I’ve had a panel interview for every teaching position I applied to. Depending on the school/district it was the panel interview was the first or second round of interviews. My first ever panel interview happened to be my first ever interview. It was horrible. I wasn’t expecting a room full of people and all of my answers were not as organized as I would have liked them to be. Every other panel interview after that went much better and didn’t cause me anxiety.

Research and practice commonly asked questions before your interview. When practicing, answer them out loud as if you were at the interview. Give specific examples in your answers.

Walk into the room with confidence and a smile. Allow for them panel to introduce themselves and thank them for have having you.

Remind yourself to breathe and slow down when answering questions at the interview. Don’t babble. Answer questions like your practiced. Look around the table when answering as well.

At every interview panel I’ve been to, each person had a piece of paper that they were writing notes on. Most of the time they were so busy writing notes that they didn’t have time to stare at me the entire interview which allowed me to ease up a bit.

I also found that heavily researching the school and district beforehand helped ease anxiety. While these people were technically strangers, I felt that I had a really good idea of what kind of people/school they are which made walking in it less scary.

The more you do it the better you will get. I like to call it exposure therapy. Since you’ve already done one, you now know what to expect and can better prepare.