What is a Group Interview?

As the name suggests a group interview is an interview where there is more than one person being interviewed at once. Interviewing in a group can be intimidating and it can be difficult to stand out. In this blog we go through our advice when looking at group interviews.

Why a group interview?

Often a group interview will take place when there is a big intake of people into a business for the same role. They are most common in roles which require an individual to work in a team, for example customer service roles. Many businesses use this interview style as it is an efficient way to interview many candidates at once and find out how an individual perform in a team, leadership skills and listening skills. If approached in the right way you may find that these types of interviews more brief and therefore easier than the traditional one-on-one interview.

Format

There will usually be a team building exercise and a one-on-one interview, depending on what the role entails. This is common for roles which require a lot of team work, as a group interview is perfect to see how well an individual can cope in a collaborative environment. It is important to stand out in these situations, being a good listener, confident and a leader is a benefit in these types of interviews. 

Often in a group interview there are tasks surrounding listening. For example, you may be paired up with another interviewee and asked to have a conversation about yourselves. You then may be asked to say an interesting fact about that person. In a group interview you will be judged on how well you listened to that person. You must also show that you can lead a group, but also be inclusive with the group. Combine your listening skills with your leadership skills and you should be able to show the interviewer that you have a balance between the two.

Although these interviews will be mainly group based, the one-on-one interview will most likely be in a similar format to a normal interview, however it may be shorter. You should prepare for these interviews the same as you would a normal one-on-one interview and ensure you have researched the business. Take a look at this blog to find out more about interview preparation.