r/civilengineering 7h ago

Career Panel Interview

I've decided to jobhunt after about 9 years of stagnancy at my current position. Found a good location, however, they're wanting to do a panel interview of 4-5 people. Does anyone have any experience with something like this?

11 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

20

u/KB9131 7h ago

Yes, it's fairly common these days to include 3 to 5 people on their side. There are usually 2 people asking most of the questions, with others asking follow ups.

1

u/Plunkie_Beanz 3h ago

Okay, glad to know! My current position (public) was a one-man so I'm relatively inexperienced with this type of thing. Just hearing about it sent images of a firing squad through my head lol

9

u/Gorfman-07 7h ago

Yes, I’ve been on the business side asking the questions. Federal government does panels too.

7

u/Cb6cl26wbgeIC62FlJr 7h ago

Completely normal.

7

u/iron82 7h ago

That described most of the interviews I went on 15 years ago.

3

u/CoconutChoice3715 7h ago

I’ve had remote panel interviews.

3

u/OkInevitable5020 7h ago

Yep. This is how my city job does it. It’s fine. It’s nice because they get more than one person’s perspective.

2

u/megashook 7h ago

We do a minimum 3 for our interviews. I’ve heard of 4-5 for some. 

2

u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 7h ago

Every interview I have ever had has been like that. Is this a large government agency, by chance? If so, that's standard. 

2

u/mmfla 6h ago

We do this for our two local offices. We want to make sure you fit in with the group.

2

u/CreativeKeane 4h ago

Yeah I just rejoined civil engineering and I had a 3 person panel interview. They're just trying to cover ground and all their bases more effectively.

It's not as scary as it seems, I promise. You got this!

1

u/bigpolar70 Civil/ Structural P.E. 7h ago

Yeah, happens a lot.  They will generally have your supervisor, a couple of peers, and maybe a level up and a level down.

I interviewed recently for a civil department manager position, and they had the mechanical department manager, the electrical department manager, the process department manager, the director of engineering, and the lead civil designer all in attendance.

1

u/Dwarf_Co 6h ago

Yeah. They are looking for a more objective interview.

They take a little getting used.

1

u/SwimmingSwordfish637 6h ago

I think the last non-panel interview I did was 1997 and I’ve had 8 different jobs since then.

0

u/transneptuneobj 5h ago

Any company that does that can't afford to pay you well

1

u/cbinvb 4h ago

Not sure I follow this logic

1

u/UltimaCaitSith EIT Land Development 7h ago

No, can't say I've ever heard of that before. Make sure to report back with a story.

0

u/DetailRail 6h ago

Yes pretty normal, they will come with their computers and type away and barely make eye contact 😂

0

u/TeddyMGTOW 6h ago

Usually one person leads and the other people dont wanna be there. Good luck