Practical review! Skills to win a BAT group interview with just six sentences

Group interviews, also known as leaderless group interviews, are basically a specialty of job hunting for fresh graduates. They are known for their high luck factor and high rejection rate. Most students are afraid of them, and I am no exception. Although group interviews are affected by many factors such as the interviewer, teammates, and test questions, fortunately there are still many skills to follow. Mastering some necessary tricks can help you show your advantages as much as possible while maintaining your own position and increase your pass rate.

It’s job hunting season again this year. Let me review the details of a recent group interview and introduce to you my tips for group interviews.

review:

Large Internet company, product group first round, group interview, 11 participants (all with internship experience in BAT companies). Two product interviewers and one HR. After entering the small room, each person was given 2 minutes to introduce themselves. Everyone briefly introduced themselves in turn. From this process, you can probably get an overview of the students on the field. I, a face-blind contestant, quickly wrote down the clockwise number on paper and simply recorded some keywords for each person with a few keywords, such as: advertising major, R&D background, overseas experience, etc. After that, I was informed that the group interview was about to begin, with a time limit of 45 minutes, and draft paper and group interview questions were distributed. Let's go!

Pause for three seconds. Everyone is basically organizing the information in their hands. If you don’t meet a crazy contestant like me, you can say the first sentence of the whole audience: "If you don’t mind, I will help keep time." After everyone silently agreed, a classmate suggested allocating the time first. Based on the requirements of the group interview, based on his suggestion, I wrote on the paper: start at 9:55, read the questions and think before 10:00 (about 5 minutes), prepare for the report and practice at 10:30, formal report at 10:35, and end at 10:40.

9:55 The timer starts to read the question. The question is:

As a product manager of a startup company, I have to design a new beverage product.

1. Please list the user groups and select the target user groups, and explain the reasons;
2. Explain the features and advantages of the product and provide a simple marketing plan.

Participants are required to take turns speaking first, with each person speaking for no more than 1 minute; then they will enter the free discussion phase and elect a spokesperson; the spokesperson will make a concluding speech, with a time limit of 5 minutes.

10:00 Reading of questions ends, and the speaking session begins

At this time, the first problem occurred. It should be that some students did not pay attention to the rule of speaking in turn in the task requirements. The students sitting in the middle started to express their opinions first (everyone sat in a circle). But I think it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t say that they must speak in order, but it must be ensured that each person can only speak once in this link, and no more than 1 minute.

So everyone started to express their opinions separately. I quietly helped to keep time while quickly writing down on paper whether each numbered student had spoken and what the summary of their speech was. Sure enough, after about seven or eight of the 11 people spoke, a student who had spoken before spoke for the second time, so I decisively interrupted and said the second sentence: "I am very sorry to interrupt. The first session is to take turns to speak. How about everyone finish speaking first and then we can have a free discussion?" After the teammates agreed, this session was successfully completed.

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In this section, everyone proposed some suggestions on the segmentation of beverage users and the selection of target groups, which were roughly positioned as: energy supplement for office workers, collagen supplement for young women's beauty, taste and nutrition for children, thirst quenching and health for pregnant women, and functional drinks for athletes. I was the last speaker and supported the view of office workers. Here I said the third sentence: "I think what XX said before is very good about segmenting into a specific group. I think office workers are a good target group with certain consumption power and relatively clear needs. In addition, I have recorded everyone's speeches so that I can organize and summarize them later."

10:10 Free discussion phase

At this stage, everyone began to express their opinions, quickly going through several plans, and constantly putting forward the pros and cons of the plans. Soon, some students thought that pregnant women drinking beverages was a false demand and had considerable safety risks; some students also felt that the competition for functional beverages for athletes was too fierce and the market was saturated;

Most opinions focused on beauty for office workers and young women. I was listening to everyone's discussion while marking several groups with "positive" to facilitate the selection of solutions later. When I thought the solution was about to be determined on "young female office workers", the second situation occurred. A male classmate said, "Can we provide hot drinks to solve menstrual pain for female users during their menstrual period?" When this idea came out, everyone said, "Oh, it makes sense, it's a good idea." Of course, I thought so too, so I said the fourth sentence: "It seems that women's menstrual period is still a good opportunity to beautify and recuperate?" Soon, we finalized the solution on this.

During this process, I noticed that one of my classmates hadn’t spoken much, so I said the fifth sentence: “XXX, what do you think? Why don’t you share your opinion?”

Finally, the target group is mature women, the product is priced in the mid-range, and three drinks are provided for the three stages before, during and after the menstrual period, with different effects (whitening, fat reduction, analgesia, etc.), and it provides easy-pull heat function, monthly reservation and emergency door-to-door delivery services.

The next step was to determine the marketing plan. We also came up with a slogan: Care for women throughout their entire life cycle, and began to consider cooperating with Mayu, Dayima and other products for promotion. During the whole process, I was recording and observing, and didn’t say much.

At this time, the third situation occurred. HR suddenly said that the free discussion time was up and asked us to elect a spokesperson, but there was no time limit in the rules. Everyone was obviously stunned and looked at me as the timekeeper, so I quickly said the sixth sentence: "It's okay, don't worry, we still have more than ten minutes, choose a spokesperson first and then finalize the rest of the content." Because it was a female product, there was a girl who was very active in the whole audience. I had basically estimated that she would be the spokesperson, but I was immediately sold by a classmate: "I recommend Zhen Lei as the spokesperson. I feel that his logic is clearer and he has been taking notes." After everyone agreed, there was no choice but to go along with it.

10:27 Preparatory report and drill

Holding a super large white paper and a pen distributed during the interview, I wrote down the previously determined population divisions, reasons for selecting the target population, product features and advantages, etc., while listening to everyone's opinions and writing down the market plan. In addition to the cooperation with the App just mentioned, I also added WeChat promotion, cooperation with traditional women's products and other content.

10:35 Formal report

Stand up, ask two classmates to help me hold up the big paper, face the interviewer, and introduce our plan in fluent, loud and clear language. It took less than 3 minutes. (This is not counted in the total number of words spoken)

HR asked if any students had anything to add, and several teammates simply added some opinions and content, which did not affect the overall situation.

10:40 Successfully concluded

In the end, 9 out of 11 people in our group passed the interview successfully. The pass rate was so high that everyone said they had never encountered such a smooth group interview.

Let me briefly summarize the six sentences I said throughout the event besides the report.

1. If you don't mind, I'll help keep track of the time.

Spread the aura in advance. The person who controls the time controls everything. The first person to speak is also likely to leave a deep impression on teammates and interviewers. Take on the most important responsibility and always help everyone keep time. Pay special attention to controlling other students' personal speaking time and safeguarding the interests of teammates;

2. I am very sorry to interrupt you. The first part is to take turns to speak. How about everyone speak first and then we can have a free discussion?

Reverse the wrong trend in time, and be decisive but polite when interrupting, which shows the ability to control the situation while ensuring that the team does not violate the rules;

3. I think what classmate XX said earlier about segmenting into a specific group of people is very good. I think office workers are a good target group, as they have a certain consumption capacity and relatively clear needs. In addition, I have recorded everyone’s speeches for easy compilation later.

Make a proper summary, emphasize favorable and effective arguments, and highlight that you have taken notes, to pave the way for being selected as a spokesperson later (I am so cunning). So, although I finally thought that the advertising department girl would be more suitable to speak, I had already "premeditated" that I would be the spokesperson before the entire group interview began;

4. Is it possible to provide female users who are in their menstrual period with hot drinks to relieve their menstrual pain?

When the topic starts to shift, quickly push for the selected solution and get the team to the next topic as soon as possible;

5. What do you think, classmate XXX? Why don’t you share your opinion?

Pay attention to the situation of team members and remind students who don't talk much or can't keep up with the pace in time. This not only shows the ability to take care of teammates, but also helps to supplement the topic;

6. Don’t worry, we still have more than ten minutes. Let’s select a spokesperson first and then finalize the rest of the content.

Deal with emergencies calmly, stabilize team emotions, and strictly control the direction and progress of discussions.

The final summary was rather bland, just stating the content of everyone's discussion in an organized manner. The entire group interview process was very harmonious, with no quarrels (a specialty of bad teammates, you must pull them back in time when you encounter them). The opinions of most students were expressed and accepted, and the conclusions produced were also very good, so the results were naturally very good. Finally, I would like to remind the students that for group interviews, not making mistakes and refusing to do nothing is the best performance, unless the interviewer or the rules are very tricky.

Maybe there won’t be such formal group interviews in the next few years. It’s really important to meet good teammates. Thank you all. Don’t think that there will be a fixed number of people in the group interview. If you protect your advantages and the advantages of the team, you will have a very good interview result. Isn’t it the same when you really get into work and collaborate with team members and brainstorm?

I hope all your group interviews during this job hunting season go smoothly.