Panel Interview

A panel interview involves multiple interviewers present at the same time. The panel may include the hiring manager, a peer from the team, a cross-functional stakeholder, and/or HR. **Why companies use panels:** - Efficiency: multiple evaluators assess simultaneously instead of sequentially - Reduced bias: decisions made with multiple perspectives are more defensible - Consistency: all panel members hear the same answers, enabling fair comparison - For senior roles: ensuring key stakeholders have input into a hire that affects them **The dynamic:** Panel interviews feel more formal and can be harder to read than one-on-one conversations. Multiple people asking questions in turn can disrupt conversational flow. **How to handle them:** - **Give eye contact to everyone**: When answering a question from one person, begin your eye contact with them, but sweep the group periodically — especially when making a key point - **Learn all names**: Write them down as they introduce themselves - **Identify the decision-maker**: One person usually has more weight than others. Treat everyone respectfully but understand who you're primarily persuading. - **Pace yourself**: Panels tend to run formal agendas. Don't rush; they'll move through their questions. - **Send individual thank you notes**: Email each panelist separately after the interview **Government and academic panels:** These are typically more formal, with questions read from a standardized list and scores assigned to each answer. Panels for public sector roles are often required to use identical questions for every candidate.