The Rigged-Up Net

By KEMBA DUNHAM
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL April 20, 2004; Page B8

When Georgia Katsoulomitis interviewed for an executive-director position at the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus in Boston several months ago, she knew she’d be meeting with more than one person at a time. But five?

It wasn’t just the large group she found daunting. Ms. Katsoulomitis was given only 30 minutes for the group interview, and each answer had a preferred time limit. Since each questioner had his or her own priorities and personal interests, it was a challenge to constantly switch gears yet still give the most thorough answer in a short time, she says.

“It really puts you on the spot,” says Ms. Katsoulomitis, who was ultimately offered the job and started the executive-director gig several weeks ago. Her organization works to get women involved in politics and trains them to run for office.

Any job interview has the potential to be nerve-racking. But nothing is quite as intimidating as being interviewed by two or more people at once. You have to deal with different personalities and social styles all mixed together, and you may find the questions coming at you at a rapid-fire pace. Many candidates find it hard to make a good impression under such circumstances.

“Group interviews can be tricky, because there are so many things going on at once,” says Richard Koonce, a career and executive coach in Northampton, Mass. You have to go into the interview knowing there are multiple agendas at play, he adds, and that there might be someone present who wants to hire you — as well as someone who doesn’t. You have to be ready for anything.

David Cohen, who works in San Jose, Calif., training people to talk to the news media, has had several panel interviews in the past year. He tries to find out who will be on the panel and get some background information on them. “I find out who has been in the company for a certain number of years and who has climbed Mount Everest,” he says.

Knowing the background of all the interviewers could save you from being blindsided and will help you anticipate what each person may want to know about you. If the interviewers are from different areas within the company, you should also try to address how you as an employee will contribute to those areas.

During the interview, making eye contact with each interviewer is important. When one person asks you a question, make sure you make eye contact with that person as well as with everyone else on the panel to make them feel included. Another way to achieve such inclusiveness is by referring to a comment someone else made earlier in the interview.

“The way you respond in this scenario gives your interviewers insight into how you would respond to a team situation,” says Mr. Koonce.

Most hiring managers who conduct group interviews don’t set out to make job candidates uncomfortable. Morris Miller, a managing director and co-chairman at Rackspace Managed Hosting, a San Antonio, Texas, concern that operates Web infrastructure for companies, says Rackspace uses three-person interviews to gather as much information as possible from candidates.

The company’s approach is simple. One person leads the interview, asking all the major questions and seeking to elicit maximum responsiveness from the candidate. The second person asks the follow-up questions. The third person plays the role of the listener, paying close attention to answers to identify inconsistencies.

Mr. Miller says he was recently able to discover a candidate’s exaggeration of a fact while serving as “the listener” during one of these interviews. After the candidate answered a question presented by his colleague, Mr. Miller had time to carefully look at the candidate’s résumé and discover the conflict. The candidate ultimately admitted that he had fudged on his résumé.

“But it could have gone either way,” says Mr. Miller. “This approach gives you a chance to either catch an error or pinpoint a really great accomplishment that could have been glossed over.”

The key for the job hunter is to remain calm during group interviews. Dianne Durkin, president of Loyalty Factor, a Portsmouth, N.H., consulting firm, advises candidates to use transitions like “let me understand what you’re asking” and “I’m really glad you asked that question,” when they feel overwhelmed by a line of questions.