MightyRecruiterWith a panel interview, you give your employees a chance to see how well they get along with job candidates before they are hired. Something else to think about is that panel interviews can make employees more invested in the overall future success of a job candidate, which can play a huge part in the overall success of that individual once he or she becomes an employee.
Manage Personality and First Impression Bias
Not everyone views the world through the same lens as you, which means you might have one opinion about a candidate while someone else thinks something that’s completely different. If you’re interviewing a person by yourself, there’s a chance you can become biased by a first impression or by your perspective of a person’s personality. Just because a person interviews well doesn’t necessarily mean he or she will perform well in a specific position, and the reverse is also true. Panel interviews give you a balanced opinion and impression of a single candidate and could bring to mind aspects you might otherwise have missed.
Make Sure You Focus on the Position and Not the Candidate
As you’re assembling your team for your panel interview, it’s essential that you make sure everyone is on the same page in regards to the applicant you desire. For instance, you don’t want to focus solely on the individual’s credentials. instead, it’s better to focus on the position itself. As long as the person is able to successfully sign at least three new accounts a month and a million in sales, does it really matter how many years of experience he or she has or whether the individual has a master’s degree? Making this clear ensures everyone knows which questions to ask to accurately assess the candidate.
Better Interviewing Accuracy
Going back to personality and first impression bias, panel interviews make for more accurate candidate assessments in multiple ways. Some panel participants can focus on behavioral fact-finding questions while others can concentrate on accomplishment-based questions. What this combination does is allow you to more accurately determine if the interviewee will be a good fit, is properly motivated to fulfill the job position and is able to perform all necessary job duties. After all, it won’t do you much good to hire a person that meets one of those requirements but falls flat on the others, which may lead to you hiring multiple people to perform a single job.
Make Sure Panel Participants Know What Their Input Will Be
In addition to making sure everyone is on the same page, you should also be sure panel participants are clear on what their input will be. For instance, are you wanting for them to act as consultants on your decision whether to hire a candidate, or would you like for everyone to be in agreement about a candidate before you decide to hire her or him? No matter on which you decide, make sure the interviewing format and input is consistent from one candidate to the next.
It’s Beneficial to Candidates
Not only are panel interviews beneficial to business owners and hiring managers, they’re beneficial to the person being interviewed as well. By meeting with multiple representatives of your company, candidates get a more multifaceted idea of what it’s like to work for your company and the jobs they’ll be performing, which ensures the both of you enter into a work relationship with clear and fair impressions. When done right, a panel interview can also help to ease some of the pressure that’s common to traditional one-on-one interviews. No matter if you’re only looking to fill a single position or several, a panel interview can be just what you need to find the best qualified individuals for your company. For more tips on making all-star hires, be sure to explore more of Mighty Recruiter’s expert tools and articles. We’re here to help you bring out the absolute best in your employees and your company.