Panel interviews require even more preparation

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has highlighted an emerging -- and potentially scary -- hiring trend among companies: the panel interview. 

In a panel interview, a candidate could face 4, 5, 6 or even 9 interviewers -- all at the same time.

"Everything in the process just seems magnified," the Journal-Constitution writes. "More pairs of eyes on you, more people asking questions and more folks to impress with your witty repartee. Which, by the way, is quantifiably more difficult to pull off with multiple people around a conference table."

While a panel interview can be nerve-wracking, if you execute the "Six Step Sales Process" with everyone on the panel, you'll keep your cool and make the case for why you're the ideal candidate.

Those Six Steps are:

1. Establish Rapport
2. Probe to Uncover Needs
3. Listen, then do a Trial Close
4. Review Features & Benefits, then do another Trial Close
5. Handle Objections
6. Close Hard