Group interviews can unsettle some young job applicants

You might call it the "plays-well-with-others" job interview.

Olivia Carideo, a senior this fall at Jefferson High School in Bloomington, was surprised to walk into two "group interviews" as she applied for jobs this summer.

That is to say, instead of talking to applicants individually, the company representative collected four to six of them into a group and interviewed them all at once.

It made Carideo uncomfortable. Or, in her words, "It was weird."

Comfort aside, she also had no idea how to outshine her competitors sitting right there beside her.

It's a predicament facing a good number of "Millennials" -- people in Generation Y, from age 6 to 26 -- as they apply for their first jobs.

Some Twin Cities college career centers report hearing more of it, as students apply for internships and summer jobs. Milwaukee-based career coach George Blomgren -- who calls group interviews a "post-modern" style -- said it has been around in certain niches for at least 10 years.

And it seems that one of those niches is retail sales -- where so many young people start working.

"I think a lot of young job seekers don't even know these type of interviews exist, and then it's really difficult," said Blomgren, who works at a national network of employment websites that includes www.jobsinminneapolis.com.

One job seeker, he said, "was completely surprised, completely freaked out, and had no idea how to react."

It can make for some strange and uninviting situations, Carideo found.

Her first encounter was with Kiddie Kandids, a chain of photo studios specializing in children that has several Minnesota locations. The interview site was a hotel in Maple Grove, and the interviews were done in groups of four.

First, the group listened to a presentation about the company.

"It was like it didn't involve you at all, it just ended up being all about their company regulations and policies," she said.

Then everyone had to make goofy faces.

"It was like practice of what you would do in front of kids," she said. "It was kind of embarrassing, at least for me. Some of the guys took it pretty seriously."

Her second group interview was with Zumiez, a store that sells clothing and accessories for the skateboarding and snowboarding crowd.

"There were six of us. We had like a picnic, we all met up at a park where they told us to go," Carideo said. "We sat around a picnic table, talking about store hours and company policies. We all introduced ourselves and filled out an application again. We talked for a little bit. They asked us some questions."

Several retail store companies, including Zumiez, declined to comment or didn't return calls about using group interviews.

But one local store manager, who asked to remain anonymous, said she has been part of them at Zumiez, Gap and American Eagle Outfitters.

Fun, energetic, outgoing

She believes they are the best way to spot the kind of fun, energetic and outgoing types she looks to hire. She also likes that they're fast. She can cover six people in an hour instead of three hours the old-fashioned way.

Blomgren thinks group interviews might be part of employers' general frustration that traditional interviews don't tell them what they need to know, "so they're all just trying to figure out, 'What are we going to do instead?' "

Another variation is what some college career centers call "group mingling."

Employers sometimes invite all job candidates to a reception the day before all the individual interviews, said Paul Timmins, director of career services at the University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts.

"It's not a formal part of the interviewing process, but I'm sure the recruiters are watching how the candidates interact in a group," Timmins said.

Knowing the interview's purpose makes it easier to know how to act, Blomgren said, and his advice is: Make sure you're heard. Don't try to trump the other candidates by interrupting or contradicting them. And for bonus points, try to draw out a quiet member of the group.

In the meantime, Carideo found a job at Journeys, a shoe store in the Mall of America, after two individual and pleasant interviews.

"It was a lot easier because you can tell them what your experience is, where you've worked, and how that relates to where you want to work," she said, "and they tell you about the business.

"At least you could hear everything. And it felt fair."

What are your workplace issues? You can reach H.J. Cummins at workandlife @startribune.com. Please sign your e-mails; no names will appear in print without prior approval.