Panel/Behavioral Interview

[Izulde]

Thought I'd tap into the collective knowledge of FOFC.

I have a job interview next week with three people that is either a panel interview or a series of one on ones. Presuming it's a panel interview, how do I go about approaching it differently than a one on one interview? The research I've done suggests that the questions will largely be the same, but a wide variety of scenarios are possible in terms of how it shakes out.

One thing that appears to be consistent is to look at the person asking a particular question but also glance at the other interviewers. I'm a little concerned about this due to my hearing impairment and that I may miss things if there ends up being a lot of back and forth. I don't want to risk asking for a repeat too many times. Similarly, I'm afraid that if I explain about my hearing difficulty before the interview, that I might be sunk.

They also said it's going to be a behavioral interview, which from the same research I've been doing, is designed to probe your past rather than the usual interview where it ranges from that to speculative and personality related questions.

Do the folks of FOFC have any experience with either or both of these types of interview setups, and how should I go about approaching them? Thanks in advance.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I've been a part of two 'panel' interviews, each time with three parties interviewing me. I've failed to land both jobs, though I was highly commended on my conduct during both interviews (to the point where people who weren't involved in the interview process congratulated me on how well I did...for all the good that did me).

I think you've already hit on the best line of thought here - answer the person asking the question, but don't ignore the other parties. Eye contact is important, but do remember which person the question came from. In each of my interviews, the person asking the question was typically the 'expert' on the topic of the question, so it was important to make sure that was the person I was mainly responding to. What I found difficult about the interview (and from what I've read, it's a specific strategy) is that typically at least one of the interviewers is going to be outside of your line of sight while you're addressing the others. It's sometimes really difficult to organically make eye contact with everyone while answering a question. One of the interviews was actually done via video conference, with two of the interviewers in the room with me and the other person remotely interviewing me from the east coast simultaneously...that was tough to adjust to at first, because it almost seemed like the people in the room with me were on "my side," and I felt very little chemistry with the person across the country.

One of the interviews that I did was with the company I currently work for, so I was able to ask around and find out a little about the three people who would be interviewing me. I was also able to introduce myself to a pair of them before the interview happened. It was a tremendous help, and made me much more familiar and comfortable with them while being interviewed. If that's an option for you, I'd highly recommend it.

As for the behavioral thing, I have no experience with that type of interview, so I have no comment.

As for the hearing impairment...I can't really speak to that either, but my gut feeling is that it would be foolish NOT to mention it. I think you'll do much more damage to your case if you do not explain the hearing impairment and then struggle because of it than you would by explaining the issue. You obviously know better than anyone else how that may affect your standing with the potential employer, but I'm fairly certain that legally they can't deny you employment on that basis. Clearly it would be pretty easy to come up with some other reason, so that may not be much solace to you if it doesn't work out. I'm also not aware of the nature of your impairment, so I don't know how much this would impact the interview. As I mentioned before, in a panel interview they are likely to be spread around you so that one or two of them can watch you while you aren't facing them and answering someone else. That being said, in both of my interviews everyone was in close proximity, so hearing would seem to only be a problem if you have a very severe impairment.

[Izulde]

Great advice, thanks.

I do know the names and positions of the people who will be interviewing me, so I've already done a little scouting via LinkedIn and Facebook, though I'm not sure I should reference anything in the interview about stuff I find from there in case that makes me look creepy.

[JPhillips]

Is this for an academic position?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Is this for an academic position?

Was going to ask the same question.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Great advice, thanks.

I do know the names and positions of the people who will be interviewing me, so I've already done a little scouting via LinkedIn and Facebook, though I'm not sure I should reference anything in the interview about stuff I find from there in case that makes me look creepy.

I wouldn't. The interview isn't really about them, it's about you. I mean, you can sometimes play an advantage when you know you and another person have similar professional interests or know similar people, but..in general, you need to keep it about you and why you're the best fit.

I don't think "behaviorial" interview should scare you off, really. It'll just be a series of questions related to how you've handled certain situations in the past. Don't throw anyone under the bus, be positive in general, try to highlight your wins and successes and ultimately, make sure that you weave those into why THIS particular job is a good fit for your talents and skills.

In an ideal world, you want the resume and the things you're saying to provide a narrative that says "this guy is what we're looking for," so make sure you look at the job description to ensure you can speak to the things that they're looking for woven into your conversation.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Is this for an academic position?

Nope. Business-related.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

I wouldn't. The interview isn't really about them, it's about you. I mean, you can sometimes play an advantage when you know you and another person have similar professional interests or know similar people, but..in general, you need to keep it about you and why you're the best fit.

I don't think "behaviorial" interview should scare you off, really. It'll just be a series of questions related to how you've handled certain situations in the past. Don't throw anyone under the bus, be positive in general, try to highlight your wins and successes and ultimately, make sure that you weave those into why THIS particular job is a good fit for your talents and skills.

In an ideal world, you want the resume and the things you're saying to provide a narrative that says "this guy is what we're looking for," so make sure you look at the job description to ensure you can speak to the things that they're looking for woven into your conversation.

Yeah I've seen two slightly different job descriptions for the same position on two different boards, so I'm going to examine both of them and cross-reference it with my resume and past experiences to get a basic framework of data and stories to work with.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

I don't think "behaviorial" interview should scare you off, really. It'll just be a series of questions related to how you've handled certain situations in the past. Don't throw anyone under the bus, be positive in general, try to highlight your wins and successes and ultimately, make sure that you weave those into why THIS particular job is a good fit for your talents and skills.

Yes, this, speaking as a former hiring manager.

When I first heard of the concept of behavioral interviews, I thought it was some sort of psychology thing where you ask weird questions to find out what kind of person the interviewee is.

Well, in my experience, it's not. It's pretty simple. I would ask questions like:

"Give me an example of a time you encountered conflict on a project. How did you respond, what did you do, and what was the result?"

The biggest mistake my interviewees made was to not be specific. They'd talk about generalities, such as "well, when approaching a conflict situation, my philosophy is, etc...." As a hiring manager, in this instance, I'm not interested in your theoretical philosophy. I want to know what you did when confronted with the situation, what was the result and, for extra credit, what you learned from that and what you might do differently.

Being specific, however, doesn't mean you need to name names (of people or companies), so don't worry about that.

I hope that helps!

Oh, and if it's a panel, the reason for the panel thing is partly efficiency and partly so that afterward they will all have heard exactly the same answers from you and can confer on level ground as to your answers.

[henry296]

When responding don't move your eye contact from one person to another in the middle of a sentence / thought like you are scanning. Finish one thought on the question to one person and then move to the next.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

"Give me an example of a time you encountered conflict on a project. How did you respond, what did you do, and what was the result?"

The biggest mistake my interviewees made was to not be specific. They'd talk about generalities, such as "well, when approaching a conflict situation, my philosophy is, etc...." As a hiring manager, in this instance, I'm not interested in your theoretical philosophy. I want to know what you did when confronted with the situation, what was the result and, for extra credit, what you learned from that and what you might do differently.

Oh, and if it's a panel, the reason for the panel thing is partly efficiency and partly so that afterward they will all have heard exactly the same answers from you and can confer on level ground as to your answers.

This.

I've done my own hiring, as well as been a part of 6 panel interviews in my life and all of them were successful in one way or another.

Have a plan.

The questions are going to be "tell me about a time" questions. They will want you to lay out the problem you faced, what your response was, what the result was, and what you learned from it. There may be ancillary questions that come from things that you've said.

You need to have a good story and be able to present yourself positively and answer the question in about 3-4 minutes. No matter the result you need to stay positive or find a silver lining in the story. It's going to be best if you mentally prepare as much as possible and try to find a bank of questions that are commonly asked at such interviews. Verbally go over your answers so you hear yourself saying them. It will suck balls at first but the more you do it and the more comfortable you become your confidence will grow.

I like to spend more time in mental preparations. I actually meditate and visualize my answers, my body language, my words, my assertiveness and attitude.

Take your cues from the panel about how formal you need to be, but never be less formal than they are. Thank them for the opportunity and how excited you are to be there before you begin. Give each person attention and move fluidly around the room with eye contact as you answer each question. Give the main focus to the person asking it, but know that each person is just as important in the interview.

Without really knowing the extent of your disability it might be in your best interest to bring it up right away so that there is no miscommunication about it should you have a problem.

That's all I can think of right now.

Stay positive, or as my wife tell me to do in interviews:

"Make them want to fuck you."

[sterlingice]

I can't speak to the interview demeanor, etc. But interview content, I've seen from both sides of the table and when I have to go into it, I tend to find the "bag o' stories" approach works well for me.

I try to come up with 10-20ish best specific stories of work experience and jot them down. This interview is your one chance to impress them so come up with the stories you look the best in. In your case, this would be teaching, grading, even schoolwork. Heck, even a few years into my IT career, I had interviewers who loved a couple of stories I had from working in retail in high school and college as they dealt with the customer service side of things when I was at Office Max - however, YMMV depending in audience and questions.

Next, I try to brainstorm the 10-15 most likely questions and match up the stories to the questions. You'll probably have a couple of questions you'll probably mentally punt on or put a square peg in a round hole but make sure you have an anecdote for every question. Remember, you picked your best stories for a reason: they are what makes you look the best so don't feel too confined to the question. Make sure your best ones make it in, even if they don't quite fit.

I never liked the claim that "it's better to have no answer than a bad answer" but I didn't quite understand that until I was on the other side of the table. I didn't really hold a "no answer" (i.e. "I would do this in theory" rather than an anecdote) against a candidate, however, a "no answer" is wasting that precious time that need to be impressing them. I think the best way to look at it is that it's better to have an oddly fitting answer than no answer which is better than a bad answer.

SI

[PilotMan]

bumpdate?

[Izulde]

Just coming to do that. Thanks again for all the help and advice, guys. Turned out to be a 1+1 interview. Third person wasn't there, and the second person was just there to take a second set of notes and answer any HR questions I had. So it was one person asking all the questions, the one who would be my direct boss if I'm hired.

I did screw up on a couple questions, but my overall vibe upon leaving the interview was a positive one and feeling that I did pretty well (something that past history indicates I have a fairly good track record of - my vibe being correct as to how well I did or didn't do in interview).

The impression I got from our discussion was that they're looking for a very specific skillset and shortlisting 10-20 candidates to bring in for that initial interview, so for me to even make this cut is pretty darn good, I think.

They'll continue interviewing people throughout the week, and will let me know next week one way or the other what they've decided. Working on drafting the follow-up email right now.

[RomaGoth]

Man I hate panel interviews, especially if there are 3 or more people (I have done them with 4-5 people before). There is always at least one person you can't look at who is taking notes, so annoying.

[Izulde]

So I did the thank you for interview letter night of interview. I'm wondering when/if next week I should call for an update on the position. They didn't give a specific date for next week - just that they would let me know one way or the other next week.

[flere-imsaho]

If you don't hear in a week, feel free to send a simple ping email to ask how the process is going.

[Izulde]

Thanks again for all the help, folks. Unfortunately, I didn't get the job, so it's back to the old drawing board. Just wish I didn't live in a city where 90% of the available jobs were retail, sales, food service, or elder care. But then, I expect that's the case with most cities.

[flere-imsaho]

What city do you live in (if you don't mind me asking)?

[Izulde]

Vegas.

[DaddyTorgo]

Vegas is definitely a different kind of economy than other cities I'm pretty sure.

[JPhillips]

That's too bad. Keep at it and good luck.

[Izulde]

It both is and it isn't. The casinos are major employers obviously, but to get one of those jobs, you either have to know someone, have prior experience in whatever job you're applying for, or you have to come out of a hospitality/tourism degree program, such as UNLV's.

[DaddyTorgo]

Right but I mean a lot of the economy is focused on tourists and/or supporting the businesses that focus on tourism I'd imagine.

[Izulde]

It is, which is one of the biggest reasons why UNLV has the #1 hospitality/tourism program in the world. Lots of access to internships and eventual jobs with the casinos that way.

[flere-imsaho]

I was asking to see if you were in a city where I had any contacts, but that's not the case with Vegas. Sorry.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

I was asking to see if you were in a city where I had any contacts, but that's not the case with Vegas. Sorry.

No worries. Thanks for the thought.

Relocation's an option I'd consider - my only tie to here is that I have to give my landlord 30 days notice as I'm on a month-to-month rent agreement.

[MacroGuru]

Yeah Izulde, my leads aren't producing much in the area. My sisters company is usually hiring and they are on a freeze. My friend who is at a mobile game dev company is also on a freeze right now.

My dad and step mom both work for Ceasars in the IT and they don't have much they can refer me to other than development spots.

[flere-imsaho]

Depending on what you're looking to do, the majority of my contacts are between Chicago, San Francisco, Portland Maine and some in Dallas.

[Izulde]

Something opened up to where I have a full time equivalent adjuncting position on another campus and the best part is because it's all NHSE my insurance should restart right away rather than a 90 day wait

[JPhillips]

Heck yeah! Congrats.