Introduction To Group Interview

Group Interview is also known as Assessment Center. There are usually 6-10 interviewees and two or three interviewers sitting opposite to evaluate the performance of the interviewees.

The interview is generally processed in this way: Representation (about 3 minutes, to introduce yourself or your temporary partner), Narration (5 minutes with a random topic), and Discussion (40 minutes, to discuss and debate on a given topic, and draw a conclusion).

Some companies' group interviews may cover all the above process or may cover only part of the process, the detailed process can be acquired in the company's recruitment talk.

1. Why Group Interview?

Compared to the forms of traditional interviews, such as one to one or multiple interviewers to one interviewee, a group interview gathers many interviewees to discuss about a certain topic, in which way the interviewer can inspect the comprehensive competence of the candidates, such as leadership, language and teamwork skills, etc. The interviewer will decide whether or not to recruit the candidates after evaluating their comprehensive competence and skills based on their performance. Many famous companies, like Johnson, Nestle, usually arrange group interview in their recruitment.

2. What kind of skills and competence are valued?

• Leadership

During group interviews, a good leader can control the rhythm of the discussion, stimulate the enthusiasm of the team members, and give effective solutions with all the circumstances considered.

• Teamwork

In a group interview, a winner does not have to be a leader. He can be a collaborator. If he shows enough respect to other team members, puts forward his own ideas appropriately, considers others' opinions, reasonable results can also be achieved. Teamwork skills can be greatly shown in group interviews.

• Presentation Skills

Which kind of narration is acceptable? Are you a clear thinker? Is your speech well organized? All these can be evaluated through the performance in a group interview. Do you have confidence in your opinions? Are you an aggressive person or a mild collaborator? The interviewers can decide whether the candidates are good for these positions through their performance.

3. Types and Features of Group Interview

There are mainly two forms of group interview: Free Discussion and Teamwork.

Free Discussion: It usually involves five or six persons and includes two parts, free speech and discussion. During the free speech, the candidates tell about their opinions on the given topics to the interviewers, while the interviewers just sit silently and observe their appearances, manners and opinions; during the discussion, the candidates should communicate with others and do free debates as in debate competitions.

Teamwork: The interviewees are required to cooperate based on certain roles and backgrounds given by the interviewers, so as to achieve specific tasks. The tasks might be about running for the position, or some recent events.