Sticky Situation No. 2: The Devil’s Advocate
No matter what, you and the person on the other side of the interview table aren’t going to agree on everything. Hopefully you won’t find much resistance to any of the answers you give during your interview, but you should prepare for scenarios where the two of you just don’t see eye-to-eye. After all, some interviewers argue with candidates just to test how they’ll react under scrutiny. Still, a disagreement can be very unnerving, making you wonder if you just lost your chance at landing the position.
Solution: Find Common Ground
You don’t want to position yourself as someone who’ll change their opinion based on who they’re trying to impress, but you do want the interviewer to feel comfortable. Don’t get defensive or combative — try to smooth over disagreements with statements like, “I can understand that point of view,” or “You know, I never thought about it that way.” Then, even if you didn’t give the perfect answer, you’ll look flexible — and every nurse needs to be flexible, right? That’s a better idea than changing your answer entirely, as that will lead the interviewer to think you’re just saying what they want to hear.
