What is a panel interview?

A panel interview happens when you have several interviewers in the room with one candidate, instead of only the hiring manager conducting the interview. Having three to five interviewers keeps the process manageable while getting enough different perspectives on the candidates. Interviewers often include the hiring manager, someone from HR and people from the department who will work with the new hire. Interviewers take turns asking questions and can ask follow-up questions based on the candidates’ responses. 

Benefits of conducting panel interviews

Going from one to multiple interviewers can add depth to your interviewing process and improve the quality of your hires. Some benefits of a panelist interview process include:

• Different perspectives: When you only have a hiring manager meeting candidates, you could miss out on different viewpoints and insights. The people who will work closely with the hire might better understand what skills and traits will be beneficial. 
• Decreased bias: Having a diverse hiring team can reduce unconscious bias. A single interviewer could let those unintentional biases affect their hiring decisions. For instance, affinity bias might cause a hiring manager to favor a candidate because they have something in common, like a similar career path or graduating from the same school. 
• Intro to the team: Including prospective coworkers can give candidates a glimpse of the culture and what they can expect if they get a job offer. It can help put them at ease when they start working, and it can help them decide if the department is a good fit for them.  
• Skills analysis: Putting candidates in a panel interview situation lets you see how they handle dealing with a group and different personalities. It can help you assess their people skills.  
• New skills: Your existing employees who participate in the interviews can gain new skills. Offering those additional learning opportunities can increase employee satisfaction and encourage employees to stay with your company.  

Drawbacks of panel interviews

Panel interviews might not be ideal for every situation, and there are some possible issues to consider. Being aware of the potential drawbacks can help you avoid them. Some drawbacks include:

• Disorganization: Without proper preparation and understanding of the process, the hiring team could interrupt each other or generally be disorganized, which can interfere with decision-making. 
• Intimidation: Being the only interviewee with a group of people staring at you can be intimidating. Some candidates might be anxious and not perform as well in a panel interview setting.  
• Additional training: To conduct panel interviews well, the involved parties need interviewing skills. Everyone needs to understand the expectations. It can be time-consuming to choose and train the interviewers if your team doesn’t have much interviewing experience.  
• Decrease in productivity: Even if you have well-trained interviewers on the team, conducting panel interviews pulls those people away from their regular jobs. With interview prep, conducting interviews and meeting to make decisions, that can add up to several hours, which can hurt their productivity in their normal job duties.  
• Differing options: While different perspectives can help you make a more well-rounded decision, it can also cause conflicts if some panel members have strong, differing opinions on which candidate to choose. Having a clear selection process in place and selecting interviewers who are comfortable debating and coming to a consensus can help avoid this issue.   
• Scheduling conflicts: Coordinating the schedules of the candidates and interview team can be challenging. Holding a virtual interview can increase flexibility if scheduling is an issue. 

When to use panel interviews

Panel interviews can work in any industry for any role. However, they can be more beneficial for high-stakes hiring situations or positions that require specific skills. Multiple interviewers can better assess the qualifications of each candidate to make a well-informed decision.

They can also be particularly beneficial when you want to improve workplace diversity, especially when you select the interview team strategically. You minimize biases that could lead a single interviewer to choose someone like them. Selecting interviewees from diverse backgrounds can also help you hire a more diverse staff going forward. 

How to conduct panel interviews

If you decide a panel interview will work well for your vacancies, spend time solidifying your process to make the interviews more effective. These steps can get your panel interview process up and running. 

1. Define your needs and expectations

It’s always crucial to clarify your needs when hiring, but it’s particularly important in a panel setting so all interviewers are on the same page. Review the job description to ensure it’s accurate, and use it to create the interview questions and criteria for successful candidates. Define the roles within the interview team, including who will ask questions and how the interview process will go, to keep things organized and reduce confusion. 

2. Create standard evaluation tools

Since you’re pooling multiple viewpoints on candidates, you need a standardized way to analyze each interviewee. This helps you compare the candidates fairly and evaluate them on the same points. Creating an interview scoring sheet with a clear rating scale and criteria is an easy way to do this. The sheet should include all of the predetermined questions and leave room for notes to help with the discussions.  

3. Choose the interview team

Your interview team should be diverse and have a stake in the hire. Employees from the hiring department, including supervisors or people who’ll work directly with the new hire, can evaluate candidates from that perspective. If the new employee will work closely with someone from another department, you might include them as well. Interviewers don’t need to have previous interviewing experience, but they should be willing to learn and able to evaluate candidates fairly.

4. Meet before the interview

Gathering the team before the interview lets you review the expectations. You can have everyone help create the interview questions or add suggestions to your base interview question list. Decide who will ask each question, and answer any questions the interviewers have about the process. Provide copies of relevant materials, such as the job description, hiring criteria and candidates’ resumes, so the interviewers can review them before meeting the interviewees. 

You can also provide some basic interview training to help the team conduct the interview successfully. Everyone should know what they can’t ask legally, which includes anything that doesn’t relate to the position, like family status, age or religion. Go over interview best practices to make the process effective. 

5. Hold the interviews

When you conduct the panel interview, choose a location that comfortably holds everyone. It should be easy for the candidates to see and make eye contact with all the interviewers. Work from a script to keep things organized, and make the candidate feel at ease when they arrive. Starting with introductions can help the interviewee relax. Take turns asking your questions and keep things on track during the interview. 

6. Meet as a group

It can be beneficial to have the interview team stick around after each interview to debrief immediately. You can compare notes and get a general consensus about the candidate. You’ll need to meet again after you finish all interviews for a longer discussion. This is when you can go in-depth on the pros and cons of each candidate and work through different opinions on which person you should hire. 

Tips for improving panel interviews

The following tips can improve your panel interviews:

• Prepare the interviewees. Let them know how many interviewers will be in the room so they aren’t surprised when they arrive. This can help reduce anxiety and improve the outcome of the interview.  
• Identify a facilitator. This person leads the interview, ensuring that all panelists have the necessary materials and understand the expectations. They also help keep things moving during the interview and often lead the discussion about the candidates after the interviews.  
• Know who will make the final decision. All group members share their input on the candidates, but make sure you know who has the final decision. This is often the hiring manager . Keeping your criteria in mind and considering all feedback from interviewers helps that person make a strong hiring decision.  
• Get feedback. Following up with interviewees or new hires about the interview process can give you valuable feedback. Use this information to improve your panel interview strategies for future hiring needs. 

Your panel interview process will likely evolve as you conduct more of them. Use each interview as a learning opportunity and adjust how you do the interviews to get better results each time.