Adapting your approach is something you will need to do from time to time during your career.

If your job search isn’t going well, doing the same thing over and over again probably doesn’t make any sense since you’ll probably just get the same (poor) result.

During a job interview, you might need to change your approach if you enter the interview expecting one thing and getting something completely different.

In one case early in my career, I went to an interview expecting to be interviewed by one person and instead got interviewed by three people simultaneously in a panel-type interview.

In another, I sat in the office with the interviewer and as I waited for him to open the interview and start asking me questions, he instead simply asked “so, what do you want to know?”

Knowing what to expect but being able to change on the fly when the needs arises is a skill that can really help you during your career not only in job interviews but in meetings and any time when you have to be on your toes and respond to something you didn’t expect.

It can also help to separate you (in a good way) from other people who aren’t as capable as you in this regard.