A panel interview is an interview that consists of more than one professional member from the organization that is conducting the interview. Even though the professionals on the interview panel are experts in their field and have a lot of knowledge about the position they are hiring for, but there are a few points that the interview panel should keep in mind while conducting an interview to hire the best fit for the organization so that the hire does not add up to the unnecessary cost of the organization.
1. JD analysis: - A member of the interview panel must analyze the JD to review the duties, scope, and responsibilities of the job carefully. They should look for any responsibilities not listed in the JD but that are important for the job. They should also look at what the person is required to do in the first year of being hired, like technical abilities and work experience. This should be done before preparing the list of questions to be asked of the candidate.
2. Prepare a precise list of questions: - Prepare a list of questions that you think you should ask of the candidate applying for the job opening. Review the list of questions carefully and prioritize them based on importance. For similar types of questions, combine them into one question and, for every main question, prefer not to ask more than three questions. This will increase the efficiency of the interview process.
3. Ask effective questions : - An interview panel must ask effective questions. This can be achieved by framing and formatting the list of questions based on different criteria like communication (making the wording clear), which questions to ask, and which ones to avoid. Also, to achieve the stage of effective questioning, the interview panel must prefer to ask open questions (what, where, why, when, and how), probing questions (intended to promote critical thinking) and behavioral questions (which indirectly tell you about their past experiences). Lastly, the interview panel must avoid asking situational questions too often. They must also avoid asking the candidate about their current salary and expectations, as it’s not there forte but the HR’s forte. It can also be a turn-off point for the candidate.
4. Structure the interview questions properly: - An interview panel must structure the questions properly before conducting the interview. For example, to get an insight into the personality, weaknesses, and strengths of the candidate, the interview panel can use a combination of open and closed questions. The interview panel must ask two questions in the interview: -
• Tell me about your greatest achievements in your previous job.
• Tell me the biggest challenges you have faced at work.
The interview panel must avoid asking leading questions while structuring the questions and should also avoid the usage of words like struggled, motivated, angry, frustrated, and challenged in their interview questions.
5. Conduct a personality test on the candidate before conducting the interview: - A personality test of the candidate must be conducted as it will provide a heads-up of how the candidate is before the interview panel conducts a proper interview and it will also help them control the interview.
6. Conduct an effective interview: - The interview panel must conduct an effective interview, and it can be achieved by bearing a few things in mind:
• Pay attention to your candidates.
• Have your list of questions on hand.
• Minimize everything that may distract them or you.
• Avoid being distracted by your own thoughts.
• Avoid having a personality bias.
• Avoid having a closed mindset. (She/he is better than me, he/she will take over me, he/she will get better pay than me).
• Avoid forming an early judgement.
• Avoid unstructured interviews.
7. Listen to the interviewee carefully: - The interview panel must listen to the interviewee carefully as it will enable them to match the answers of the candidates to the questions asked by them and check whether the shift in question by the candidate is a valid shift in perspective or not. All this will reduce the time taken by the interview panel to provide the feedback on the interview.
8. Make sure the candidate fits in five important criteria’s during the entire interview process: - During the interview the interview panel must make sure the candidate appearing for the interview fits into five important criteria to make sure he or she is the best fit for the role. The criteria are as follows: -
· Motivational Fit- It means how the job aligns with the individual’s preference (it includes background check, nature of the job duties, environment, career aspirations and so on).
· Technical Fit- It means weather the candidate has adequate knowledge and hard skills to do the job. Therefore, unless the position you are hiring for is very senior conduct some technical tests.
· Personality Fit- It ensures the team to perform well, and the candidate is the right fit for the job role. So, this step is to understand clearly what kinds of persons you need to hire for your team. You can ensure it by using some personality tests and questions.
· Soft Skills Fit- It ensures that the examples given by the candidate in the interview are reliable and useful as things said by them during the interview maybe different from what they have performed.
· Cultural Fit- It means the candidate shares the values, beliefs, attitudes, and principles that drive work, behavior, and relations in the organization.
If the candidate fits in all of these criteria’s, then for sure he or she is the best fit for the role and the organization.
References
· Fung, V., n.d. Talent Acquisition and Recruitment: Hiring the Best Fit. [online] www.skillshare.com. Available at: <https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Talent-Acquisition-and-Recruitment-Hiring-the-Best-Fit/2097211753/projects?via=member-home-EnrolledClassesLessonsSection> [Accessed 29 January 2022].
Best of Luck in the Hiring Process!
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