14 min read

How to conduct a panel interview

Discover the advantages of panel interviews and learn how to conduct them in our guide, covering everything you need to know to streamline your hiring process.

An image of a man and a woman looking at documents as they interview a woman for a job.

Traditional one-on-one interviews allow for an intimate discussion to take place between recruiters and candidates. However, any hire that requires input from a range of people can be a time-consuming process, a luxury employers can’t always afford in a competitive environment for attracting talent.

A long hiring process increases the chances of candidates accepting an offer from elsewhere, with research showing that more than three-quarters of jobseekers are likely to drop out of a long or complex recruitment process. With convoluted hiring testing the patience of even the most dedicated candidates, panel interviews can be an invaluable addition to an employer or recruiter’s arsenal.

In this article, we explore panel interviews, discussing their advantages and drawbacks, how to conduct them, and best practices to ensure they run smoothly and effectively.

What is a panel interview?

A panel interview is a structured formal interview process that involves two or more interviewers (or panellists) and one applicant. A panel can be made up of representatives of different departments or may include the key stakeholders from one department, depending on the role you’re hiring for.

Who should be involved in a panel interview?

The hiring manager will always be present during a panel interview, but you will need to decide whether the role requires representatives from across the organisation, or within a single team.

Choosing panellists from the same team can help a candidate get a better feel for what their responsibilities could look like ‘in action’, as well as a feel for the colleagues they’ll be working most closely alongside. On the other hand, panellists from different departments can help a candidate understand their place in the wider organisation, and how their function contributes towards broader business goals.

Either way, each panellist will have their own understanding of the role and what skills the ideal candidate will need to succeed.

Pros and cons of panel interviews

Panel interviewing can allow employers and recruiters to obtain a broader view of a candidate’s suitability for a role, however, it might not be right for every vacancy. Let’s dive into panel interviews’ advantages and disadvantages to help you decide whether this interview format is right for you.

To start with, there are numerous advantages that can be leveraged by implementing panel interviews, including:

Reduce the impact of bias: Single-interviewer formats can magnify unconscious biases, leading to unfair assessments and potential discrimination that harms your reputation and causes you to overlook the best talent. A diverse panel interview minimises these risks by involving people from various backgrounds.
Go deeper with questioning: Panel interviews allow for a more comprehensive evaluation, as each panellist brings a unique perspective. This setup enables detailed questioning, with each person focusing on different aspects of the role, creating a broader assessment. Such diversity in questioning helps uncover a candidate’s suitability for the position and provides a richer understanding of their capabilities.
Showcasing company culture: Panel interviews offer candidates a first-hand look at your company culture. This format provides a glimpse into your workplace dynamics, allowing candidates to see how panellists interact and work together. This can help them gauge the level of teamwork and shared values within your organisation, and make it easier for them to decide if they want to join your team.
Assessing candidates in a group setting: Panel interviews can show you how candidates communicate, engage with different stakeholders, and respond to questions from various parts of the business. This is a valuable opportunity to assess their teamwork, communication skills, and ability to manage group dynamics, providing a clear picture of whether a candidate can navigate the collaborative environment within your organisation.
Streamlining interview stages: Panel interviews can streamline the hiring process by allowing key stakeholders to meet the candidate simultaneously. This eliminates the need for multiple individual interviews, saving time and resources. It also accelerates the process by facilitating quicker feedback and decision-making, ensuring that all key decision-makers are aligned, leading to more efficient hiring decisions.

Despite these advantages, it’s also important to consider the potential drawbacks of using this format to interview candidates, such as:

Managing multiple stakeholders: Panel interviews require meticulous organisation to ensure panellists ask the right questions and stay on track. If the structure is lacking, the interview can become disjointed, resulting in incomplete or irrelevant information from the candidate.
Risk of groupthink: Panel interviews can reduce but not eliminate bias. Self-awareness among panellists is crucial to minimising bias, as even a single comment can influence the rest. Groupthink, where the desire for consensus overshadows fair assessment, is another risk.
Candidates can feel intimidated: Panel interviews can be intimidating for candidates, impacting their performance. Even well-qualified candidates might struggle under pressure in front of multiple interviewers, especially if the role doesn’t typically involve high-pressure group settings. It’s important to consider this factor when evaluating a candidate’s performance.

How to conduct a successful panel interview

Once you’ve decided whether a panel interview is the best option for your vacancy, it’s time to look at the planning and organisation of your interview to ensure its success. Let’s look at how to conduct a panel interview in more detail, including the steps to take before, during and after your interview.

Before the interview

Planning is possibly the most important stage in panel interviewing. A well-planned interview doesn’t just ensure everyone is in the right place at the right time, but it gives your organisation a chance of impressing candidates, and similarly, candidates the best chance at impressing you.

The steps below outline how you can get started with panel interviewing.

1. Select and prepare the setting

Venue and setting are an integral part of the interview setup. The right environment is vital to set the tone and ensure both panellists and candidates are comfortable and focused.

The first decision is whether you plan to interview in person or online. Video interviewing has much more commonplace in recent years, and can be an effective way to remove some of the pressure around the traditional panel interview.

If you choose to conduct interviews in person, consider the space you plan to use. Factors such as lighting, acoustics and proximity to others in the room are all important for creating the right atmosphere for the interview.

2. Select the interview panel members

As already mentioned, you may want to choose a panel from across departments in your organisation, or you may want to build it mainly around representatives from the team the candidate is hoping to join.

The panel should be representative of your organisation and bring together a diverse mixture of people from different backgrounds, experiences and seniority levels.

A panel would typically include the following:

Primary stakeholders (representatives of senior management)
Team leaders or managers (who could be the direct line manager of the candidate, or working closely alongside them)
HR representatives

The number of people on a panel interview will vary based on the company and the role, but typically involves two to five people.

3. Decide on a consistent rating system

Interview rating scales can be very helpful in deciding the right candidate when you’ve had several strong contenders for the role. Panellists and hiring managers can use such scales to quickly and objectively measure a candidate’s suitability for the role, more clearly spotting strengths and weaknesses between candidates.

For example, an effective rating system for panel interviews may include the following:

Candidate responses to specific interview questions
Candidate’s expression of their job-related competencies
Overall interview score and performance

4. Prepare the interview panel

Once each member of the panel has been confirmed, it’s crucial to ensure that they are prepared for the interview. This includes ensuring:

The interview has a schedule and structure
Everyone knows their role, i.e. notetaker, timekeeper, or lead interviewer
Panellists have access to candidates’ CVs and applications, and the job description
An agreed-upon approach for candidate rating

5. Plan questions in advance

All the team members sitting on the panel should have their own set of questions prepared in advance. Sticking to these agreed-upon questions will help to ensure that the interview runs smoothly, objectively and on time.

6. Prepare the candidate

It’s important to give candidates time to prepare for a panel interview. This requires providing the right information to interviewees in advance, including an idea of the structure of the interview and the sort of questions they can expect.

Ensure that candidates know that they’ll be interviewed by multiple people, and if relevant, share information on the panellists joining the session. This gives candidates the opportunity to do their research and be fully prepared for the interview.

During the interview

Once the interview itself is in progress, the role of the interviewers is to give candidates the chance to answer questions to the best of their ability. In this section, we’ve outlined the steps required to do just that.

1. Introduce the panel members

Start the interview by ensuring each panel member is properly introduced and give the candidate time to familiarise themselves with the multiple decision makers conducting the interview.

Each interviewer can introduce themselves in the way they believe most appropriate, covering their name, job title and their responsibilities in relation to the wider organisation. You can also use this stage to let the candidate know how the interview will work, the order of questions, and who will be asking what and when.

2. Follow the prepared structure for questioning

Prior to the interview, you should have already set planned questions for each panellist, and the introduction gave you a chance to let the candidate know the order of questioning. Some panellists may be more focused on other tasks such as timekeeping or notetaking, so it is vital the right people ask the planned questions to keep the interview on track and allow the candidate to answer fully.

Preparing questions beforehand should prevent the interview from veering off in an unintended direction, but panellists should still avoid asking follow-up questions unless fully relevant.

3. Actively listen to all candidate responses

Do not expect an instant and perfect answer to every question. Candidates may need time to process and answer each question, and it is crucial panellists actively listen and engage with the candidate as they respond. Ensure the candidate feels comfortable enough to take the time they need to answer.

After the interview

Once the interview is over, it’s time for the panel to bring together their thoughts and make a final hiring decision based on the performance of multiple candidates.

1. Discuss overall thoughts and opinions as a panel

Share your thoughts and opinions as a group, assessing each candidate’s strengths and suitability for the role. Take the time to have a group discussion where everyone can share their thoughts and opinions on the candidates, referring back to their notes from the interview.

Using your predetermined scorecard or rating system is vital to ensure this discussion does not become purely based on opinions and remains rooted in the core competencies required from the ideal candidate.

2. Work together to make a decision

Use the information you have to make a final decision on the best person for the role. This may mean getting a simple yes or no from each panellist, but it should also involve a full assessment of the ratings to judge whether the scorecards match the panel’s preferences. The final hiring decision should be made by consensus based on the ratings each candidate received.

Panel interview questions

There are many different interview questions you can pose to a candidate, and it’s vital to include a mix to allow candidates to show you their potential. Below we’ve delved into some of the question types you should consider when carrying out panel interviews.

These questions revolve around the skills and competencies a candidate can bring to the table based on their work experience to date. These questions often refer back to information provided on a candidate’s CV, for example:

How does your prior experience prepare you for this job?
How do you think your experience matches the needs of the role?

Technical questions

These questions drill down into the technical aspects of a role and a candidate’s experience in this area, with questions such as:

How do you meet the key competencies for this job?
What do you do to maintain your technical certifications?

Interpersonal questions

Interpersonal questions require candidates to demonstrate their soft skills, which can be vital for communicating effectively in the workplace. These questions may include:

Can you share an example of effective teamwork from your experience?
How do you handle criticism in the workplace?

Hypothetical questions

You may pose hypothetical questions to a candidate to gauge how they would react in different environments and situations, such as:

What would you do if you noticed a morale issue within your team?
How would you respond if a project you managed didn’t achieve its goals?

Best practices for conducting panel interviews

Above we’ve laid out the key steps required to conduct effective panel interviews, as well as some of the questions you can ask job seekers to get the most out of the interview. However, there are additional best practices you can implement to take panel interviews to the next level, including:

Strict timekeeping: Punctuality should be expected from panellists as much as candidates. You need to set the tone and be an example for candidates, and starting promptly is part of this. Starting late can infer to candidates that your company is disorganised or doesn’t value the role they are applying for.
Taking steps to limit bias: Consider the language you plan to use to describe the job and its responsibilities in the interview. Ensure you bring together a diverse panel of interviewers and stick to pre-planned questions that allow for an objective assessment of the candidate’s skills.
Comprehensive notetaking: It is advisable to have a designated notetaker to keep track of all discussions during a panel interview. However, panellists can also take their own notes to ensure that a candidate’s responses are accurately recorded, and important points aren’t missed.
Sticking to the script: A schedule and script to follow throughout the interview is vital for ensuring all panellists are involved and the necessary questions are asked. It also makes it easier to navigate the interview, ensures important questions aren’t forgotten, and helps keep the interviewing process consistent, objective and fair.