How to Stand Out in a Group Interview

Group interviews can be extremely difficult. You are surrounded by individuals whose only goal is to look better than you. These applicants are out for blood, because they know that unless they outshine you, they are not getting a call back to continue through the interview process. No one has ever received extended job interview chances by blending into the background.

From the moment you walk into your room, you need to do everything in your power to impress your interviewers. Below are some tips for standing out in a group interview.

Group Interview Tips

• Speak Up and Often

Whenever you are given a chance to answer a question, you should. Be the first to speak up (provided you have something interesting to say) and you will ensure that you are remembered. You should give other applicants a chance to speak, and you should not interrupt them to get your point in, but it is vitally important that you do quite a bit of the talking.

• Feel Free and Disagree

When a point is up for discussion, you should consider yourself welcome to disagree with another applicant. Sometimes it can be difficult to want to speak up when an applicant brings up a point that the interviewers seem to enjoy, but your willingness to challenge the opinion of others can only help to serve your caus.

• Ask Questions

Like with all job interviews, the more questions you ask, the better. Try to make the questions related to some of the content in the interview. If you have a genuine question, don’t wait until another applicant asks.

• Build On Statements

Sometimes you will find an applicant makes a point that you agree with. It is a good idea to acknowledge the great points of others (shows you work well as a team) and try to build on them with your own worthwhile points.

Quality and Quantity

Your best bet to succeed during a group job interview is to produce quality responses as often as possible. It is important to remember though that quality cannot take a back seat to quantity. Every answer you supply must be interesting and informative. Do not speak for the sake of speaking. If you dominate a conversation without producing anything of value, you are immediately going to be placed in the “no” pile.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Be confident during your group interview.
• Be willing to discuss and disagree points.
• Acknowledge good answers by others and see if you can build on them.