How to nail Group Interviews
5 Tips For Standing Out In Group Interviews
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we are going to talk about group
interviews the dreaded group interview
so the first thing I want to break down
for you is why is this growing in
popularity so group interviews are when
you get there and you and a group of
other candidates are there at the same
time and being interviewed in a group
setting we actually perform this type of
interview here at work at daily for
several reasons and for the very same
reasons that many companies are doing it
first of all is a lot more efficient
old-school interview process is okay I
want to bring in five different people
so I've got to set aside five different
days I've got to pull together the
schedules of multiple people
decision-makers try to coordinate get
everybody there then we've got a regroup
and compare and contrast and try to
remember what you know candidate a was
like versus candidate C it's just not a
very good you know process and candidly
it's not good for you because on any
given day that things can change so
group interviews are far more efficient
you know that you go in you see your
competition so to speak you know the
people that you're up against everyone
interviews on the same day and usually
companies are able to make a decision
that day on who's moving forward or who
may be is even getting hired I know
that's how we do it at our company or
perhaps there's some kind of assignment
they want you to do before they make the
final pick well after a group interview
it's usually easy to figure out who you
want to have do the assignment that sort
of thing so group interviews again are
getting more and more common for the
efficiency of it and the consistency
that it creates also it lets us take a
look at what you're like in a group
because some people are very very good
at one-on-one interviewing and then you
get inside a group and you see their
whole dynamic change and so I'll be
honest a lot of times people say well
don't group interviews really play to
the extroverts and the people that are
just natural that interviewing not in
our experience I actually believe the
group interview is better for those
introverts or for those individuals who
have true emotional intelligence they
know how to be patient wait their turn
they're more careful in what they say
they don't cut people off that's the
stuff we're looking for in a group
interview
and so today I'm
to walk you through five tips actually
that will help you stand out and a lot
of its going to be around that aspect of
it because something that we were taught
in HR very early in my career we were
taught that whatever you see in the
interview multiply it by ten and that's
the kind of person they're going to be
on the job so we're looking for those
little personality things that are kind
of giving us the indicator that when
magnified if they actually got the job
it could be hard to mesh with our team
and I know you say OJT that's not fair
you know
it should be based on the person with
the best experience know folks
it shouldn't there's hundreds and
millions of dollars of research to show
that the best performing teams the teams
that are the most productive the most
successful it's all about the synergy
it's all about the bonding it's all
about people getting along with one
another that does not change and so you
have to be good at these group
interviews and show what kind of team
player you'll be because it can actually
give you a chance to get the job even if
you don't have all the experience even
if you aren't the most knowledgeable
person in the room we always tell you
here at work it daily they hire you on
three things
personality aptitude meaning it can
adapt and experience and they hire in
that order and so they're they're always
evaluating you on those three main
things and trying to find the person
that has you know the right amount of
each okay all right so let's start to
break this down before I get started I
just want to give an overarching theme
and I think I've kind of been alluding
to it
always think we not me and if you don't
know what that means or if you feel like
you need a lesson in it I'm going to
mention a book it's called tribal
leadership it's been around it's one of
my favorite books for business of all
times and it's because they talk about
the five stages of growth of a company
and a lot of companies today they kind
of cap out at Stage three which is the
I'm the best stage and that's because
they go out and they hire a bunch of
individual performers top performers so
all of us in a recruit when we start out
our goal is to get better and better and
we want to be the best because we know
the better we get the more opportunities
we'll have the more income we can make
we can negotiate for higher salaries so
I guess
that mentality but at some point in time
you have to flip the switch and start to
think about the fact that I want to be
on the best team I want us to say we're
the best and that requires a different
mindset and definitely a different way
of presenting yourself as a potential
candidate so these days you should be
thinking about that we factor not that
me factor especially in the group
interview so the first thing that I want
to tell you to do is to try not to
one-up people so a very common practice
in a group interview would be to go
around the room and ask everybody to
introduce themselves at work it daily we
often ask you to share something we'll
say like what's your favorite food or
what's one place on you that you want to
travel to that's on your bucket list
something that everyone in the room can
share including all of the people that
are that are on my staff that are
interviewing we put everyone together so
we really want to build that team moment
and get everyone to see our styles as
well as an opportunity to share their
style so some of the recent mistakes
I've seen people make is that we'll have
somebody who's you know a candidate say
something really funny or tell a really
interesting story and then the person
after that will say it will feel like
they have to one-up them they'll have to
say something more interesting we're
kind of you know better than and it's
clear they're trying to do that because
they're feeling that competitive spirit
on the flip side I've also seen people
say well I can't talk that you know and
not say it in you know light-hearted
tone but more of a competitive snarky
tone that sort of plays down or almost
makes fun of the person for sharing it
once again that's a red flag to me
because it shows that you're not good
with competition this person did
something great
they shared something great it was
evident so you don't have to be
over-the-top about it you also don't
have to try to you know trash talk them
for it so really think about it
stay in your lane stay true to your
personality you know say what you really
feel and believe use your natural energy
but be very cognizant of the fact that
just because you're in the group setting
this is not the time to try to one-up
somebody they're you're not
that kind of competition alright second
tip making eye contact with everyone
this is a big one for me so when we go
in and we introduce ourselves obviously
there's going to be people of all levels
right you might have some new people who
are more entry level that are they're
interviewing you you might have the
hiring manager you might even have the
CEO in the room and so many times I've
seen the candidate focus all their
attention on the hiring manager or on
the most senior executive in the room
big big mistake
anybody from the company that is there
interviewing you has a say in whether or
not you get hired and for you to direct
all your attention and all of your
answers towards the more senior people
it's a real sign of disrespect so make
sure that you practice scanning the room
and that's something that you can do at
home everyone here should be prepping if
you're not I'm showing resource page
down below as you know we reference a
lot of resources here we have a ton of
them at work at daily free resources one
of them down below is the most common
interview questions you should download
that you should write out the answers
and you should practice answering and
scanning the room when you're answering
because if you're in a group interview
you have to be able to talk and make
contact with everyone now little tip if
you're very very nervous when you're
interview and this idea of scanning is
too distracting and one thing I can tell
you to do is whoever asked the question
you can respond to them but try not to
automatically respond to have whoever
you think is the most senior person okay
but ideally what you want to be able to
do is scan the room when you're
answering the question awesome okay
so third tip build on what others say so
this is very different than one-upping I
don't want you to one-up building on
what others say is you showing that
you're listening to everyone around you
this is a big one so let's say you're in
a group interview and one of the
candidates there is sharing or answering
question in a particular way and it
really makes sense to you something they
said really raise
in your mind you're going dang like
that's what I wanted to say that was the
aha moment or the brilliant thing I
wanted to share observation whatever you
can build on that you can say you know I
really liked Larry's answer especially
when he talked about this because I can
relate to that something very similar
happened to me and in fact this is what
happened after that so you have to pay
attention to all the other players and
when it makes sense if they've said
something valuable hat tip them for it
hat tipping is when you acknowledge and
you compliment that is one of the
biggest signs of character to me in a
group interview if somebody at the table
is so comfortable with themselves and
doesn't feel competitive that they can
compliment and you know rise up another
candidate bonus points
because in my company that's what we're
about we're a team and everyone here has
a specialty and they know their
specialty but they also know that we
couldn't do what we do without one
another and so it's very important that
we compliment and recognize one another
so that's an opportunity for you to do
that in the group interview and it
really scores bonus points all right
number four treat everyone like the CEO
I kind of alluded to this one already
but I need to reinforce it again if
you're sitting there directing all your
attention and if you're being more
animated and energetic with the CEO or
the hiring manager and you're sort of
ignoring the receptionist or the intern
don't forget if they're in that
interview they have a saying whether you
get hired in one of my future episodes
I'm gonna walk you all through the four
buyers in the hiring process I'm gonna
show you who they are and help you
understand that there are a lot of
technical buyers in a hiring process
these are people that are there to
assess your abilities and even though
they can't get you the job they can get
you disqualified so also you want to get
to know the users people that would be
like your peers again they don't get the
final in same whether you get hired but
they can make your life miserable and
sabotage you on the job if you were
disrespectful to them so again
everyone there is equal they would not
be in that room if they weren't and you
need to remember that and really pay you
know
respect everyone there and then my fifth
tip is to really showcase your
intellectual humility this is such a big
one with me these days I can't stress it
enough and it's interesting I think a
lot of this has to do with the
generations and how they're evolving so
no slight to my boomers my older
generation you were raised in a time
where it was very important to be the
best you were raised with that
competitive nature in a time in business
where you know there were hierarchy in
performance and competitiveness and so
you've been raised to you know talk
about yourself and all of your
experience and really showcase your
knowledge that you're a jack or Jill of
all trades problem is that doesn't land
very well with the other generations
because they weren't raised that way
right Gen Xers were you know the
smallest generation they were raised to
be very independent and entrepreneurial
and not as competitive as much as it was
hey you know we've got to do this we've
got to get this done and then
Millennials were raised with everything
is team-based helped teammates help each
other so you have to really start to
follow this new trend because there's
such a larger percentage of people in
the workforce now who are about this
concept of intellectual humility and
what it simply means is that you really
are able to play down your own skills
and abilities and play up those around
people around you which if again I've
alluded to in earlier tips but in this
case you have to think about that
complimenting people when you share
stories about your accomplishments use
the term we not me right we did this
together we were able to make this
happen you know really share in the
success as you share as you're sharing
that success share it with others so to
speak and understanding how to present
yourself in a way that has a lot of
intellectual humility is super important
these days you have to be careful that
you're not too over-the-top or as we say
yelling and selling
and that's just it really looks like
nails on the chalkboard it rubs people
the wrong way so be very careful of that
in group interviews sometimes people
will say to me oh you know everybody was
super quiet so you know I you know I've
got a big personality JT I can't help
myself so you know I was just the social
person in the room I just kind of took
charge and you know made everybody laugh
and you know kept things going people
will leave really proud of that and then
shocked when they don't move to the next
round and that's because they didn't
have enough emotional intelligence and
intellectual humility to pull back and
understand it wasn't their job no one
assign them to own the room no one
assigned them to you know want to be the
rock star and again this is very
different than what other generations
have experienced so that's why group
interviews are something that's new that
you need to practice your answers and
your interactions around all right I'm
going to end with this and then we're
gonna go to Q&A so start getting those
questions ready it's not about being the
best in fact if you if you check out
that tribal leadership book that I
recommend it such a great book such and
importantly they've got it on books on
tape on audible it's not about being the
best is about being part of the best and
when you go into a group interview
thinking about that and sharing your
experience about how you've been part of
the best and really how you want to be
part of the best you will do much better
much much better in that group interview
there's a reason that company is having
your group interview there's a reason we
do them at my company because that's how
we operate we want to be as tribal
leadership points out at the pinnacle
and to do that we have to be part of a
problem that's bigger than ourselves we
have to put our personal egos aside and
we have to be an amazing team group
interviews or how you find those right
people so if you want to work for a
company like that and they're put
bringing you in on a group interview
these are the things that you need to do
okay
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