In a Committee Interview (also known as a Panel Interview) many applicants and members of the staff (representing the interview panelists) sit around a conference table so the question-answer process starts. The staff members direct the questions and the applicants` answers are compared. This type of interview is becoming more and more popular; the only disadvantage of Committee Interviews is that it is stressful since there are many interviewers involved.
It is more likely for large companies/organizations to use this type of interview and the Committee usually has from 2 to 8 people.
There are different advantages when it comes to Committee Interviews:
They are reliable, since the staff members represent different aspects and areas of the company. They get the same answer from the applicant and assess it from different important perspectives.
They save a lot of time because of the serial-interviewing process.
They help discard many of the applications, thus, making the one-to-one interviewing process more efficient.
It gives a great opportunity to see how the staff works together.
There are many formats included:
Skeet Shoot Format: The applicant is asked a series of different questions from different panelists in order to test his/her ability to handle stress and think clearly.
Presentation Format: The applicant makes a presentation of a given topic to the entire committee.
Role Format: The members of the committee ask different questions (position-related) to the candidates. Questions have different categories, for example, a member of the committee asks a question about management, another asks a question about human resources, another asks a question about customer service, etc.
Tips for interviewers:
Check on how familiar with the company the candidates are and how much research they have done before going for the interview.
See how confident the candidates are, if they use the names of the panelists and focus on their answers.
Check if the candidates write notes down, this means they are taking many things into account.
Check the body language of each candidate.
Remember what candidates talk about their experiences and ask questions during the interview.
Make sure that every member of the staff understands their role in the meeting.
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