Panel interviews can play a major role in getting jobs. Two career coaches discuss what to do before and during the interview, including identifying how to differentiate yourself, engaging in true conversations and not overlooking a key panel member.
Panel interviews that can influence whether biopharma professionals get hired can be nerve-wracking, especially for those who are more comfortable doing scientific work than communicating with people. Preparing properly for the experience is important, but it can be more complex than getting ready for a one-on-one interview, according to Porschia Parker-Griffin, founder and CEO of Fly High Coaching, whose services include career and business coaching.
“It requires you to think through some areas that you might not have and think about it from the big picture as well,” she told BioSpace. “So, definitely do not just think that you’re going to wing it when it comes to a panel interview.”
To help biopharma professionals prepare, Parker-Griffin and Melissa Lawrence, founder of Your Worthy Career, a career and leadership coaching firm for women in pharma and biotech, shared several tips with BioSpace.
Getting ready: doing research and identifying your secret sauce
As part of the preparation process, candidates should make sure they understand the role they’re interviewing for, Parker-Griffin said. For example, she noted, depending on the organization, a principal scientist can have different responsibilities in terms of team leadership and thought leadership.
“If there’s anything you’re unclear about, I generally recommend that you email that recruiter or the first person that you had an interview with one on one additional questions, because you do not want to be in a panel interview and then not have a good understanding of the job and what you’re being asked to do,” Parker-Griffin said.
It’s also important to research the people on the panel, which can include hiring managers, department heads, cross-functional team members, peer team members and even executives, according to Parker-Griffin and Lawrence. Parker-Griffin recommended looking up panelists on LinkedIn or Google to learn about who they are and their areas of expertise. Even just knowing their titles is helpful, she noted.
“If you have an understanding of who’s going to be in that panel interview, then that gives you some frame of reference on a couple of things,” Parker-Griffin said. “So, one, who the organization thinks is important and whose opinion is important. You also know what they value in terms of the type of information that they want to hear about.”
For example, she said, if someone from sales will be at a principal scientist role’s panel interview, the company highly values collaboration with the sales team. With that in mind, Parker-Griffin explained, a candidate can make sure their answers are understandable to someone with a salesperson’s background.
While it’s a natural human tendency to judge someone based on their title, their age or whether they have a Ph.D., candidates should keep an open mind about panelists’ background and experience, Lawrence told BioSpace.
Some people will almost consciously or subconsciously discount the credibility of the panelists based on superficial things, and that can really hurt them.
“Some people will almost consciously or subconsciously discount the credibility of the panelists based on superficial things, and that can really hurt them,” she said.
Another key part of preparation, according to Parker-Griffin, is identifying what makes candidates different than their competition, which she frames as “What is your secret sauce?” She explained that knowing what that is matters because by this stage of the interviewing process, those still in the running for the job can have similar levels of experience and education.
“So, what is going to be the differentiator for you to get the offer?” Parker-Griffin said.
To prepare to communicate differentiators, she recommended candidates identify two to three compelling accomplishments where they played a major part in a successful outcome and write them out in bullet points or sentences. This allows people to break down the challenges they faced and the positive results they achieved, Parker-Griffin said.
At the interview: making conversation and not snubbing peers
Once at the interview, Lawrence recommended connecting with panelists so the experience feels more like a dialogue and isn’t performative. She added that when people are nervous, they focus on trying to answer questions correctly and prove themselves, which can lead to answering one question after another as opposed to having a conversation with interviewers.
To facilitate an authentic conversation, Lawrence recommended asking questions that get at how the role will operate and why the company is filling it. For example, she said, candidates can ask:
- “What is one skill or area of expertise that is so crucial to this role that it can’t be done well without it?”
- “How did you work with the person in this role before?”
- “What is your ideal way of working with the person in this role?”
Candidates should also ask questions that allow them to immediately address concerns interviewers have about hiring them, Lawrence said. For example, she noted, they can ask:
- “Do you have any hesitancy about my fit for this role?”
- “Now that we’ve had time to talk through the role and my experience, how do you see me fitting into the role?”
- “Is there anything that you had hoped I would share that we didn’t touch on?”
When it comes to the questions candidates answer, Lawrence said if they don’t understand them, they should ask for clarification, as panel members might judge them on whether or not they do that.
“Some people might ask something, not realize it’s vague, you might give an answer that doesn’t match up with what they asked and then they think that you just don’t know how to communicate well,” she said. “And then you get kind of a ding on something that could have easily been resolved if you just were to say, ‘OK, is this what you’re asking?’ or ‘I have an example of this situation. Is that what you were hoping that I would speak to?’”
Throughout the interview, it’s important to avoid overlooking peer-level panelists in favor of their higher-ranking counterparts, according to Lawrence and Parker-Griffin. Lawrence explained that the biggest influencers in hiring decisions aren’t always the people with the highest title or most experience, while Parker-Griffin noted that peers’ presence is a big clue that their opinions matter.
“They might not even ask any questions, but their perception of you and how it would be to work with you is super important, and you definitely do not want to overlook those people and just think, ‘Hey, I just need to be nice to the executive’ or ‘I just need to be nice to whoever my hiring manager is,’” Parker-Griffin said.
