you are to work with, and how well you get along with those around you.
• Even if your relationship with your boss wasn't great, hardly existed, or was downright awful, talk about what you did to try to improve the relationship and communication.

Example:

“My relationship with my previous boss was an overall positive one. We worked quite well together and she felt she could rely on me to complete projects under tight deadlines. We did have a couple of minor miscommunication problems, however, I spoke to her about clarifying the scope of a project in the initial stages of the project so that we were on the same page and we were able to avoid any miscommunications from happening.”