How to Conduct a Virtual Panel Interview

You got asked to lead an online panel interview. Now what?!

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

If you have been asked to lead or moderate a virtual panel interview, here are some guidelines on how to have a successful one.

Your Panel Setup

This is for a virtual panel interview—over Zoom, Teams, Google—so the setup will be a little different for in-person (which I’ll cover in another post.)

First: the panel doc

I strongly suggest creating a shared doc (can be Google doc, Confluence doc, Notion doc). Make this doc private, and share it with the interview team—which is the hiring manager, panelists, and the company recruiter, if there is one.

Include the following:

• Name of interviewee, and a link to their resume and or their record in the job application system.
• List of the people on the interview panel (see below)
• Panel guidelines and format (see below)
• The focus points (see below)
• The bank of questions (see below)
• Mishap plan (see below)

Second: the panel participants

The first thing to do is pick the panel interviewers for that role, not the interviewee. You want to pick a panel and keep it for all interviews for that role. This will help ensure that they can compare and contrast the candidates.

One of the panelists should be the moderator. (Tips for moderating the panel are below.)

Third: the focus points

In the doc, the hiring manager should list areas of focus that they feel the panel should cover. This could be “managing a fully-remote team”, or “cross-team collaboration”, or “go deep into their experience in ________.”

The panel will use these focus points when writing their questions to be sure to cover these areas in detail.

Fourth: the bank of questions

Each panelist will review the job description, read the focus points from the hiring manager, come up with a list of questions and add them to the shared doc.

They are not locked into these questions, but it helps in two ways: one is that they now have similar questions for each candidate, and that will help in being able to compare and contrast equitably across candidates.

Another is that will allow other panelists to collaborate by seeing what could be asked, adjusting their own questions, and giving feedback each other and improvements. The point is to ask a barrage of questions to help gauge if the candidate is a good fit for the role. In a panel interview, you may have less time for questions, so you do not want to overlap.

These list of questions have also come in handy when a panelist could not show up for an interview, and other panelists were able to ask some of their questions.

Moderators in a Panel Interview Are Crucial

Every panel interview needs to have a person designated as “moderator”. If you are reading this, you likely may be that person, or the one that will assign that person. To me, this role on the panel makes or breaks it.

Having a moderator is crucial for ensuring that the conversation flows smoothly, stays on topic, and is effective in leading to being able to gauge a candidate for the role.

Here are some key responsibilities of a moderator in a panel discussion:

1. Facilitating the discussion: The moderator’s primary role is to facilitate the conversation and questions among the panelists. They introduce the format and agenda, guide the discussion and questioning, and keep it organized. I do my interviews in three parts—introduction to the agenda and panelists, the interview, then an ask-us-anything session at the end—and this is something I mention at the very beginning of the interview with everyone present.
2. Setting the agenda: The moderator sets the agenda or outline for the interview, determining the order interviewers will go, and moving things along when it gets stuck in one place for too long. They ensure that the panel stays on track and covers all focus points. I like to review the questions in the doc, and add a ➕ next to it, or make it bold, to amplify it as a one I feel should be asked.
3. Introducing panelists: As moderator, I start by asking each interviewer to spend 1 minute providing their names, titles, and a brief background. This helps the interviewee understand who they are speaking with, and why they are being interviewed by them. For panel interviews, more than a minute is too much information to take in, and can eat up precious time.
4. Time management: Moderators are responsible for keeping the interview within the allocated time frame. At the beginning of the interview, I mention that I will use the video chat to say “Time. {name} has next question.” They are also told to take a moment to wrap up their answer so we can move on. This may sound curt, but I have found that mentioning it upfront, and listening for a natural break makes for a good transition, and keeps things moving along, and equitable to all panelists. You may use a timer, but I have found not all answers fit neatly into a 2- or 5-minute block of time.
5. Asking questions: I prefer the panelists be the ones asking questions, but moderators may pose questions to the interviewee. These may be ones that came up in the moment—or pulled from the list in the doc—that really lean on the focus points. In some cases, a moderator may need to sit in for a panelist that is unable to attend. If that panelist has written down their questions ahead of time, you have the ability to do this quite easily.
6. Encouraging engagement: Moderators encourage active participation from all panelists, ensuring that no one dominates the interview while allowing quieter panelists to speak. I feel that going around the room in an organized fashion, directing who is next in line to ask a question ensures every has the ability to actively participate. If a panelist has a follow-up question that is timely, they may send you a private message, and you can help get them the time they need to ask it in the moment. I do this by mentioning “I have a follow-up question from {name], and then we will go to {name} for their question.”
7. Wrapping up: Leaving a few mins at the end of the interview, the moderator should move to keep it ending on time. They can offer concluding remarks to wrap up the conversation, briefly discuss next steps, and mention how the panel and or hiring manager may be reached should there be follow-up questions.
8. Mishap plan—adapting and responding to unexpected situations: Sometimes, unexpected situations or disruptions can occur during an interview panel. Moderators need to stay composed and adapt to these situations while keeping the discussion on track. Before you start, list in the doc how you would handle things like a panelist not able to show, what is considered a no-show by an interviewee, audio issues, and so on. Have backups and plans for panelists to work through so that it keeps the disruption to a minimum.
9. Promoting inclusivity: Moderators should ensure diversity of perspectives and voices are heard during the discussion, making it inclusive and representative of different viewpoints. I feel having panelists go in a prescribed order—with you moving it along—gives everyone an equitable presence and voice at the table. No one panelist should be asking an outsized number of questions.

Panel Agenda Template

No interview panel is the same at any company, for every role. Below is a template I use and adapt based on role they are interviewing for, size of panel, and company culture. And I would like to stress that all of the panelists should be present for each section.

The three-part interview

Brief introductions for no more than 1–2 minutes for each person, including the interviewee. I like to emphasize that the introduction is “going to explain why you are being interviewed by this person for this role.”

Main section is the interview by the panel. In my introduction, I like to mention to the interviewee that clarifying questions are fine, but other questions can be held until the end where we will have an ask-us-anything session. This section should be long enough to accommodate your panel size so that everyone has the ability to ask 2–3 questions, or 2–3 rounds. For a 3–4 person panel, that could easily be 45 mins or more. Your company and the role may require a longer and more involved main section.

The AMA. I always ensure that there is a block of time allotted at the end for the interviewee to ask the panel anything. I state that this can be about the role, the company, the team or teams, our history, our culture… “anything that helps you get a better understanding of the company and people you would be working with, but also the role you are applying to.”

Note taking

This part is crucial to a good panel interview. And I like to do it a bit differently. While interviewers taking a few notes is fine, I actually prefer that there be one notetaker so that everyone can pay attention to the body language and subtleties of the candidate. If you are busy taking notes, it can be difficult to see their energy, their confidence, their poise, or lack of it. As moderator, I tend to prefer taking notes as it helps me look for natural breaks and send off the “Next!” chat message.

Brady Bunch Squares

I know you can stack a handful of panelists into one conference room and interview a candidate over Zoom, but I prefer virtual panels to have each person in their own square. This helps in a number of ways:

• No sidebar conversations. I tend to find that people at a table in a room on video leads to a couple having a sidebar discussion, and that is not fair to the interviewee.
• Better connections. When you have someone in their own square versus a small dot in a room, the interviewee can make a better connection to them. They can see your energy, facial expressions and vibe easier. And that can translate to better, more authentic answers than speaking to to a room of people you can hardly see.
• Equitable. If you have 3 people in a conference room, and 2 others remote, there can be a power imbalance where the conference room seems more important. Even if you have a mix of levels in your panelists, having them in their own squares makes the flow of the interview more equitable.

In Summary

A skilled moderator plays a vital role in ensuring that a virtual panel interview is informative, engaging, and well-organized. They guide the conversation, manage time effectively, and create an environment where panelists can gauge a candidate in a fair and equitable manner.