The Panel Interview: Increasingly, we’re coaching our clients to conduct panel interviews—two to three people from the company conversing with a potential employee.  The panel interview is more fun, generally have more energy, and are frequently more informative that an traditional 1/1.

These are executed best with experienced interviewers who have a relationship with each other, and ideally, genuinely like each other.  The last thing you want to have happen is the sense that the company ‘ganged up’ on the candidate.  Starting light, laughing, and speaking first about the company, the role, or better, the culture and about yourself is a great way to break the ice.

Even for people like us who interview and assess candidates all day long, it’s difficult to be ‘on’ 100% of the time, to ask thoughtful follow-up questions, to probe on answers that don’t seem quite right, to catch everything.  Having a partner in crime on the interview team allows for a mutually richer conversation.

The panel interview, if done well, the candidate feels more of a collaboration, more of a peer culture and isn’t subjected to 8 questions that start with ‘tell me about yourself’.

Try it—you might like it.  Feel free to contact us for complimentary tips and suggestions on how to create a compelling candidate experience.  contact@thepacheragroup.com