INSIGHTS
- Majority of candidates feel either intimidated by group interviews due to the need to impress more people, or offended after being grouped together with less qualified candidates.
- The structure of effective group interviews typically has a phase where the company, interviewers, and candidates are introduced; followed by team projects, group discussions, and structured interview questions; ultimately ending with a portion that encourages candidates to ask their own questions.
OVERVIEW
After extensive research, we found that no reports, press releases, or studies have publicized any quantitative data which demonstrate whether group interviews are successful for companies. In addition to this, we also found that there is insufficient information within public domains
specifically about group interviews conducted by tech companies for sales positions. However, continued research has allowed us to determine that the current best practices for group interviews, in general, include having a portion of the interview dedicated to introducing the company, the interviewers, and job expectations—along with allowing candidates to introduce themselves. Other best practices include organizing team projects, having structured interview questions, holding group discussions, and encouraging candidates to ask questions.
specifically about group interviews conducted by tech companies for sales positions. However, continued research has allowed us to determine that the current best practices for group interviews, in general, include having a portion of the interview dedicated to introducing the company, the interviewers, and job expectations—along with allowing candidates to introduce themselves. Other best practices include organizing team projects, having structured interview questions, holding group discussions, and encouraging candidates to ask questions.
We also found that group interviews are capable of helping companies hire more talent despite time constraints, reduce turnover, recruit more teamwork-oriented workers, and provide a better level of assessment of candidates.
Further research also reveals that during group interviews, candidates typically feel either intimidated due to the need to impress more people, or offended due to being grouped with less qualified candidates.
METHODOLOGY
The initial phase of our research focused on finding success metrics about group interviews conducted by tech companies for sales positions. After exhaustive research through numerous curated articles, annual reports, and relevant press releases about group studies, we found that such information is largely unavailable. Due to this, we decided to extend the scope of our research and cover companies within other industries which have performed group interviews for different job positions. Due to the scarcity of information available, we also decided to extend the scope of our research further and include sources published beyond 24 months ago.
We then proceeded to consult various industry research companies such as Mckinsey, Bain, and BCGHR; consulting companies such as Mercer, Hay Group, and Gallup; and credible media sites such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and Fortune. However, this only revealed that such information is not publicized by companies.
After which, we redirected our research toward finding information on how companies should structure and conduct their group interviews. Our findings revealed that such information—specifically about tech companies recruiting sales positions—is extremely limited within all public domains. In light of this, we have organized a list of our findings of the best practices all companies, in general, could follow to improve the chance of success of their group interviews. In addition to this, we were able to identify case studies about Apple's and Alpine Access' group interviews. We also provided a breakdown of scenarios that necessitate group interviews, its capabilities, and its limitations.
Lastly, due to the lack of information specifically about group interviews for sales positions in tech companies, we also provided a comprehensive breakdown of strategies that have proven successful when recruiting or interviewing candidates for sales positions.
APPLICATIONS
The article published by Workable provided a breakdown of the applications and limitations of group interviews.
LIMITED TIME
It was stated that group interviews would be practical when there is a need to hire within a short time frame. An example of this would be when companies do seasonal hiring. Sources indicate that companies decide to conduct group interviews, instead of more traditional interviews, when there is a need to reduce turnover.
MULTIPLE CANDIDATES AND OPINIONS
Group interviews have also proven more effective when there is a need to hire a number of people for the same position. A stated example of this is when hiring salespeople. The chances of bad hiring decisions are also stated to be reduced upon having more than one interviewer. This is primarily because different interviewers can focus on different aspects of each candidate, and provide differing opinions.
EQUAL SKILLSET
Group interviews would also prove to be a good option when screening multiple applicants with very similar levels of skill. An example of this would be when there is a need to screen multiple fresh graduates.
TEAMWORK
The company would also be able to better gauge the abilities of their applicants through a group interview when there is a need to hire for a position which has a heavy emphasis on communications, teamwork, and handling stress.
LIMITATIONS
RAPPORT
According to Workables, it would prove challenging to forge more personal relationships with new hires through group interviews. This is due to the lack of one-on-one communication.
PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES
Due to the nature of group interviews, the dominant or most extroverted applicants may attract the most attention. This would prove disadvantageous to the company as the loudest personalities aren't necessarily better. This could also prove disadvantageous if there were more introverted applicants who are more skilled.
HOW TO DECREASE LIMITATIONS
TRAINING
In order to lessen such limitations, it is recommended that companies ensure to train their interviewers to reduce bias. They must also be trained to build rapport and personal relationships with candidates despite the less-personal group setting. Examples of how this could be achieved are by hiring the services of professional training firms or by conducting mock interviews.
BETTER QUESTIONS
According to Workable, interviewers should be encouraged to ask unique questions per candidate. This reduces the chance that candidates would recycle the answers of those that were interviewed ahead of them. This also allows candidates to differentiate themselves from the rest and display qualities and abilities unique to them.
ADVANCE NOTICE
Providing candidates with an advance notice would also help maximize the advantages of group interviews. An advance notice may discourage applicants who do not wish to be involved in a group interview. Aside from this, it would also provide all applicants with ample enough time to do their preparations. Overall, group interviews that provide advanced notice would attract a more equally-skilled and prepared group of candidates.
BEST STRATEGIES AND PRACTICES
We have organized our findings and compiled a list of the top strategies used during group interviews.
INTRODUCTIONS
Robert Walters USA is a globally-recognized recruiting company. They recently published an article which features the most successful ways to conduct group interviews. According to the article, it is best to start an interview by interviewing all involved interviewers, and explaining the role, position, and other relevant information of each to all the candidates.
Bizfluent is a trusted resource database of information about running a business curated by experts in multiple fields. In an article they published about effective group interviews, they noted that it is important to also introduce the company story, its mission, and its culture. Aside from this, candidates should also be briefed about what is expected of them and the job responsibilities.
All candidates must also be allocated ample time to introduce themselves fully. Aside from allowing interviewers to gauge each candidate's confidence and ability to articulate their thoughts, this strategy would also allow every candidate to better familiarize themselves with each other—subsequently inspiring peer-to-peer confidence and trust. Bizfluent also recommends asking candidates more personal questions, such as where they grew up or what their hobbies are, in order to turn this phase into a more interactive discussion.
TEAM PROJECTS
Through team projects, interviewers will be able to monitor first-hand and assess each candidate's skills with socialization, communication, leadership, and teamwork. The type of team project given to candidates could range from actual jobs to more casual games. An example of this would be asking a team of candidates to construct a Lego tower with the least amount of pieces used. It is important to note that during such activities, how each candidate collaborates with the team is more important than the final product. Sources also indicate that it would be ideal to break up larger groups of candidates into smaller and more efficient teams.
GROUP DISCUSSIONS
Through group discussions, interviewers will be able to gauge better how effective each candidate is when communicating ideas, explaining plans, presenting proposals, and analyzing potential solutions to problems. Interviewers are also able to determine the attitude of candidates by monitoring how they react to each other's ideas.
STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Interviewers must also conduct significant preparation of the questions they will ask candidates in a group interview. Structured and multi-tier questions provide candidates with opportunities to display how effective they are in public speaking, and how they can express their ideas.
CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Workable states that it is best to end a group interview with a portion dedicated to answering any questions candidates may have. By doing so, interviewers are provided the chance to see the levels of interest of each candidate. Sources state that good questions indicate "due diligence despite the group setting." This also allows interviewers the chance to ask for feedback.
CASE STUDIES
BigInterview is a New York-based provider of interview practice software. They recently published an article that provides introductory information about the entire process that takes place during group interviews and case studies of such group interviews.
APPLE
One of the case studies listed in their article features Apple's interview for a Mac Specialist position. According to BigInterview, Apple's group interview is split into two phases. The initial phase involves an informative presentation by the management team. The latter phase revolves around having candidates demonstrate to the interviewers their knowledge of Apple products and the company. The ultimate objective of this strategy is to evaluate the ability of each candidate to engage customers about Apple products, making sure to explain every detail necessary effectively.
ALPINE ACCESS
Founded in 1998, Alpine Access is a Colorado-based global outsourcing company. Although not directly classified as part of the tech industry, they do offer relevant services such as cloud-based security solutions and SaaS-based management services and platforms. The case study published by BigInterview covers the group study of AlpineAccess for a call center representative. It was stated that the interview began with a series of unique set of questions for each candidate. Examples of such questions include how they would respond to irate customers, how they would define what customer service is, and how much they feel they are a good fit for the position. From there, the interviewers proceeded to conduct one-on-one interviews with the candidates they liked.
HOW CANDIDATES FEEL ABOUT GROUP INTERVIEWS
Workable is a Massachusetts-based recruiting software provider. They recently published an article about group interview ideas, tips, and activities. According to the article, group interviews might appear to be demeaning to more senior-level workers. 3L Publishing CEO Michelle Gamble Risley stated that she felt shocked and demoralized during one of her group interviews. She felt that she did not deserve to be put on "cattle call" since she was already at an executive level. Furthermore, she also admitted that she would not have attended the group interview if she was informed ahead of time.
According to the aforementioned article published by BigInterview, many people feel intimidated after finding out that they are scheduled to take part in a group interview. Sources indicate that this is primarily due to the belief that it is more difficult being in a room with more people to impress.
Career Choice Guide is a resource database curated by career management specialists. They recently published a guide for how candidates can survive group interviews. It was within the guide that after conducting several job search workshops, the author found that only as little as 1-2 percent of applicants have experienced a group interview.
SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWS WITH SALES POSITIONS
Workables recently published a comprehensive guide dedicated to the most effective strategies for hiring good sales position candidates.
REFERRALS
In order to conduct a successful interview, it is crucial first to find the best-fitting candidates. It was stated that an effective way of sourcing salespeople would be through referrals. This is partly because experienced directors and sales managers would most likely share social circles with other salespeople.
SPECIALIZED JOB BOARDS
Job recruitment boards such as Indeed and Monster provide viable options for finding candidates, but it would prove more effective to search specifically within niche job boards. Examples of this would be SalesHead and SalesGravy, which are both designed specifically for sales specialized talents.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND COLD-CALLING
Workables states that it is more natural for salespeople to answer cold-calls. This is primarily due to the fact that it is within the nature of their job to take part in cold-calling. For this reason, Workables highly recommends contactin candidates upon acquiring their contact details immediately. Findings from a Glassdoor survey show that searching social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter is one of the most effective ways of finding the contact details of salespeople.
OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION
TOP QUESTIONS FOR SALES PEOPLE
Peak Sales is a New-York based B2B staffing and recruiting company. They recently compiled a list of 65 of the top questions that have been asked during interviews with candidates for sales positions. In consideration of the fact that the list spans 18 pages, we decided that it would prove inefficient to reiterate everything contained therein. Aside from this, a summary would not be able to provide a complete overview of all the information within due to the fact that all questions listed target specific aspects of sales positions. The list, which categorizes all 65 questions—and provides a set of follow-up questions for each—may be accessed through this link.
CONCLUSION
The current best practices for group interviews, in general, include having a portion of the interview dedicated to introducing the company, the interviewers, and job expectations—along with allowing candidates to introduce themselves; organizing team projects, having structured interview questions, holding group discussions, and encouraging candidates to ask questions. Group interviews are capable of helping companies reduce hire talent despite time constraints, reduce turnover, recruit more teamwork-oriented workers, and providing a better level of assessment of candidates. During group interviews, candidates typically feel either intimidated due to the need to impress more people, or offended due to being grouped with less qualified candidates.