One of my clients asked me what I thought about them utilizing group interviews as a part of the hiring process for their management team. I had to answer the client's question with a question: what is the reason you would use the group interview process?

Three Great Reasons to Use the Group Interview Process

1. Your team is like a family and you do everything together--If this is the case (as it was for my client) then a group interview might be a nice touch as part of the overall process you use for recruitment and hiring because it is congruent with your company culture.
2. Group interaction is part of the responsibilities of the job you are filling--If the role requires addressing multiple people simultaneously, then group interviewing might be beneficial because it is part of the job.
3. You have multiple positions open and a high volume of candidates--If you have 15 openings and 500 applicants, then using the group interview process as a paring down exercise is probably a great time saver. This is the best reason to use group interviewing.

One Bad Reason to Use the Group Interview Process

1. You are hoping to see how people act under pressure--unfortunately, the candidates who "do well under pressure" may also be the ones who are great in interviews but not so good at actually working. Intimidation and pressure might be interesting and make for some good survivor stories, but they will not yield any actual information that is useful in predicting future behavior of candidates. Sorry!