Examples of project manager interview questions

Tell me about your experience in managing different projects. Tell me about a time you managed a diverse team and arrived at a successful or unsuccessful project. Describe the most complex project you have managed from start to finish. What do you use to set realistic schedules for the project? How do you go about selecting and allocating resources? How often do you update stakeholders and how do you communicate those updates? What are your risk management procedures? What project management methodologies are you familiar with? What project management software have you used? How do you close a project? Rank your assertiveness. Are you a listener or a talker? How would you describe your leadership skills? When was the last time you made a big impact in a leadership role? How critical are you of others mistakes? What percent of the time would you point them out? Are you planning to every go on for your masters? How would you convince a manager at a hospital that your solution would help them? What if they continually pushback? You are a group leader. You want to do option A and everyone on your team wants to do option B. What do you do? Now reverse the situation. What would you do if your boss chose an option that was not what you wanted/thought was bad for the company? How would you deal with this? How would you deal with a team leader who is ineffective and consistently fails to meet deadlines? Name five things that you are not.

Specific Project Management Skill Areas

RISK: How have you managed risks on a project you have run? How do you carry out failure factor analysis? What do you put in your risk management plan? CONTRACTS: Given a situation when we are delivering a project without a contract but on a promise that the customer will pay (they have always paid before), what are the issues? FINANCES: How do you start costing your projects? What experience do you have of building a change request for more money to complete your project? QUALITY: Consider the statement 'inadequate quality management will result in project problems'. Give an example of why this should be. ISSUES: What methods do you use to capture issues when initiating your projects? CHANGE CONTROL: In terms of time quality and cost and time please give an example of how you have managed change? How did you identify and determine the impact of your change options? Give an example of where a requested change was refused and how you managed it? STAKEHOLDERS: Who are some of your stakeholders? How would you communicate with your stakeholders? What tools or process would you use? What's the difference between a sponsor and a stakeholder? TEAM MANAGEMENT: Which management theory has given you the greatest insight into managing a team? How do you create a productive successful team? How do you manage conflict? What kind of leader are you?

Project Manager Interviews - Soft Skills

Continuing our Project Manager Interview series, we concentrate on the softer skills side of the Project Manager role and interview questions that may come up.

What mechanisms do you employ to enable you to cope with a heavy workload? Can you give an example of when it has been difficult to maintain your own effectiveness due to external changes or pressures? How did you manage the situation? Will you describe your decision making processes with reference to a particular decision you have made recently? How do you manage the situation when your plan of work is upset by unforeseen circumstances? What aspects of your leadership style might positively or negatively influence members of a team? Can you give me an example of each? How do you make your opinion known when you disagree with the views of a colleague? How would you deal with a direct report who is failing to meet their objectives? Can you give an example of where you have had to direct work through colleagues who were reluctant to participate? How did you deal with the situation? What is your style of management?

When you see underperformance in a process or a person how do you handle it? How do you like to track your business progress? How do you develop, manage and communicate you businesses plans? How do you manage your customers and stakeholders expectations? How do you ensure communication has/is happening? Leadership, give examples of motivation, team work and where you have made a difference. How do you communicate your ideas, influence and persuasion what examples? How have you identified and resolved conflicts in your teams? What does diversity mean to you? How do you deal with sound business but sometimes annoying process, delegation, levels of authority, have you ever managed to get and existing policy and practice changed?

Project Management Interviews - Short and Sweet

You need to get in the mood fast, it could be several months or even years since you've had to face another round of interviews with new employers or on the phone with recruitment agencies so here's Arras People's short and sweet question samples to get you in the mood. There are always going to be some basic questions that you get asked every time you apply for a role through a recruitment agency and then you'll meet Arras and hopefully we'll ask a few different ones:

You applied for XXXX role - could you tell me what attracted you to apply for it in the first place? What makes you the right person for this role? What skills and experience do you want to highlight straight away in relation to this role? What relevant experience do you have in - (a) could be a particular industry sector (b) a particular project subject matter Tell me about the process knowledge you have - IT development lifecycles - project management methodology I notice you have the PRINCE2 practitioner's accreditation - do you have your candidate number to hand or would you be able to email it over to me later? The role demands that the Project Manager has exceptional leadership skills and a good deal of assertiveness how would convey this about yourself? What would others in your team right now or previous role really say about you? What kind of feedback on people management skills? Tell me why in five words your CV should be in front of the client today? Having heard more about the role is there anything that makes you want this role even more than before?

The specification for the role is asking for a proactive, enthusiastic and ambitious individual - are you this? Are you passionate about your project management role? What elements of your role do you not like performing at present - why? What was the last thing you learnt? Describe your last conflict situation on a programme or project - how was it resolved?

Interview Questions to Ask: Technical Skills & Methodology Technical skills make a great starting point for a project manager interview because theyre typical ly easy to answer, so they put the job candidate at ease. Start by asking a softball question: What software have you used to manage projects in the past?

Then try a harder-edge query: If I gave you a laptop to plan your next project, what software would you want on it?

Once youve determined the candidate is technically competent, explore their methodology for handling projects, says Joseph Logan, author of Seven Simple Steps to Landing Your First Job. Whether or not an applicant is a Project Management Professional (PMP), start by asking some general questions: Whats your approach to managing a project?

Whats your school of thought on project management -- are you an agile person?

Next, ask more specific interview questions about methodology: How do you do your scheduling? How do you allocate resources? How do you do status updates?

They have to have a methodology, says Donna Farrugia, executive director of The Creative Group, Menlo Park, California, a recruiting firm for interactive, design, and marketing professionals. Maybe the y use software, or a book, or they just have years of experience. Interview Questions to Ask: Interpersonal Skills Great project managers possess interpersonal skills that help teammates get along, so it helps to know how to interview project managers to explore those areas. Questions about interpersonal skills can be general: How do you handle politics?

Or specific: Tell me about a time when you had two key stakeholders with opposing views. How did you manage that?

The answers youre looking for should speak to finding consensus and keeping the project focused on its original purpose, Logan says. Interview Questions to Ask: Project Sponsorship Saying, Tell me about how you work with project sponsors will reveal two things: First, how the person elicits information from project leadership, and second, how they define project sponsor. Some job candidates will say the project sponsor is the person who reviews the project, while others will say its the person who holds the budget. Hard-skills questions probe what project management-specific skills the applicant brings to your organization: Are you trained in supply chain management?

Do you manage people and projects or just projects? Are you responsible for delivery and financials or just the administration of the project? Tell me about your recent projects goals and results.

If theyre PMP certified, discuss the process. When did you get your PMP? What was the hardest part for you? What did you like the most? Questions about past performance can also reveal a potential project managers business skills: What were the challenges on your last project?

When the project didnt go well, what happened? What happens when your projects fail? How do you do contingency planning? What is your favorite way to deliver and present results? What type of closure processes have you done? Do you typically revisit projects a few months after delivery?

Interview Questions to Ask: The Close Finish your interview by asking some behavioral interview questions related to the most common issues that arise for your organizations project managers. For example, if the candidate will be working with cross-cultural teams, you might ask: Tell me about a time when your domestic team wanted to approach a project one way and your offshore team preferred a different approach.

What was the issue, and how did you resolve it?

By knowing how to interview project managers, you can help your organization identify job applicants with the best mix of people skills, business acumen and technical competence to expertly manage projects.

How many projects you handled in the past? Deadlines met? On time/ within budget? Obstacles you had to overcome? Do you understand milestones, interdependencies? Resource allocation? Do you know what Project Software they use and is there training for it? Tell me about yourself. (To avoid rambling or becoming flustered, plan your answer.) What are your strengths? (Make an exhaustive list and review it exhaustively before the interview.) What are your weaknesses?(What you say here can and will be used against you!) How would your current (or last) boss describe you?* What were your boss's responsibilities? (Interviewers sometimes ask this question to prevent you from having the chance to claim that you did your boss's job. Be ready for it!) What's your opinion of them? (Never criticize your past or present boss in an interview. It just makes you look bad!)

 How would your co-workers or subordinates describe you professionally?* (Remember, now is not the time for modesty! Brag a little bit.) Why do you want to work for us? Why do you want to leave your present employer? Why should we hire you over the other finalists? What qualities or talents would you bring to the job?* Tell me about your accomplishments. What is your most important contribution to your last (or current) employer? How do you perform under deadline pressure? Give me an example. How do you react to criticism? (You try to learn from it, of course!) Describe a conflict or disagreement at work in which you were involved. How was it resolved? What are two of the biggest problems you've encountered at your job and how did you overcome them? Think of a major crisis you've faced at work and explain how you handled it. Give me an example of a risk that you took at your job (past or present) and how it turned out. What's your managerial style like? Have you ever hired employees; and, if so, have they lived up to your expectations? What type of performance problems have you encountered in people who report to you, and how did you motivate them to improve? Describe a typical day at your present (or last) job.