Caroline sent in this question and explained that she normally has to lie when responding as she really doesn't like team work, preferring instead to work autonomously. She knows that most people on an interview panel can tell she is lying, and she is right as good trained interviewers can hear a lie a mile off!!

So what to do? Generally this question is asked at interview when the job involves team work and the interviewer is simply trying to ascertain if you'll fit in to the team. If you're like Caroline and don't like team work then really you shouldn't be going for roles where a significant proportion of that job involves teamwork. If you do then it's likely you'll be unhappy in the job as you'll be mismatched to the position. Of course it's not always possible to avoid getting involved in some team work, but it's important to clarify how much autonomy you'll have. You could try a response like this "I am capable of working as part of a team and contributing to the success of that team, but generally most of the work I have done has required me to work autonomously. Will that be the case with this job?" You might also want to give an example of previous roles you've held where you functioned autonomously but contributed to the overall success of the team/department/organisation.

Not everyone will like the fact that you like to work autonomously, but there are lots of jobs out there where this is a good attribute to have, and you'll be saving yourself a lot of heart ache further down the road by not jumping in to jobs that are really not aligned with your values and preferences.

What do you think? Blog us here with your suggestion for Caroline