Group interview for job today...stressing out

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, I’ve been applying like crazy to government jobs locally. I’ve probably sent out close to 50 applications now. I finally got an email saying I had been selected for an interview. I got excited but then as I continued reading, I saw it was for a group interview. And that there were so many people being interviewed, they have to have 6 different interview sessions over 3 days.

The interview is today in a few hours, and I’m stressing out. I feel like it’s pointless to go because I’m going to be up against so many people, there’s little chance that I’ll stand out. Plus, they said the process is going to take 3 1/2 hours and I have NO idea what to expect. I’ve been to a group interview before but it was pretty short and sweet, so I’m assuming there’s going to be some sort of testing? It’s just for a receptionist position so I’m no sure what they would even test us on.

I’m just really close to having an anxiety attack over this and it’s all I can do to keep myself in check. I know my work experience is severely lacking and that I don’t always do well on interviews. But I really want/need this job and I don’t want to mess it up. All of this is making it very hard for me to go into it with a positive attitude.

2

Relax! If you’ve got an interview they think you can do the job.

3

Hmmmm

The only group interviews I’ve heard about are ones for, well, let’s be charitable and call them multi-level marketing proposals.

Does it sound like this is what you’re looking at, based upon the ad?

ETA: Because there’s no way they can block out 3 and a half hours of time for a group interview and NOT have time for a half hour, one-on-one interview with 6-7 candidates.

4

I can tell you what they will be testing you on - energy level and how you present yourself. An interview, especially for a receptionist job I’d guess, is like an acting audition. Put yourself in the part of the most high energy, perky person you can imagine. Smile all the time, when you speak do so with animation, keep your head up and eyes open, and keep in character.
You are going to be the first person people see entering a building, and the people hiring you want you to make a good impression.
Most of your competition won’t think in this way, so don’t worry about them.

I learned about this from my daughter, who at 10 got signed by a good show biz manager in New York by “smiling when I went in, smiled while I was in, and smiling until I went out.” The manager made the first cut by hearing the kids read one line - that was enough. When I interview people, given equal experience and skills I’d always hire the person with the most energy.

5

Quartz, me and 50 other people! That’s my biggest worry is being able to stand out from the crowd.

Enderw24, no this is for a state government position. Oregon’s unemployment rate is still crap, so the competition is fierce. And being a government position, I can only imagine the number of applicants they received.

Voyager, thanks for the advice. I hadn’t really thought about that. I’m normally a pretty upbeat person but not the, constantly smiling, bubbly, type. I’ll try to at least smile as much as possible today. I’ve been reading up on some other tips for group interviews as well, which are mostly speak up, smile, firm handshake and introductions.

I’m going to be leaving shortly so…fingers crossed.

6

In the UK in certain professional areas a kind of group interview is relatively common - it’s usually referred to as an assessment centre. I have some experience of these from both sides - running them and being an interviewee.

It could be anything, but it’s likely that there will be some one-to-one questioning, or one-to-group; you may have a bunch of forms to fill; there’ll likely be at least a couple of team-based exercises. Or, of course, there could be none of these things at all! If they’re following any sort of best practice, there should be a number of assessors/observers making notes on all the exercises.

First things first - they have chosen to interview you. That’s presumably based on what they already know about you. So, relax as much as you can! They clearly aren’t put off by what they know about your current work experience - whatever they know so far has been enough for them to want to interview you.

Second - despite whatever people might intend an interview for, there is a whole heap of research which shows that for the most part it’s about whether you’ll fit in with the people already there. You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be pleasant enough so that they can think ‘AngelSoft is probably not going to drive us all gaa gaa in a week’. This goes even more for a group interview. Everyone there will have the same anxiety about standing out (in a good way) and not being remembered for screwing the whole thing up.

Concentrate on giving as good an account of yourself as you can, getting along with the others if you’re required to and doing your best at any exercises they give you. Don’t worry too much about how you’re comparing to the others - you can only control your own behaviour and how you come across - you can’t do a damn thing about Mr. Showoff in the corner, except to demonstrate how professionally you can deal with a jerk like him if you’re required to.

You may find, since this isn’t your standard interrogation interview, that you do better with this type. Either way, you’ll get an experience with a different type of interview process, which you may decide you hate and never want to repeat , but still be no worse off than you are now. On the other hand, you may find you enjoy it, and they may well love you and give you the job! Very best of luck with it - let us know how it goes.

On preview, Voyager makes some good points about the specific job - I’d agree, try to be upbeat and positive, but remember they shouldn’t expect you to be a machine.

7

Remember to picture yourself in your underwear…or them, I can never remember which.

Seriously, to build on what was already said, often the group interview is to determine whether they all like you and can get along with you. As mentioned, they already feel you meet their skill level or they wouldn’t have called you in. Relax, try to connect with the people on a personal level. They will probably be putting a lot of emphasis on whether they want to work with your personally for who knows how many years. In other words, they’re weeding out the flakes.

Good luck. Let us know how it works out!

8

Government jobs are notorious for having panel interviews. I don’t think I was ever interviewed by a single person (or less than say, 4, for that matter) when I was interviewing a few years ago.

The important thing is to address everyone as equally as possible. Practicing for this is helpful, as it can eat up some brainpower if you have to think of it. Just answer the questions as if they all asked it at the same time. That’s kind of how I worked around that.

Shake hands, smile, don’t spend too much time with um, ah, etc. It can be difficult in practice, but you’ll do fine.

My interview with the state of PA 2 years ago was with six people. As you can imagine, that was intimidating. I made it, though. You will too!

9

Group interview of about 40 people in my timeslot (there were 2-3 other timeslots with approximately the same number of people) in a hotel banquet room for a tech retail store whose name you would recognize with branches all over the place. The interview lasted a couple of hours and was to fill positions for a few of their local locations.

They already had our cover letters and resumes from our initial response to their job posting. We filled out a short Q&A sheet where we selected the locations where we wanted to work among other things, listened to the interview team (about 6 people) each introduce themselves in a high energy way, ending with a fun fact about themselves. Then it was our turn to individually get up in front of the room and do the same. Interview team took notes.

Next came a session where we were randomly put into groups of 4. Each team was given a scenario of a specific type of customer and what they were looking for. As a team we had to come up with the specific products that would address their needs as each member of the interview team took turns observing us and taking notes. We wrote our product(s)/reason(s) on a piece of large presentation paper with a marker. One of each team read our customer scenario and our answer to the entire group of participants and interviewers.

That was it. I actually enjoyed it. Especially getting to see the other candidates and how they handled themselves. Most of them were a LOT younger. I’m an oldie as was one or 2 other people. I was relaxed and know I did my best in presenting myself both in the introduction and the customer scenario.

They said we would hear by a certain date. When I did the calculations of locations vs. number of people actually at all these interview sessions I figured I’d be out, having age against me. But I did have retail experience as well as experience with their type of products, etc.

I got a call from the store I had chosen to come in for an interview in a couple of days. Then the day before I got a call canceling it. I assume they just filled their quota and it wasn’t me personally as I judged myself to be equal to the other candidates in ability to approach customers and sell, etc.

10

I think you missed the point - the interview is a “group” interview, that is to say there are many applicants in the room at the same time.
You are speaking of a “panel” interview, where there is one applicant and several interviewers.

The only group interview I can recall was one for a position for an education job at a science center. They gave one of the applicants a box of puppets, and asked them to pretend that the other applicants were a group of 10 year olds, and explain plate tectonics to them using the puppets. Each applicant had a similar challenge.

Group dynamics were an important part of this sort of interview, as was the ability to be (not) shy and engaging.

I agree with the previous advice; Be very pleasant, alert and energetic at all times. Be helpful and polite to everyone, including the other applicants. Go into the interview thinking that you are the “face” of the organization. Learn about the organization (as much as you can) before you go in.

11

Well, interview’s over. It was…interesting. Overall, I had fun. It wasn’t horribly boring. There were 16 of us being interviewed and four people doing the interviewing. First they filed us all into a meeting room with tables arranged in a circle. The name signs from the previous group were still there, so they told us to flip them over and write our name. The person who sat in my seat in the other group apparently had the same name as me, so I didn’t even have to do that. It gave everyone a bit of a laugh, so it was a good way to start.

Next, they handed out a paper. On it was a list of 15 items like rope, water, radio, map, etc. The scenario was that we were stranded in the ocean with only those items. We were to rate their importance from 1-15. Then, once we were done, we were split into groups of three to discuss, as a group, how we would group them. They were going to observe us as we did this. Normally, I’m the type to kinda just let someone else take the lead, but I made sure to be a bit more proactive. The others in my group seemed to be just fine with it too, so I didn’t feel like I was being super pushy.

After that, they ‘scored’ our results against the order the Coast Guard says the items should be in. To see if we survived or not. Our group did pretty good. But then it was on to the next task. Another paper was passed out, with two questions. One about an occasion where we made an error and how we corrected it, and another about multitasking in the workplace. We had 10 minutes to prepare our answers and 5 minutes to present them. So one by one, we went down the line. Some people did awful. Talking slow, low and just really dragging things out to the point where I completely lost track of what they were talking about. Others did pretty good and I was feeling confident when it came to my turn. We had the option to sit or stand and only one other person had stood at that point, so I went ahead and did it too. Unfortunately, when I get nervous and I’m speaking, I tend to talk fast. I don’t think I did terrible but I could have done so much better.

Once that was through, we got ONE more paper, and it had five questions. We had 30 minutes to write down answers and then we could leave. They were kind of normal interview questions. An obstacle you faced and how you overcame it. How you worked well in a team and stuff like that.

I’m not sure how I did. Given what I heard from other people, I feel like I was one of the more qualified people for the position. Most of the people had worked only in retail and I’m not sure how they got past the qualifications to get to the interview, but whatever. I’m a little worried though, because I found out that if a veteran applies, they automatically get 5-10 point bonus on their application :\ I can understand it but at the same time, it’s discouraging if I have more qualifications than someone but lose the job because I never joined the military.

So, that’s how it went. They said we should know by next week who gets picked for a second interview. Not holding my breath but, we’ll see.

12

Hey come on, I think you probably did great. Those types of interviews seem nerve-wracking, not that they all aren’t, and just imagine how terrified everyone else was too.

Fingers crossed for good luck.

13

Well good news! I got a second interview, along with what seems to be 29 other applicants, if I can judge by the number of open interview slots. I’ll be going in next Monday. I chose a slot right after lunch because I heard it’s bad to pick right before lunch or at the end of the day.

Bad news is, I’m stressing out because one on one interviews have never been my strong point. I get super nervous and, as I mentioned earlier, I talk super fast and stumble over things and can get flustered. I’m going to try and get some practice in somehow, read up on the more difficult questions. I just hate not knowing what questions to expect.

14

Congratulations on passing the first hurdle! No use telling you not to stress out. Just be as prepared as possible, then take comfort knowing you’re prepared. That should ease your stress somewhat.

Good luck!

StG

15

This may not be much in the way of consolation, but given the “survival items” team-builder you did in the first interview, I think it’s safe to say they’re going to be deliberately asking you questions you can’t expect. So, treat it like faking out a lie detector–go into the interview expecting that every question is going to be totally off the wall, and then slam-dunk the standard interviewing questions.

And, congratulations on the callback!

16

Indeed I did! I slowly figured that out once I read the reply after mine.

Whoops! :smack:

17

Good job!! For the 1:1 interview, you can break the ice and relieve some of your stress when the interviewer asks you “How are you today?”, you can say with a smile “I am doing great! Thanks. But, as you can imagine, I am a bit nervous, so bare with me and feel free to stop me if I ramble a bit…” Don’t try to cover it up by being wooden, they will see right through that and you will be more stressed. Embrace it and run with it.

Be yourself, listen to the questions carefully (let the interviewer fully finish the question before starting to answer), answer honestly, and if you catch yourself talking too fast, say “oh, I am rambling again, sorry!” and try to slow it down. Keep telling yourself you are going to do great, and look in the mirror and say “you can do this”. Good luck!

18

Yep, me too :smack:

As for the number of interview slots, that doesn’t necessarily mean the amount of people they are interviewing, just the times they all have available. Unless they mentioned otherwise, I would assume a smaller number are being called back.

19

I do to, and I’ve lost more than one job because of it. Then I started interviewing people for jobs, and I realized that interviewers want an excuse to hire you. They’re not looking to catch you in a mistake, they’re rooting for you. Later, after it’s over, they’ll have to compare you to the others, but in the moment they really are rooting for you. And as said above, you wouldn’t have the interview if they didn’t think you could do the job. The interview is just to confirm it.

Don’t worry about the other people being interviewed.

20

Thanks for all the support and suggestions guys :slight_smile: It’s really appreciated. And snowthx, I think I just might say that. Maybe it’ll help me relax knowing that they know I’m nervous, even though it’s pretty much a given.

However, I just realized something that’s causing me a bit of worry. Chances are it’s nothing, but still… When I left the group interview, I handed one of the interviewers my resume and cover letter. I just now realized, that the information I put on my online application in regards to my work history, doesn’t match with my written resume. Mostly what it was, was I had two jobs doing retail while I was attending school. Through some advice from here, I removed those two jobs from my written resume as they weren’t adding anything positive to it. So if they should mention this…how would I even respond? Is it ok to say I removed them because I felt they didn’t add anything positive to my resume?