10 Top Interview Questions for Project Managers

Project management is an exciting and extremely demanding career path, and employment opportunities abound in many different industries around the world. Regardless of whether you decided to become a project manager while studying at school or worked in other positions in your field, finding a job at PM requires an impressive set of skills and experience.

Creating a perfect CV, hopefully, will give you an interview with the selected company, but your work does not end there. Proper preparation before the interview will ensure that you have all the right answers and are sure to provide them.

To help you test yourself, we’ve created a helpful list of 10 frequently asked questions in an interview with the project manager, as well as tips on how to answer them.

1. Can you tell us something about your past?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions, no matter what job you are applying for. Prepare your response in advance by focusing on the most important issues such as all degrees, previous employment and important professional achievements.

Choose the elements of your experience that are most relevant to the job you are applying for, such as project management in various industries or successful task solving that required the coordination of 50 people from six different departments.

Such questions may tempt you to exaggeration. They’ve seen your resume, so you don’t have to check every job you’ve had since high school. Employers usually look for a more personal point of view in this matter, so touch why you got into the field where you learned the most, and why you are so excited about working for this company.

2. What do you think are the most important skills of a project manager and why?

Working as a project manager requires many important work skills, such as communication, time management and leadership. You can also choose to discuss skills related to the industry you are applying for, such as graphic design, coding and marketing. Although the detail of your answer is more important than choosing the “correct” skill, you can first pay attention to the big picture of project management.

Discussing, planning and implementation is the basic skills of a project manager. Having the right plan and being able to complete each of its stages is the only way to complete the project on time and within your budget.

3. How would you describe your style of communication?

With so many movements of Project Parts, it is not surprising that this is a frequently asked question about an interview with a project manager. While effective communication can be valuable in any job, the possibility of clear and effective communication is necessary to complete the project on time and in accordance with the standard.

You’ll want to explain your communication style and why it works. For example: “When I communicate with staff, I prefer to be direct and get straight to the point. This saves time when working on a tight deadline and helps eliminate confusion about goals and tasks.”

Depending on who you work with You may want to develop your style by offering a more relaxed, holistic approach to clients and more authoritative, detailed communication with team members.

4. When you get a new project, how do you start?

Talking about skills, work style and CV is one thing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll know what to do when you get your first project. Interviewers want to know what your action plan is, such as who you will consult first and what processes you implement.

Any company or industry research you have done while looking for a job can help you get a more detailed response, including the correct department names and important managers.

Your answer should be sent to your potential employer. The first task for each project should be a full understanding of the task and then developing a plan to solve this task.

5. Describe how you motivate your team to achieve goals and deadlines.

The way you motivate team members is often similar to how you motivate yourself at work. This may include splitting large tasks into smaller, easier to manage, requesting input and feedback, and regular breaks in removing stress during intense work.

When you discuss your motivational techniques, remember that you may have to work with a variety of people as a project manager, including departments and managers, you have no control over the hierarchy of things.

To solve this problem, show your interviewers that you are ready to participate in the project. For example, be ready how you shared tasks and collaborated with others on the project, taking into account their ideas, workload and concerns.

6. How did you deal with a member of the team who can’t handle the project?

This is a common question about talking to the project manager because planning and organizing can only be effective if you can manage all of the people involved. In some projects, you may not even choose your own team, but even if you hit the best people for this task, there will inevitably always be someone who can’t keep up.

You should already have experience in dealing with a difficult employee, so explain your process with examples from your previous job. Remember to refer to the way you evaluate “poor results”. Do they consistently fail to meet task deadlines?

Do quality checks reveal repeated errors in their work? Do they leave project meetings or ignore emails? Your potential employers will want to see what you value in employee performance as well as how you deal with any teamwork problems that affect the project.

7. Tell us about your most demanding project and what you have learned from it.

This is one of the most frequently asked behavioral questions in an interview with the project manager. Your prospective employer may also refer to this as a question about the time of failure, or the interview panel may present you with a difficult scenario that you want to solve. No one expects every project to go smoothly, so don’t worry if this question has a more negative point of view.

The best way to solve this question is to use the STAR method to get the answer: briefly describe the situation, explain the task you were assigned, tell about the actions you took to perform this task and get the results. The ultimate goal is to illustrate the interviewer how you approached problems, collaborated with your team, used creative thinking, controlled stress and learned from mistakes.

If possible, choose a project with unpredictable problems, such as weather-related supply chain problems. Avoid blaming other team members or complaining about critical stakeholders. Most of your answer should be about what you have learned to do better.

8. What project management tools do you use and why?

Technology is an integral part of most jobs nowadays, and knowledge of the range of tools available is essential for an interview. Regardless of which management tools you prefer, such as Asana, Trello or Basecamp, be ready to talk about specific software listed in the task list. Note the strengths and weaknesses of the tools you have worked with.

Please explain how these technical tools are beneficial for the company. This includes tracking progress, improving communication, and enabling easy collaboration between employees, regardless of their location.

9. How many bottles of shampoo are used in hotels around the world?

Yes, that was the real question about the interview with the project manager on Glassdoor. Although it may seem strange to be asked about something so irrelevant to a job offer, these strange interview questions are commonly used to test the approach to a problem. The exact answer is irrelevant. Just start explaining your process, what data you will need, how you will find it and your potential calculations.

It’s a good idea to practice answering these types of problem solving questions in advance, especially if you’re applying for a job in project management in a technical field.

10. What is the most difficult aspect of project management?

Be careful with this question. Like many more difficult questions that will be thrown at you, there is a potential trap in how you answer. While dealing with unreasonable clients. “Or” having an unproductive team. “This can be an honest answer, for potential employers, these answers may look like shortcomings of the Board of Directors on your part.

The best way to answer this question is to get stuck in a proven solution If you have extensive experience in receiving conflicting instructions from two different bosses, for example, give an example of how you solved this problem.

Consider an example answer, for example: “When developing a new email campaign for a company, my manager recommended me regular cooperation with marketing. to make sure our messages and dates are coordinated with other campaigns.

At my first attempt, the marketing director informed me that they were too busy with other projects and showed her the finished newsletter before he left. This afternoon I was to meet my manager for updates, so I asked the marketing director if he could join us and discuss the matter briefly. She agreed and only took a few minutes to set a regular schedule for meetings with marketing, which made both her and my manager happy. ”

While it is not possible to know each question, you may be asked in an interview with the project manager, preparing for these frequently asked questions will help you assess all the skills and experience of the project manager.

Practicing the answers will help you solve any question that is thrown at you with sufficient confidence, details and meaning to impress your future employers.

What questions have you been asked to apply for as a project manager? Which were the most difficult? Join the discussion below and let us know!

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