The use of the interview panel

"Many times there are differences of opinions from the interviewers and when these are not reconciled internally indecision on the candidate's selection can take days, weeks or even months. With the panel interview it gets all of the stakeholders in one room, allows you to meet the candidate face to face and can help speed up your selection process."

Ken Honsberger | Managing Partner, North America | Consulting Positions

The use of the interview panel works well with the rhythm and flow technique. Some recruiters may perceive the panel interview process as intimidating as it could give the "firing squad" vibe, while some use it as their fundamental process. When pre-planned appropriately panel interviews can be more efficient than the traditional one-on-one interview.

Structuring a group interview with a prepared set of questions combining accomplishment-based questions and behavior related fact-find allows the interviewers to stay on track. Solo interviewer biases are minimized. This in turn increases the accuracy of the interview process. Since the panel gets the same information from the candidate, the interview itself is more involvedly assessed. Carrying out with a group of interviewers denotes that each panel member may discern different attributes of a candidate's skill or character, amending to create a more holistic picture of the interviewee.

If controlled properly, panel interviews could be of great time saver for an organization. This would give imperceptible interviewers an opportunity to involve themselves, avoiding hiring slip-ups including hiring a candidate who normally would have been excluded in a one-on-one process.