A panel interview typically has a team of people from both the HR department and the hiring team interviewing a candidate. This type of interview is typically used to assess the candidate's ability to multitask, handle pressure, and efficiently respond to a team of members with multiple questions.

Like all processes, panel interviews also come with their own advantages and disadvantages. However, when organized with precision, they can be extremely rewarding.

Here's why you should consider conducting panel interviews  

Saves time

Panel interviews have unique benefits when it comes to overall hiring outcomes, as they are a lot less time-consuming than a series of one-on-one interviews. This saves both the candidate and hiring team's time.

Assess candidates from different perspectives

Teams get a better view of the candidate when multiple people are hearing and interpreting the same responses.

Helps candidates understand the company culture

Candidates get a better understanding of the company's culture by observing how the interviewers interact with each other.

Reduces bias

Since more people are a part of the interview, there is less chances of personal bias affecting the results.

And here's what to look out for 

Candidates could become anxious

Candidates might find panel interviews to be a high pressure environment, and they may not be able to showcase their real potential.

The interview time could be monopolized by one team member

Some people are naturally more vocal and assertive, which might cause them to unknowingly steer the interview and direct follow up questions in their direction.

This can also lead to the "group think" phenomenon, where one interviewer's perspective influences the entire team's decision.

Panel interview tips:  How can you strike a balance?  

Standardize the interview

All interviews have better outcomes when they are standardized. It is particularly important to structure a panel interview so that it is a well-coordinated experience for both the interviewers and the interviewee. This can ensure that the decision making is more straightforward and consistent.

Read this blog post to get better insights into how you can conduct a standardized interview process.

Ensure that the panel is diverse

While selecting interview panel members, choose people from different backgrounds can help your team avoid implicit bias during the decision-making process.

Have pre- and post-interview discussions

Ensure that everyone is on the same page before and after the interview. Understand the job requirements properly, and get everyone on board with the experiences and skills required to achieve the role's primary performance objectives.

Create a scorecard

To define clear and agreeable standards between all the stakeholders, rank candidates by using a scorecard. This makes the process much more objective. It is also important to review and integrate each interviewer's results immediately after the interview.

Zoho Recruit enables interviewers to input their ratings and reviews as soon as the interview is over. 

Give candidates an advantage 

Panel interviews take a lot less time and can save the candidates from the feeling of uncertainty after a number of traditional, one-on-one interviews. Moreover, when you shorten the time taken to conduct the interview, you can afford to give candidates more time to consider the job offer. After all, it is an important decision for any individual.

Conduct panel interviews with Zoho Recruit  

Zoho Recruit enables you to add multiple interviewers on its native platform. Moreover, you can now conduct virtual panel interviews with Microsoft Teams and Google Meet from the Zoho Recruit platform. All you need to do is enable Office 365 or Google Calendar Sync. These video interviews can also be recorded and saved to review later.

Learn more about how to enable Teams and Meet in Zoho Recruit.