How to write a winning scholarship essay - Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe 2018

The group interview
Winning interview strategies

Key Strategies

So it’s you on one side of the table and a panel of six on the other side. It’s certainly not the most natural way to have a conversation. How do you stay calm when you are interviewed by a council of judges? Here’s how:

Think of the group as individuals. Instead of thinking it’s you versus the team, think of each of the interviewers as an individual. Try to connect with each separately.

Try to get everyone’s name if you can. Have a piece of paper to jot down everyone’s name and role so that you can refer to them in the conversation and be able to target your answers to appeal to each of the constituents. For example, if you are interviewing with a panel of employees from a company and you know that Sue works in accounting while Joe works in human resources, you can speak about your analytical skills to appeal to Sue and your people skills to appeal to Joe.

Make eye contact. Look into the eyes of each of the panelists.

Don’t stare, but show them that you are confident. Be careful not to focus on only one or two panelists.

Respect the hierarchy. You may find that there is a leader in the group like the scholarship chair or the CEO of the company.

Pay a little more attention to stroke the ego of the head. A little kissing up never hurt anyone.

Try to include everyone. In any group situation, there are usually one or two more vocal members who take the lead.

Don’t focus all of your attention only on the loud ones. Spread your attention as evenly as possible.

Ultimately, the more interaction you have and the more you engage the interviewers the better their impression of you. You want to leave them with the feeling that you are a polite and intelligent person who is as interested in what they have to say as in what you do yourself.