Panel Interview Advice

TeKniques

Hi everyone,

Currently, I’m a Director at a MSP and I recently applied for a management position for information security in healthcare. The job pays significantly more than I currently make. I had a call screen which lead to an onsite interview panel with the IT Director and the other IT Managers – I received a call today that I was selected among the final candidates for two additional onsite panel interviews, both to occur on 2 separate days. This is the first time I have had to do panel interviews of this type (outside IT) and am seeking advice from others who have gone through something similar. I imagine these panels will involve maybe senior leaders and maybe some individual contributors, but really I have no idea what to expect as it was not clear. Guess I’m just kind of nervous lol … I appreciate any input offered.

Happy Holidays everyone.

scaredoftests

Research, Research Reserch. Make questions for the panel before you go, relax, and if they all ask questions (I have seen some panel interviews, just one person ask the questions, and that is a little odd). Face each person when they ask a question. good luck.

gespenstern

The biggest one I had was in 2013 when I was in a meeting room with the whole team of around 13 people and they were asking me questions and I was at a whiteboard painting schemes and scenarios.

There's no advice really, you just have to know what are they going to ask and answer their questions quickly and properly. On top of that it would help to give a joke or two and look confident.

If you knowledge isn't absolute you just have to go through N interviews until some of them kicks in on a right day and they will be asking questions you are familiar with. Then you shine, they are impressed and you got the job. On the other hand, on a bad day they will be asking questions you have no clue about and you will bomb and won't be selected.

To prepare yourself psychologically for this type of stress you can model this by asking a couple of friends, relatives or colleagues to spend some time with you on this. Have something resembling a classic meeting room with a whiteboard, sit them all on the opposite side of the table and instruct them to behave harshly towards you and ask you tricky and disrespectful questions in order to see how you can handle the stress.

Regarding actual knowledge it's just too late I guess. However it may worth to go over some high-level stuff from their JD.

dustervoice

Try to let the panel loosen up a bit with an appropriate joke then it becomes a conversation and not an "interview". Everyone can handle an a conversation its the question and answer sessions that we fall flat on our faces! Since this is a healthcare org ensure you know the ins and outs of HIPPA and recent breaches that happened in that sector. Good luck!

PS.. Anthem, Blue cross and Excellus breach

ratbuddy

Also be aware that it's HIPAA not HIPPA

UncleB

I agree with scaredoftests - research the hell out of the company and if possible the people who will be interviewing you.

If you can get a few snippets about some of them and drop it into the interview it will go a long way to set you above the competition and should get you seen as someone who is serious about it.

Try to be as relaxed as you can be and let them see your normal personality so they can see you for who you are and not a façade that is put on for the interview.

good luck
Iain

Dojiscalper

I had a panel interview once and it went horribly because I had no idea I was going up against a panel until I walked into the room. I was young, but still could have done much better had I knew before hand.

TechGuru80

Know how you are going to help the business if selected. Try to find out as much as possible about the company or how their competitors work. Try to know the same lingo that the people in the interview will use but it might be late to pick it up now. Ask about pain points within the organization and how you can help with those and if you have faced similar situations elsewhere. I would imagine the interview would get more personal because it might be the last chance they have to see if you fit the culture and can help lead in their organization.

whiteskies

I had a panel interview about 2 months ago with AOL. I think I did alright but I wasn't looking for a return call. It was 4 people from one department and 4 people from another department. The first 4 people asked more of the technical questions then the next 4 people came in and asked whatever else. It's no way to prepare for an interview. That research and look online for typical questions is crap. Yes, knowing the company history is great but people now a days in the intermediate and senior level hiring aren't asking the "typical" questions. Truth be told that interview with AOL and some previous interviews always seem to slide away from the job description. Yes they asked questions pertaining to the job description and my resume but the interview went in other directions.

One question was similar to this, " What is your preferred method of learning".
My answer was similar to this. "Well it depends on what I am learning. If I am learning how to change a transmission in a car I want it to be hands on, if I am learning how to bake a cake I can read a book". Not sure if that's what they were looking for but my methods of learning depends on what I am learning.

I have been on at least 20 interviews in my life and never had a question like that. Like I said it's really no way to prepare for an intermediate/senior lever position interview. Why you ask? Because they have to weed people out. If you have 5 qualified (intermediate/senior level) people with similar qualifications and knowledge you're not going to weed people out asking them ports, protocols, and services because you EXPECT them to know that anyway. You have to ask questions that they don't expect....

Russell77

I kind of disagree about launching a joke. Certainly it depends on your read of the people in the room and your own personality. Every company culture is different but you have no idea what your walking into. The important things to get across are your abilities, and willingness to help accomplish the company goals. Nothing worse in an interview than making a joke that does not go over well. You will have an uphill climb from there.

TeKniques

I just want to say thank you to all the great advice. The responses have been great. Today, I received my confirmation of the two panel interviews with the information of who will be sitting on the panel. The first interview is made up of a selection of managers - my take is they are managers of departments that most likely would be key stakeholders for IT projects and interface regularly with IT management. The other panel seems to be made up of the individual contributors of the team that will be managed by this position. Both interviews are next week, and of course the nerves are settling in. Thanks again to the advice ... hoping this goes well

scaredoftests

TeKniques wrote: »

I just want to say thank you to all the great advice. The responses have been great. Today, I received my confirmation of the two panel interviews with the information of who will be sitting on the panel. The first interview is made up of a selection of managers - my take is they are managers of departments that most likely would be key stakeholders for IT projects and interface regularly with IT management. The other panel seems to be made up of the individual contributors of the team that will be managed by this position. Both interviews are next week, and of course the nerves are settling in. Thanks again to the advice ... hoping this goes well

Good luck!

TeKniques

*Update*

Had both panel interviews this week. Both pretty challenging, although the first one was definitely the more difficult of the two. Lots and lots of behavioral leadership and management questions; a bit of diving into my experience with different technologies and security work. Overall I feel very confident of my chances as both interviews went well (or felt like they did to me at least). At the end I was told a few weeks or so to know if I will be selected.

gespenstern

thanks for the update

regarding behavioral leadership -- what's that? Do they like paint a scenario with some conflict and ask you what ways are there to resolve it?

TeKniques

Here's a sample of a few of the questions I was asked:

You would be managing people who have been with the organization for many years, how would you as their manager get them to follow your vision for the department?

Follow up: They are very passionate of their work and what they've built here. How would you get them on your side when making a technology decision?

Explain to us your process on how you resolve a conflict between two co-workers?

How would you as a senior manager portray leadership for IT and the organization?

Those are just a sample - I had 3 panel interviews and a phone screen total. I'm just glad it's all over ... now just have to wait and see

scaredoftests

Do you know what the next step is and how long before you hear anything?

bpenn

TeKniques wrote: »

Here's a sample of a few of the questions I was asked:

You would be managing people who have been with the organization for many years, how would you as their manager get them to follow your vision for the department?

Follow up: They are very passionate of their work and what they've built here. How would you get them on your side when making a technology decision?

Explain to us your process on how you resolve a conflict between two co-workers?

How would you as a senior manager portray leadership for IT and the organization?

Those are just a sample - I had 3 panel interviews and a phone screen total. I'm just glad it's all over ... now just have to wait and see

Sounds like you went through the gauntlet. Those questions remind me of a behavioral leadership class I took at WGU.

TeKniques

The gauntlet for sure lol. Funny enough, they asked me barely any technical questions at all. A few things about security policy, procedures, control implementation, and planning security infrastructure upgrades.

scaredoftests wrote: »

Do you know what the next step is and how long before you hear anything?

They said the decision should be in a couple of weeks.

TeKniques

*Update*

I received the call yesterday, and unfortunately I was not selected for the position. They told me it was a hard decision and that I made a great impression on a lot of the people I interviewed with and at the end of the day my lack of experience managing in a larger organization was the difference with my competition. Pretty disappointed, I felt like I really shined in the interviews and held my own. As a consolation the hiring manager asked if I was interested in another security position as he felt like I would be a really good fit there. The other position is intriguing (engineer position) and pays quite well so I am exploring my options. Damm ... it.

NotHackingYou

Thanks for posting this threat, great information here. Sorry you didn't get the position, good luck with the next one!

alias454

When a door closes a Window opens!

networker050184

Sounds like you gained some good insight for the future in interviewing for roles like this. And hey maybe the new guy doesn't work out and you can swoop in and save the day!

gespenstern

Thanks for letting us know.

It's okay to fail in this as majority of job application result in failures. It's just a numbers game, you have to try many before you get a close to ideal fit.

TeKniques

*Update*

Interviewed for the Security Engineer position in front of a panel and received an offer today. Interview was mostly technical focused regarding server and application hardening, patching, AV deployment, firewall controls and just about everything else along the technical track. The offer is quite good from where I am at now so I think it's an easy decision from that point of view. I don't necessarily have any problems with my current employer, I just feel a bit stagnant and not really growing as an IT professional ... another reason I chose to pursue this opportunity is the complete chaos of an MSP lifestyle on the project side of things.

I appreciate everyone's advice on this thread. It was an overall good experience gained doing all these interviews.