Preparing for panel interviews
It's like a normal interview, just with more assessors staring at you. Panel interviews needn’t be daunting with a little preparation and a few tips on how to cope with answering more than one interviewer.
Most assessment centres feature one or more interviews. These will often focus on those areas of your life that your application form or initial interview covered but now require more probing.
Remember what you said the first time
They might have been really happy with you in your application or initial interview, except for a lingering doubt about your motivation to do the job. Or they liked you loads as a person but were unsure about your technical competence. At the assessment centre they can lay these doubts to rest by interviewing you. So try to remember what you said the first time and find out even more about the organisation and the job so you can come up with new examples, and expand on your previous ones.
How to cope
If you don't know who to look at during the interview, the safest thing to do is to give most of the answer back to the person who asked the question with a few brief glances to the others. Don't be thrown if one of the panel starts scribbling notes or looks bored or falls asleep. The bigger the panel, the greater the likelihood that some of its members are not experienced interviewers. Sometimes it helps to know who's who on the panel. Knowing who they are, and therefore what their special interests are, can determine how you answer their individual questions.
Don't panic
Don't get too worked up about panel interviews. Firstly, they are often fairer than individual interviews. If a single interviewer takes an irrational dislike to you, that's the end of the story. But if the same person is part of a panel, they could easily be overruled by the others. Secondly, they usually give you greater opportunities to set the agenda.
Top five panel interview tips
- Try to extend your knowledge further than their brochure, annual report and company website (everyone else will have read those). It's particularly important to be aware of any current news stories about the organisation or the industry it's in.
- Study your application form (you didn't throw it away, did you?). They will certainly have a copy and might ask you to clarify certain aspects of your life.
- If you are applying for a technical or scientific job, expect a grilling on your knowledge of the subject. Remember those course notes and project reports? Dig them out and refresh your memory. It's crazy to blow your chances because you've forgotten something that you have already learned.
- At this stage of the selection process, they will expect you to have a high level of enthusiasm for the job and be very clear exactly why you should be offered it. Don't disappoint them!
- On the other hand, don't forget all the good basic preparation and common sense that got you this far.
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