When should you use a group interview? Discover the advantages and disadvantages of conducting group interviews!

Group interviews: A totally different interviewing experience

A group interview is a job interview with multiple candidates being interviewed at the same time.

Conducting a group interview is quite different than conducting a regular one-on-one job interview or a panel interview, which has multiple interviewers but just one candidate.

Conducting a group interview requires profound interviewing skills because interviewers have to manage a group and observe multiple candidates at once.

Although group interviews are more demanding for interviewers and candidates, they have several important advantages.

In this article, we will examine them so you can evaluate how they fit with your hiring needs and decide if they worth your time and effort.

6 key advantages of a group interview

Group interviews have many advantages compared to classical, one-on-one job interviews.

Here are some of the most important advantages of group interviews:

1. Reduce time to hire

In group interviews, interviewers can evaluate multiple candidates in the same time slot, thus saving time needed that would otherwise be spent on scheduling and conducting many one-on-one interviews.

2. Reduce cost per hire

Group interviews are much more affordable than one-on-one interviews. Interviewing more candidates at shorter time result with a significant reduction of costs associated with interviewing process, including revenue costs and HR professionals’ fees.

3. Offer a unique opportunity for observing candidates in the group setting

Group interviews offer a unique chance for employers to see how candidates function in a group. By observing how a candidate behaves in a group and work with others, employers can easily find candidates with impressive teamwork and even leadership skills.

4. Reduce interviewing biases

Group interviews are often conducted by more than one interviewer. Reduced bias and inaccuracy is just one of the many benefits of collaborative recruiting. Multiple observers of the same candidate behavior are proven to provide more accurate evaluation of candidates.

5. Are a great way to see candidates’ skills in action

Group interviews allow interviewers to directly observe candidates’ soft skills in action, instead of only relying on what candidates say about themselves. Group interviews offer a unique opportunity for interviewers to test candidates’ teamwork, communication and stress management skills.

5 key disadvantages of a group interview

As all other interviewing techniques, group interviews have certain disadvantages as well. Here are the key disadvantages of group interview you should consider.

Group interviews:

1. Require special highly skilled interviewers
2. Are not suitable for every personality type
3. Are only useful for certain positions
4. Offer no anonymity
5. Are impersonal

Are group interviews the right choice for your hiring needs?

Conducting group interviews is a good fit for hiring needs of employers who:

1. Want to fill a position quickly
2. Need to fill multiple similar positions
3. Need an effective way to screen a large number of similar applicants
4. Want to find great communicators and potential leaders
5. Are interviewing recent graduates.

If you decide to take a chance on group interviews, check out The Best Guide for Conducting Group Interviews!