Does anyone have any experience with group interviews?

Don’t worry about “the questions” so much in a group interview as “how you hold yourself, how you act with unknown people and situations, how’s your sense of humor (and adaptability) and how will you fit in with this team”. It’s not like each member of the group is going to assess your skills critically in this kind of interview – they cannot, not really – they really want to get a sense of you as a person, and for you to get a sense of the people that you’ll be working with.

I’ve both interviewed into a group (for a professional job that I eventually won) and I’ve been part of a group who interviewed one of the best candidates for a foreign construction job that we’ve ever had. (He has since had to leave that job due to medical issues.)

My own advice is for you to get a sense of the group: is it a group that you want to be part of? Do you feel comfortable letting your hair down and letting them see the real you in the interview? (It’s what they want; I think the only way to “fail” this interview is to come across as too formal, too un-lifelike and too much as someone “playing a part to get a job.”)

I’m not saying to be zany, to wear cut-offs and jeans or to show up for the interview drunk (maybe some jobs, but probably not the one you’re looking for here) but to wear what you think you’d be comfortable wearing on a day-to-day basis at this employer’s facility, act like you would normally want to act around the people who talk to you (maybe some more formal and reserved than others, for example) and get a sense of them: do you still want to work there? (That might actually be one of the questions.)

By the time you’re invited for a group interview, you’ve pretty much passed the “technical qualifications” part of the process. Now it’s more personal: do we like her? Does she like us?
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EDIT: If someone really does the “where do you see yourself in five years?” kind of question in this interview then you have my permission to turn your head completely sideways and respond “hopefully not asking such questions in such an interview”.

My first interview was a group interview, and since then I have also conducted group interviews. I can say from the other side that all you need to do in a group interview, at least for the positions I help to fill, is stand out a little bit. Display a sense humor, show enthusiasm for the position, show responsibility and respect. It’s amazing but lots of the people at the interview will not do these basic things.

I’ve had a few group interviews and they all went very well. If you are good in social situations you will do especially well. The direction of the questions can change quickly.

they can ask anything… depends on the company…

I think the purpose though is for them to get a feeling for if they have chemistry with you.

Can they work with you?

They might also want to test if you work well under pressure by all of them asking your different challenging questions.