So, we know that we will need to solve problems in life; and I'm rather talking about cases, not actual "problems". These skills will come in useful on an interview, or in life in general, dealing with difficult situations. In this blog post, I'll talk about a general way to approaching controversial cases:
Once you are presented with a case and given a question:
1. Identify what the actual problem is
If you are, lets say, given a controversial scenario, the PROBLEM itself might not be directly identifiable.
For instance, if you are a physician and you have a 14-year-old girl come in and ask for birth control pills and asks you not to tell her parents. Do you give the pills or not; do you tell her parents or not? Giving a pill is NOT a problem. The problem is: finding a compromise between her wishes (birth control + not telling her parents) and her optimal health.
So in order to identify the true problem, you must break the question up into smaller components. In order to do this efficiently, you have you be educated on that issue, or be capable of using deductive reasoning!
2. Gather information
Like in math, in order to solve a problem, you must collect all known variables after you've identified what the missing variable is. This task requires good knowledge of the topic for further analysis!
3. Use rules
There must be some sort of rules you should follow while proceeding with the solution of the problem. Utilising the above example, those rules would come from Canada Health Act, which talks about the best quality care, including all ethical principles.
You must fundamentally consider the laws, policies and ethical issues you might be dealing with, as well as any specific to your scenario rules.
4. Analyze Outcomes
There might be multiple outcomes to a certain solution that you come up with. Make sure you analyse all pros and cons of the outcomes, and even if all solutions might have flaws in it, refer to the rules to help you choose which flaw would bring a minor impact.
5. Identify your response
Once you've broken up the question into components, analyzed them, gathered all need information needed, have used rules, and mainly, have analyzed the outcomes, you could be ready to solve the problem. Of course, your judgement of the issue must be objective and mature, therefore once you will find and solidify your point of view present it confidently and CLEARLY to the interviewer (if there is one) and make sure you back it up with appropriate persuasive reasoning.
6. Be professional OR Interview Tips
If you are on the interview, use soft, calm and confident voice and gestures to communicate your ideas. Make sure you make eye contact with an interviewer and you should, of course, be very well groomed before presenting yourself to that person.
Never jump to any hasty conclusions, and analyse your thoughts out loud, since its a wonderful opportunity to expose your thinking skills in front of the interviewer.
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