In the last two days we’ve discussed the lunch interview and the panel interview.
Yesterday I referred to the panel interview as a group interview but there is another form of group interview that is actually quite different, and is one that I have experienced once.
The group interview I experienced actually involved me being interviewed by a panel of staff from the employer along with a group of other job candidates for the same job!
So it was like a panel interview and a group interview rolled into one.
It occurred right after I graduated from university and had moved overseas to New Zealand. The company – a multi national corporation – was looking for an entry level staff member to join their marketing department and I was on the short list with 8 other people from around the country. The whole interview process actually lasted for five days from Monday – Friday, 8am-5pm each day.
The interview process was quite interesting in terms of how it rolled out. An HR staffer from the company acted as a facilitator and for the first few days, the group of us being considered for the job all met together and worked through a series of group activities that were observed and led by the HR staffer.
During the latter part of the week, senior managers were brought in and met with us as a group and then on an individual basis to interview us in the more traditional one-on-one interview that we’ve probably experienced.
Finally, all 9 of us being considered for the job interviewed as a group by 5 executives from the company who sat in a row behind a table in front of us. So the final “interview” was the panel interview and group interview rolled into one that I mentioned earlier.
I recall one question that we were asked to close this interview where the executive asking the question wanted us to tell them the one reason they should hire us.
I offered to go first and I recall mentioning one of my skills that I thought would benefit them. 7 other people in the group took the same tact and mentioned one thing that they felt was a positive.
The last person to answer the question was a woman who started her answer by suggesting that she had a “total package” of skills and when I saw the HR staffer smiling and nodding her head in agreement, I knew she’d given them the answer they were looking for.
I didn’t get the job – I suspect the woman with the “total package” answer did – but I had a good experience with this interview. Given that it took place over a period of days, it wasn’t really an interview per se but rather a drawn out interview process and series of interviews but it was a great experience to have early in my career and a good learning point for me, too.
