If your palms start to sweat before a one-on-one interview, you can
imagine the nerves that come when a potential employer says you’ll be
meeting with not one, but four people—all at the same time!
Four-on-one hardly seems fair—that means four times the interviewers,
asking four times the rapid-fire questions. But fair or not, it’s best
to be prepared—“interview by firing squad” is a common way for companies
to speed up their hiring process, not to mention see how candidates will react in a group setting.
Yes, building a rapport with multiple evaluators is that many times
harder than connecting with just one—but it’s definitely possible. Here
are a few survival tips for your next panel interview.
Know Who’s Firing Questions at You
Typically, your panel of interviewers will represent multiple areas
of the company, so each representative will consider you through a
different lens. For example, if you’re interviewing at a tech company
for a project management role, your panel might include the department
manager (your potential direct supervisor), an HR manager, and team
leads from the engineering and marketing departments,