18 Important Project Management Interview Questions
Today, even the smallest business considers necessary for recognizing project management as important part for the success of your project. There is a need of a person who will handle the proper workflow and will control all the processes of a project.
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There is a large growth taking in the project management industry that has changed the project management trends these days. It is no longer a disaster. If you are thinking of creating a new resume for changing career, being a team of project management or being a project manager is one of the best choices.
You doubt this? These reasons will make you consider it as the right choice:
- You will expand your knowledge
- You can master your execution skill
- Higher salary
- You will be a navigator
- Improved communication skills and confidence
- More job perspective
- More detailed attention
But when it comes to hiring a qualified Project Manager, the hiring manager’s get a little tricky. They follow a strict process for each candidate to check its capability in a number of ways.There are a few competencies that you might be judged on. Below, I am highlighting some of the most popular project manager interview questions and what hiring manager would expect the response.
1. Which is one major skill a project manager needs to get success?
Expected response: This demands a skill on the basis of requirements of a project manager’s duties. Among the many necessary skills you have to chose the one skill. The person will have to reflect its greatest strength and exhibit skills like wide range of abilities and being flexible at work. They should adjust quickly to take steps to meet new deadlines and execute project in a better way.
2. What are the various kinds of activities in a project?
Expected response: There are several sets of activities that can be identified in initiating a project and it is required to plan the the activities to achieve certain goals. Proper execution of these activities will help getting projects done. For systematic closure of project, final set of activities are required.
3. What is the most important thing for a project manager?
Expected response: One must know the priorities of a project manager and know what a manager does. This will help in demonstrating a good cultural fit for your team. The most important things for a project manager is to be flexible and adapt processes.
4. What all projects have you handled in the previous job?
Expected response: The hiring managers expects the candidate to have a portfolio that is authentic and shows your previous handles responsibilities.
5. When did the last time you didn’t delegate?
Expected response: Delegating work is the key to project success of every kind. Expect the candidate to be honest and describe the times where the went wrong. It will help to know how the candidate learned from their mistakes and how do they deal with some irrational situations.
6. How did you manage a diverse project team towards a common goal?
Expected response: It is expected to have a fair and practical way of defining project roles and responsibilities. Tell about the management style that worked on towards a common goal. See the approach they follow for a newly assigned project for project management and how did they improve organizational skills. To bring the project to completion, it is required to to use the strengths of team for maximum results.
7. How would you explain project life cycle?
Expected response: There are several phases like start phase, organizing and preparing phase, in a project which defines the range of activities required to carry out the project work. The actual execution part of the project is the carrying out phase. These various phases in a project are defined as milestones etc.
8. Do you have knowledge of a project management software? What tools have you worked with?
Expected response: Project management software is becoming a big part of project management industry. The new frameworks like Kanban, Agile etc. are must for all managers. Have a good knowledge of project management software that was used and explain how skill set can translate over to the new position.
9. Did you give any suggestion to implement in this field?
Expected response: A person may have several ideas and suggestions, but it is important for those ideas to be implemented. The ideas should have a good ending. There should be an example that shows how the idea was implemented and how it became a success.
10. How do you rate your skills of project management?
Expected response: The more the candidate rates himself, the more will be the expectations to perform at that level and it will be justified later. A honest answer will best describe the skill set and experience.
11. Are you a team player?
Expected response: Nobody would say NO. But the person should provide examples to justify their YES. The justification can be anything is past like previous job, or any activity in school or college. Describing the strength and weakness of the team that the person came across will be like a cherry on the cake for judging the skills. This will be like a deciding factor for a project manager.
12. Describe your project management process?
Expected response: As a project manager what are the processes you used in the past that worked well for the team members. During the description of the process highlight collaborating in the description to show how to interact the team interacts for personal success.
13. How do you handle missed deadlines?
Expected response: Another important part of a project is missing on a deadline. When it comes to deadlines, the ears are waiting to listen the ways that person used to allow a faster completion when deadline is revolving around.
14. What happened when a project didn’t go well?
Expected response: This expects another honest response. Tell how you fixed situations that went against your expectations. Impressive answers that work are like how you motivated the team to work together and how they performed their specific roles on the project.
15. What do you do as a project manager is you want to do plan A and everyone else in your team wants to do plan B?
Expected response: There might be difference in opinion in a team due to different perspectives of everyone. The answer expected should be, “As a project manager, one should always believe in their team and so choose the option B but surely with proper explanation from them as in how the things will run in a better way with option B.
16. What kind of people do you find it difficult to get on with?
Expected response: What is expected in this is to know how to develop an effective working relationship with those individuals who frustrates you. An expected answer could be that you developing a good relation with the person by telling them their importance to the company and their part in contribution to the company to get things done.
17. Are professionalism and integrity the essential qualities of a project manager?
Expected response: As it is the duty of a project manager to check all the sides of a project, a project managers should be professional and prevent things from getting wrong.
18. When and how did you delegate tasks?
Expected response: As delegating tasks is not just a part of management job but also a part of project management. There should be leadership characteristics in your employees that are designed to see how you handle the role of leadership. The person needs to answer this by giving instances why you delegated each task to the recipient.
The above list of questions will provide a deep understanding to the hiring managers to recruit the right person. These questions will plan an interview in a way that will showcase all the qualities of the person who is willing to take further responsibilities.
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