Successful group interviews

Manuelle Malot, Head of EDHEC Career Service -  04.03.09 10:19:00  - L'Expansion.com 

More and more organisations invite potential candidates to group interviews before meeting them face to face. It helps them to save time as it allows them to check how a fits into a group and interacts.

Your behaviour in this kind of exercise is considered as predictive of your behaviour inside the firm, especially as people are often less able to control their immediate reactions in a group situation.

The exercise may be simple: you are given information about the firm and the jobs on offer and are asked to talk about yourself, your skills and your reasons for applying. Several observers note the reactions and relevance of responses made by each candidate.

In more complex interview situations, you may be asked to take part in a role play exercise where you will be put in a professional situation and invited to discuss a subject or case study as a group. This could involve any one of a range of topics, but it generally involves taking a decision and defending it, organising an event or designing a project. Candidates may also be asked to defend a personal viewpoint in front of the others on a topical or imaginary issue.

It's a difficult exercise that the interviewers stay out of. You have to make your mark without being overbearing or dominating the discussion, in other words you need to stand out while at the same time respecting the opinions of the others.

The most frequent mistake is to try to get noticed by every possible means or to take on a false leadership role ...A candidate who leaps to the paper board will find themselves in the role of secretary, and will never be able to show true leadership or play a constructive part in the discussion.

Typical behavioural patterns that tend to come out during these sessions include:

1. The governor: this person tries to lead the operations under the pretext that he/she knows everything, delegating roles, particularly that of the secretary, and telling everyone else what they should think.

2. The expert: he/she doesn't speak much but places his/her arguments as an expert and cannot accept criticism.

3. The silent party: because of unease or disinterest, he/she doesn't voice an opinion

4. The profiteer: this person rephrases, summarises, refocuses the debate and uses the input from the other candidates

5. The sage: this person talks about his/her experience and tries to be useful to the debate.

Always stay calm and polite, avoid being bossy or aggressive and don't let yourself be overwhelmed by the other candidates.

Show your interest in the discussion.

Listen carefully to the others to help you build a good argument.

Always stay within the frame of the exercise and be coherent.

Learn how to pick up a point again tactfully if someone interrupts you.

Be natural and attentive to how you express yourself, taking care not to get carried away.

Pick up on relevant points made by the other candidates without repeating the same thing.

Be constructive, don't denigrate the other candidates' arguments but back up your position taking the other people's views into consideration.

This doesn't mean that you can't make some constructive criticism.

Try to get the more timid participants involved.

It's better to speak when you have a valid point to make than just speak for the sake of speaking.

Lastly, remember that if there is a group interview, it's often because there is more than one position on offer. That means there won't be just one successful candidate so it's not a question of eliminating all the others.