Interview Panel Insights

What happens behind the scenes in hiring panels - and how to influence it. Let’s demystify something a lot of experienced candidates get wrong: ✅ The interview isn’t over when you leave the room. ✅ It’s just beginning… for them. Here’s what happens after your final panel: The team regroups. 🗣️ “What did you think?” 🗣️ “Would you want to work with them?” 🗣️ “Do they get our world?” 🗣️ “Can they deliver at this level?” 🗣️ “Any concerns?” This is where offers are made - or quietly die. So how do you influence that conversation before it happens? 🎯 1. Think beyond one good answer. You’re not there to win over one person - you’re there to leave 4–5 people aligned on your strengths. Every response should serve a bigger narrative: 💬 “This is how I think.” 💬 “This is how I lead.” 💬 “This is how I solve problems that matter.” 🎯 2. Don’t just speak to the panel - read the panel. Some will go quiet. Some will challenge you. Some are half-convinced. Your job isn’t to impress. It’s to connect. Ask clarifying questions. Bridge gaps. Build trust across the table. A great panelist might advocate for you. A sceptical one might block you. 🎯 3. Preempt what they’ll say after you leave. Instead of hoping they don’t bring up a weakness - address it head-on: 🗣️ “I haven’t worked in your exact industry before, but here’s how I’ve ramped quickly in new domains.” 🗣️ “This role spans cross-functional teams - I’d love to share how I’ve led across silos.” You don’t need to be perfect. You need to be trusted. 🎯 4. The best candidates influence the recap. They don’t just give strong answers. They shape a story the panel can repeat: 👉 “She’s clearly strategic.” 👉 “He listens and adapts.” 👉 “They’ve led through complexity before.” That’s what turns a panel into a champion. Bottom line? Don’t just prepare to answer questions. Prepare to influence the conversation that happens after you’ve logged off. Because that’s where decisions are really made. #InterviewTips #PanelInterviews #JobSearchStrategy #LeadershipHiring #SeniorJobs #CareerGrowth #HiringInsights #InterviewPreparation

The Partner Panel Interview is never about your Resume. It is about your Presence. Just last month, a Director from a consulting firm was nominated for promotion prep to be a partner in a leading consulting firm. Brilliant delivery record. Deep client relationships. Yet he looked nervous. “Why are you worried?” I asked. He said, “Vikram, I have led so many projects. What else do they want to see?” That is where most people get it wrong. The panel already knows you can deliver. They are testing something else. So I asked him 5 questions: 1. What makes you ready for Partner beyond your track record? 2. Why does the Partner title matter and what new doors will it open? 3. What is your unique signature as a Partner? 4. How do you handle feedback that challenges your self-view? 5. What trends will reshape your market and how will you help clients act on them? His answers shifted everything. He realised the leap was not from Director to Partner. It was from we to I. Not “we delivered the project.” But “I shaped the client agenda.” Not “we grew the practice.” But “I built the leaders who are scaling it today.” That shift gave him the confidence the panel was looking for. Here are a few hacks I as a coach shared with him: 🔹Show market impact. Panels want to know you can move industries, not just manage projects. 🔹Prove you can scale others. A Partner is judged by the leaders they create. 🔹Bring foresight. Do not only analyse today. Anticipate tomorrow. 🔹Anchor on trust. Clients do not buy more knowledge. They buy more belief in you. When you walk into that Partner panel, you are not being evaluated for competence. You are being tested for presence, judgment and foresight. If you are preparing for this transition, sharpen your answers before you sharpen your slides. 👉 What’s the single best lesson you’ve learned (or given) in preparing for senior leadership interviews? I’d love to hear your take. #ExecutivePresence #Leadership #ConsultingFirms

You’re one panel interview away from landing your dream job. Here’s how you can succeed. I know, panel interviews can feel overwhelming, too many faces, too many questions, and way too much pressure. But with the right approach, you can take control of the room and leave a lasting impression. Here’s how to prepare like a pro: 1. Know who’s in the room Ask for the panelists' names and roles ahead of time. Research what matters to each of them so you can speak to their priorities, not just the job description. 2. Prep flexible, high-impact stories Choose examples that showcase leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and results. The best stories can be adapted across different types of questions. 3. Engage the whole panel Even if only one person asks the question, speak to the room. Make eye contact with everyone. Confidence is contagious and visible. 4. Tailor your questions Show you’ve done homework by asking thoughtful, strategic questions based on each person’s perspective. It signals you’re already thinking like a peer. 5. Control the energy Panel interviews can feel intense. Slow your pace, stay grounded, and remember, you're not there to impress everyone. You're there to connect. This is your opportunity to demonstrate presence, clarity, and leadership under pressure. You don’t need to have all the answers. You just need to show up like someone who belongs in the room. What’s the one part of a panel interview that throws you off the most? Drop it in the comments. Let’s break it down.

There’s no shortage of advice for job seekers on how to interview well. But what about the interviewers? Most people on interview panels are never trained on how to interview effectively, let alone what to assess or how to do it in a way that leads to better hiring decisions. If you don’t know what you’re assessing for, or you’re asking the wrong questions, you’re just going through the motions. Worse, you risk making the wrong hire. But here’s the good news: Interviewing isn’t magic. It’s a skill. And like any skill, it can be taught. I’ve taught this as a Recruiting Instructor and built interview training programs multiple times, helping companies get it right from the start. Each one was tailored to the company’s stage, culture, and values, but some fundamentals always stayed the same: ✨ What candidate experience means (and why it matters) 🔍 How to evaluate for company values, not just skills 📝 The right way to design and use assignments (yes, there is a wrong way) 🗣️ How to ask questions that help predict performance and reveal how the candidate thinks versus only what they know When your team knows how to interview well, everything improves. Better hires. Stronger culture. Faster growth. If your interviews feel inconsistent or unclear or like you're leaving great hires to chance, let’s chat. Interview training doesn’t just improve your process, it becomes a competitive advantage. 👇 What’s the worst interview question you’ve ever been asked? Drop it in the comments. #hiring #startups #interviewing #peopleops #fractionalHR #talentacquisition

Most PM candidates keep running into the same stumbling block during interviews. They come prepared with perfect frameworks and polished success stories. Then the hiring manager asks: "Tell me about a feature you built." And the response is predictable: "I built this feature, followed the framework, and optimized for impact." The conversation usually wraps up right there. In a recent Supra Insider episode, a Product Leader at LTK captured it perfectly: "Execution was king in the past. But things have shifted now. It's about good ideas, good decision-making, and creative problem-solving." From what I've seen across our community, three skills consistently get candidates hired: ↳ Creative thinking and connecting dots others miss ↳ Making smart decisions with complex trade-offs   ↳ Collaborating and influencing effectively The responses that stand out? "We were going to build X, but I noticed trends in our dashboards that didn't make sense for users. I connected the dots and saw an opportunity. I built an AI prototype, tested it with users in calls, iterated with design, ran a quick A/B test..." And don't shy away from sharing failures. As one of our panelists noted: "If I only hear success stories, I'm concerned. I want to hear about failures—real learning lives there." What’s a decision you made in your career that went against the usual playbook but ended up working out? --- Our full episode on how to land a PM role at a top company covered: ↳ Why referrals are now essential (and how to get them without connections) ↳ The resume red flags that get you instantly rejected ↳ Where AI fits into how companies are now evaluating PM candidates   ↳ The mindset shift that turns interviews into conversations ↳ Why most PMs are optimizing for the wrong signals