What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made on a project?
Everyone makes mistakes; character is defined by how you deal with them. This question will allow you to first gauge the candidate’s honesty. If they say that they’ve never made a mistake, you can rest assured that they’re not being truthful and their resume can go into the circular file. However, when they tell you about the mistake they’ve made, note if they take responsibility for it (that will reveal their level of maturity) and, of course, how they resolved it.
How do you control changes to your project?
Some level of change is inevitable, but as a project manager, it’s important to adapt to those changes quickly. Explain to your interviewer how you continue to keep your team on track whenever any project changes pop up.
Prioritizing and Time Management
A project manager must tackle multiple tasks and issues. To be a successful project manager, you have to choose your battles wisely. Since resources are always limited, they need to be prioritized. Time is a valuable resource for the project because once lost; it cannot be recovered easily. As a result, Project time management is one of the key skills for any project manager. The following questions are asked to assess whether you are capable of taking up the responsibility for creating efficient ways to execute tasks:
Explain a project’s life cycle.
Every project has to go through a series of phases from initiation to closure and this is what we call as a project life cycle. As per PMBOK, projects need to go through 5 phases –
• Initiation
• Planning
• Execution
• Monitoring & Control
• Closing
What are some techniques used for defining scope?
Product breakdown, requirements analysis, systems engineering, systems analysis, value engineering, value analysis and alternatives analysis. Alternatives analysis can be helped by brain storming, lateral thinking and pair-wise comparisons, etc.
How good are your communication skills?
Project managers need to have good communication skills. So, don’t be too honest and say that communication skills are your weakest area. The answer has to either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. But, don’t sound overconfident while saying so. If they ask for examples, be ready with two or three examples in different settings to justify your point.
Forming a team, developing the team and improving knowledge are direct responsibilities of the project manager, do you agree?
It is the team that executes the project. Thus ensuring you has right people is essential. Developing the team is important as whatever gaps are there need to be bridged. Improving self and the team knowledge is equivalent to the continuous improvement of A process and should impact the quality of the project outcome.
Why is the performance management process in the HR management plan important?
People like to be recognized for their contributions. The project management team needs to recognize talent and reward and recognize the performers. The assessment should not only be fair but seen to be fair.
How do you ensure your team stays on track to meet project deadlines?
A sample answer can be ‘I clearly communicate what the expectations are before the team starts to work on the task. I regularly take updates on the progress and if there is a lag anywhere I make myself approachable for the team members to discuss their problems. Also, I appreciate and give feedback once the project is completed to keep them motivated’
What strategy do you follow to mitigate the risks involved in a project?
There will always be risks involved in a project; sometimes even before you start it. You must be able to give the interviewer enough points on different areas where you can work so that there are effects of risks.
Did you ever face any challenges while managing projects? How did you handle those challenges?
With the responsibilities of a project manager, comes a lot of challenges. So pick out one which you have been successful in handling. Give the various ways how you have handled and the strategy you came up with.