You might have loved solving riddles and arranging puzzle pieces as a child. The euphoria that you experience on solving riddles and completing puzzles is your reward for the effort you put in and the amount of rigorous exercises your brain had to perform. Well, you cannot vouch for the same once you are an adult who’s seeking a job. This is when the same brain teasers that you once loved so fondly let you down. There may however, still be quite a few Einsteins and Stephen Hawkings out there who may still tackle brain teasers with confidence. But if you are not one of them, check out some of the tactics given below to get back in the game like a pro!

• The first step is the one that would ease your problem to a more bearable level(a mathematical brain teaser might especially require this step). Get a pen and a paper and chalk out the question there. You can calculate the figures or chalk out how object A is related to object K. This is the easiest way out!

• Take a deep breath and consider the question posed in front of you. Break it down into parts to understand it better or read it as a complete entity, whichever you deem appropriate to solve the problem at hand.

• Filter the available information. Keep the relevant information and chuck the rest. The chances that your answer would be lurking somewhere between the huge chunk of information. So, learn to prioritize your information. In short, declutter the material provided to you, the answer would be hidden somewhere in there.

• Be confident about your final answer and again, be confident when you convey the same answer to the interviewer. When you are asked about how many manholes are present in Minnesota, the interviewer isn’t looking for the accurate number of manholes in the city, your confidence is what they are banking on. So, even if the answer is nowhere near the actual answer, your conviction that the answer you arrived at is correct, is what would be your ace of spades.

• When posed with a very intriguing brain teaser, think out aloud! Yes, thinking out aloud helps you arrange your thoughts in a logical order and  you can arrive at the conclusion with grace. Also, when you think out aloud, you are familiarizing your interviewer with your problem solving skills and your analytical mind, which is what they are looking for!

So, these are some of the techniques which, after considerable practice would help sharpen your problem-solving skills and also, get you closer to that dream job of yours!