Panel Interview?

Question

I've never had a panel interview so I don't know what to expect. I will be interviewed by 4 people tomorrow and need to know how to approach this and what I should do differently than 1 on 1 interviews.

Thanks

Answer 1

I would highly question why I would want to work for this company! Panel interviews are a complete disarray of people that have zero interviewing skills. If a company does not have the decency to interview someone on a one on one or possibly manager and hr witness, it will make an interviewee in most cases uncomfortable.

Answer 2

Many companies have gone to panel interviews for several reasons. One is it's easier to get through the interview process when all interested parties are in the room at once. Two, it's a little bit more stressful so they can evaluate how you handle stress. Three, it's harder to adjust to multiple communication styles when they are all staring at you. Panel interviews tend to be more formal than the rest, with a strict line of questioning that they follow.

Read up on two specific types of interviews to get yourself ready for tomorrow.
1 - Behavior Based or the S/TAR method
2 - CIDS - Chronological In Depth Survey (from the book Top Grading)

Make sure you keep your eye contact even to all the speakers, even if one seems to be running the show. Make sure to put in questions where appropriate. It's okay to have the interviewers elaborate.

At the start of the interview ask them "Can you tell me how each of you is affected by not having a person in this position I am interviewing for?" That way you can see what each person is looking for, and hopefully give positive responses. If you can't ask at the start, just ask at the end, you'll probably get good conversation out of it.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Don't do anything different. Just relax and be yourself. It's much more efficient for the employer to conduct a panel interview. At my company panel interviews are more relaxed than 1 on 1 interviews. Good Luck!