[MI] 6 Person Panel for 1st Round Zoom Interview?
Michigan, USA - How common is a panel interview for the very first round of a job interview?
I applied for a job via a portal late on a Sunday afternoon. Received an email requesting a Zoom interview the very next day (Monday) in the early afternoon. Interview was scheduled for Wednesday morning. Calendar invite only listed the person who had emailed me the request and was scheduled for 20-25 minutes. As this would over Zoom & our first time talking, I assumed this would be a more informal discussion with some basic questions and that she would tell me more about the position and the organization. I hopped on the Zoom to a roomful of 6 people - all dept. heads, including the person who had done the scheduling.
They did not give an overview of the job or the organization at all. Didn’t even mention the job title. Just went around the table each saying their name and job title (which was hard to hear & see who was talking at times), then they jumped into each of them asking me more technical questions. Then I got to ask a couple of questions and that was it.
I did not perform very well, which is on me, but I was not expecting this type of an interview. Given that the person being replaced is a planned retirement, the interview was scheduled so quickly & they did not tell me anything about the position or the organization, I got the feeling they already have a candidate in mind and were going through the minimum requirements to say they were “fair” and had interviewed other people. Maybe I am wrong though and this is the new norm, I should be better prepared for?
Also, in the future, I think it would be wise to ask ahead of time who all will be a part of the interview as that would be a tip off. Is that acceptable to ask?