We Have A 360 Degree Project Manager Mock Interview Program For Professionals Like You Who Are Getting Ready For A Project Manager Interview
In this program, you send us your resume and details of the position you applied for. Then, our expert project manager interviewer prepares customized questions for you. You come together with the interviewer at the time you will select from the available slots of our project manager interviewer. During the project manager mock interview session, the interviewer will ask you realistic questions that you will be asked most likely in your real interview. Then, the interviewer will be preparing a detailed assessment report about your project manager mock interview performance. In this report, you will see your strengths, improvement areas, and how well your background and skills match the position that you applied for.
You can see a sample assessment report.
Let us help you sharpen your interview skills and give you a real hands-on mock interview so you can get the job you deserve!
How Do You Resolve Conflicts Within Your Team
The interpersonal aspect of a project managers job cannot be understated. Managing team members and their various styles of work, areas of specialty, and personalities is a massive part of a PMs job. When you answer this question, emphasize that you prefer to encourage your teams to resolve conflicts on their own first, as it bolsters overall communication and team cohesiveness. But then be prepared to offer a concrete example of when you had to intervene, how you mediated the conflict, and what the ultimate resolution was.
- Whats your management style?
- Whats your communication style?
- How do you manage team members that are not working to their full potential?
- How do you work with customers, sponsors and stakeholders?
- How do you gain agreement with different teams in an organization?
- How should a Project Manager communicate a failure to their team?
- How do you handle underperforming team members?
- Can you tell me an example of how you communicated a failure to your team, manager or customer?
List Of Project Manager Interview Questions: Leadership And Communication
A good Project Manager needs to know how to interact with colleagues and stakeholders, as well as make sure they can motivate and lead team members.
PMs are often at the helm of a project team that includes all kinds of people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise. Setting realistic deadlines, assigning project tasks and keeping teams focused and on track all require that PMs have top-notch leadership, management, and communication skills.
Expect questions such as:
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What Do You Know About Fast
Fast-tracking and crashing techniques are leveraged to shorten the project duration while keeping the project scope intact. They are applied in case there is a discrepancy noticed.
Source: GreyCampus
Crashing may add extra cost to the project by adding resources but fast-tracking can add additional risk as the tasks are performed in parallel.
How To Interview: Project Manager
By: Dona Dezube
The best project managers are like axles they smoothly link management, clients and staff and keep projects rolling along.
To find the best applicant for your project manager job description, be sure you’re familiar with how to interview candidates to explore their interpersonal skills, business methodology and technical competence.
Interview Questions to Ask: Technical Skills & MethodologyTechnical skills make a great starting point for a project manager interview because theyre typically 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 , 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?
Questions about interpersonal skills can be general:
- How do you handle politics?
Or specific:
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Can You Briefly Describe A Successful Project You Handled
Interviewers ask this question to evaluate your ability to plan and execute projects successfully. It offers you the opportunity to show that you understand the required steps for project success.
Example: “My most successful project was designing a website for an online sales company last year. I worked on a similar project before, so I was confident I could meet the delivery timeline and budget requirements. After meeting with the project owners, I explained the concept to my team and assigned tasks.
I divided the project into five milestones – ideation, content creation, programming and UI designing, testing, and launching. My team completed the project two weeks before the deadline and we received excellent feedback. To date, the client still uses the website, and it helped them increase their profits. The key to success was planning the project effectively and delegating responsibilities based on my team’s strengths.”
Whats The Biggest Mistake Youve Made On A Project
Everyone makes mistakes character is defined by how you deal with them. This project management interview question will allow you to first gauge the candidates honesty. If they say that theyve never made a mistake, you can rest assured that theyre not being truthful and their resume can go into the circular file. However, when they tell you about the mistake theyve made, note if they take responsibility for it and, of course, how they resolved it.
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What Is Your Approach To Managing A Project
Every work culture is different. By asking this question, you get an idea of how the candidate handles their daily workload, whether they are more hands-on or prefer to sit back and observe their team in action.
Youll get a good idea of how their personality blends with your organization and may be able to lead from this question into examples of how or if they may have improved processes at their previous job.
So What Are The Best Questions To Ask In My Project Manager Interview
While theres no best formula , there are some surefire ways to differentiate yourself from the competition.
We suggest a combination of top-notch general interviewing skills coupled with an understanding of what the job interviewer may be looking for in this specific position:
1. How does your company approach managing projects? Do you use a specific process or tool?
2. Ask big questions like What kind of stakeholder support do you have on this project? This question will show you dont only have soft skills like communication and organization but can also help tackle the big picture.
3. How does this project tie into the companys bigger vision? What kind of changes are you hoping it will bring about? See the reasoning above.
4. Bring up your interviewers pain points by doing thorough research and asking questions like What is your companys biggest challenges? This will showthat you not only care but also give you the opportunity to showcase your ideas.
5. Ask the Why? question. Why are you looking to hire me as your project manager? What is it that youre hoping I can do for you? This is a great question to ask because it shows you dont just need a job but actually want to invest yourself and know you can make a difference.
6. What metrics do you use to measure and track success? Strategic questions like this one will reveal your ability to think at a higher, strategic level rather than just showing how good youare at managing tasks.
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Tips For A Successful Interview As A Project Manager
Tips and advice for a successful interview as a project manager. Interview tips in project management profession. Follow the guidelines and get a job as a project professional.
Typical questions include: Can you give me an example of how you have managed to get stakeholder buy in for your recommendations? and What were the steps you followed to achieve that? The purpose of behavioural questions is to predict your future behaviours based upon previous behaviours.
- Competency based questions
- General interview tips
What Skills Are The Most Important In A Project Manager
Project management experts claim soft skills like organization, communication, creativity, leadership, entrepreneurship, and a natural sense of motivation are extremely important in a project manager. Technical skills like agile software, financial modeling, and scrum management are equally as important.
Make sure to speak to both in your interview.
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What Has Changed In The New Pmp Exam Format
The domains for the new PMP Certification exam have been updated to include more diverse skills and approaches.The new PMP Certification exam will focus on three domains:
The new content will also include predictive, agile, and hybrid approaches in the exam.For more detail, please refer to PMP exam updates by PMI.
Project Manager Job Interview Questions #: How Do You Motivate The Project Team
Project team motivation is crucial for the success of a project. If a project team is not motivated, it will be impossible to reach project objectives. Or, even if you reach your project objectives, project quality will suffer.
This project manager interview question is critical to get insights about the people management skills of the candidate.
The following is a sample answer for this question.
After I create the project baseline, I mark the milestones of the project. Then, I send this project plan to all project team members. Whenever we pass a milestone successfully, I organize an event to celebrate this. This can be a picnic, a weekend trip or a dinner depending on the project budget or amount of the allowance provided by the company for these celebrations.
Additionally, I try to celebrate birthday of each project team member. I organize a 30 minutes break for celebration and invite all project team members to this break.
Moreover, if a project team member over performed during the project, I send a special email to his manager to appreciate his efforts. I know that these kinds of emails will be important for the line managers of project team members when they are doing annual performance evaluation of the employees. My appreciations will bring additional points and opportunities for promotion or bonuses for the project team member respectively.
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Name Three Tactics Youve Used To Develop And Maintain Great Customer Relationships
Depending on your field, you may have to deal with customers or clients on a regular basis. If youre skilled at creating and maintaining solid relationships, youre going to be a great asset to your company.
What the question means: Happy clients or customers are importantthe interviewer wants to know if you have more than one card up your sleeve when it comes to fostering meaningful professional relationships.
How to answer: Think about your past customer relationships and what they valued. Did they appreciate your quick and positive communication? Did you make them feel like they were your only client or customer? Did you consistently exceed their expectations? Were you able to understand their goals and speak their language? All of these are tactics proven to build and maintain strong business relationships.
What not to say: Dont brag about how great you are with clients or customers. Humility is one of the many tactics that help maintain positive professional relationships so make sure youre staying humble in your interview to prove youre capable of this.
What Was The Biggest Challenge That You Faced While Working On A Project
I didnt have the right team. I dont deal well with changes. My boss wasnt very supportive. These would be bad answers to give your future employer. As a project manager, you are expected to manage people and handle risks. So, dont tell your interviewer that you fall short in those two areas. Give an example of a situation in which the challenge was due to external factors. It can be about when the project was abruptly shelved or when the funding for it has been stopped. Dont forget to mention how you handled the situation and what you learned from it.
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When Was The Last Time You Didnt Delegate And What Happened
Good because: This will help you work out if they are happy to be honest and tell you about a time that something went wrong. This shows their capacity to learn from mistakes and how they deal with information overload. Delegating work packages is key to project work and youll want to hire someone who understands that.
Bad response: I never delegateits easier to do it all myself.
Faqs Related To Project Manager
Q: How do I prepare for a project manager interview?
A: To prepare for a project manager interview, you first need to have sound knowledge of your field and domain. If you want growth in the role of project management, you can even pursue a course on the subject.
Q: What are 3 critical skills a project manager needs to succeed?
A: The three most important skills that a project manager requires to succeed are leadership, time management, and team management. Apart from these three, there are other skills as well such as communication, critical thinking, and negotiation. Furthermore, the project manager also should use tools as per the project management trends.
Q: What are the five essential qualities of a project manager?
A: The five most important qualities of a project manager are Communication, Time Management, Leadership, Problem Solving, and Organizational Awareness.
Q: How do you demonstrate your project management skills in an interview?
A: To demonstrate your skills in an interview of project management, you have to emphasize your knowledge as well as experience, prove good communication skills, outline the organizational techniques, highlight customer satisfaction, and talk about various tools that are mostly used in project management.
Q: What are the 3 important traits of managers?
Q: What are the 5 stages of project management?
Q: Who can be a project manager?
Q: What are the basic roles of project managers?
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Tips For Project Management Interviews
Here are tips to help you prepare for project management interview questions:
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Research the company extensively and learn about its culture, mission, and objectives
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Discuss the situation, task, action, and result when answering questions
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Practice answers with a friend, career coach, or mentor
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Bring copies of your resume to share with your interviewers
Read more:
What Are The Benefits Of A Pmp Training Course
Working professionals often find it difficult to arrange the study materials and dedicate the time to prepare for the PMP exam on their own. However, they can avoid this hassle with a reliable PMP training course as they only need to enroll in the program. Access to digital material from PMI, step-by-step guidance, practice assignments, and mock tests are arranged by the PMP training provider, and classes are taken on weekends for the learners convenience. On weekdays, they only need to take out some time to go through the video modules.
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Can You Tell Me About Your Organizational Skills
Other versions of this question:
- How do you prioritize your workload?
- When have your organizational skills helped keep a project on track?
- How do you organize an average workweek?
Theres no such thing as a disorganized, successful project. You might get lucky and have a project that manages to be a success despite running into a bunch of issues, but at some point every project needs an adult in the room to keep things under control.
Its not so important exactly which system a candidate uses to stay organized, as long as they have a system to stay organized. Mobile task management app? Desktop software? Spreadsheet? Notepad? A combination of all of the above?
Any system is fine, as long as the candidate can make a strong case that its worked well for them, preferably illustrated with real examples
What you dont want is someone who says: I like to deal with things on the fly!
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Specific stories that demonstrate how the candidate keeps projects on track, be it with PM tools or paper.
How Do You Prioritize Tasks
As a project manager your workday can change in an instant. New tasks, change requests, or a confused stakeholder who needs clarification right away can throw off your entire schedule. Its important that you know how to prioritize work if you want to excel in this position.
What the question means: The interviewer is looking for a very direct and detailed answer on how you prioritize tasks.
How to answer: Explain your go-to time management method. Perhaps you use the Eisenhower Matrix to find out which tasks need to be done right away or can be scheduled for later, delegated to someone else, or deleted altogether.
Maybe you prefer to eat the frog and get your biggest and most complex task done first thing in the morning. Whatever your preferred method of task prioritization is, quickly explain what it is and give a specific example of how youd apply itor better yet, how youve applied it in the past.
What not to say: Dont just say you go with the flow. A skilled manager will use tools and techniques to prioritize tasks by importance and urgencyso make sure to share your go-to approach with your interviewer.
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