Tell me about a time you disagreed with a supervisor or someone with authority over you.
Whether you can push back professionally. Critical in dentistry — you will one day disagree with an attending about a treatment plan.
How to structure your answer
- 1The disagreement and what was at stake
- 2How you raised it
- 3How you handled the outcome, including if you lost
- Show you raised it privately and respectfully
- Explain the reasoning you brought, not just the objection
- Describe accepting the final decision gracefully
- Say what you learned about how to disagree well
A strong answer
What lands
I was a shift lead at a coffee shop and my manager wanted to put a new hire alone on Saturday opens after four training shifts. I thought that was too fast, so I asked to talk before the schedule posted, not in front of him, and I brought the specific things I'd still been fixing that week. Grinder settings and the till count. She heard me out and went ahead anyway, with a floater on call. It was fine, actually. What I took from it is that I'd rather be told no early than be right later.
Raised privately with reasons, lost, accepted it, and says what losing taught her.
A weak answer
What most people say
Honestly, I've been lucky with my supervisors and I haven't really had a serious disagreement with one. I try hard to understand where they're coming from, and if I do see something differently I'll usually just adapt, because they have a lot more experience than I do and they're seeing the whole picture.
Never having disagreed reads as passive, or as a question being dodged.
The trap
⚠Two ditches. Claiming you've never disagreed with anyone reads as either passive or dishonest. Telling a story where you were right and they were an idiot reads as someone who'll be a problem in clinic.
Reading it isn't the same as saying it.
Most people can explain a good answer and still fall apart saying one out loud. Admitted asks you all 100 questions in a faculty voice, records you, and scores your pace and filler words.
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