9/12/13

Interview Questions for a Project Manager Job | Monster

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Advice Interview ing Interview Questions Project Manager Interview Questions

Project Manager Interview Questions

By Dona DeZube, Monster Finance Careers Expert

The best project managers are like axles -- they smoothly link management, clients and staff to keep projects rolling along. If you w ant to be the top candidate for a project manager job, make sure you can answ er questions about your technical competence, business methodology and interpersonal skills in the job interview . Heres a project plan to get ready for your next project management interview . Technical Skills and Methodology Your interview er may begin by asking about your technical skills. An introductory question might be: What softw are have you used to manage projects in the past? That question may be follow ed by a more specific query: If I gave you a laptop to plan your next project, w hat softw are w ould you w ant on it? Once youve established your technical competence, expect questions about your methodology for handling projects, says Joseph Logan, author of Seven Simple Steps to Landing Your First Job . Whether youre a Project Management Professional (PMP) or not, general questions you can expect include: Whats your approach to managing a project? Whats your school of thought on project management -- are you an agile person? 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, a recruiting firm for interactive, design and marketing professionals in Menlo Park, California. Maybe they use softw are or a book, or they just have years of experience. If you are PMP-certified, discuss the certification process: w hen you earned your PMP, w hat the hardest part w as for you, w hat you liked the most, etc. Interpersonal Skills Great project managers possess interpersonal skills that help teammates get along. Questions about interpersonal skills can be general: How do you handle politics? Or specific: Tell me about a time w hen you had tw o key stakeholders w ith opposing view s. How did you manage that? Your responses should explain how you found consensus w hile keeping the project focused on its original purpose, Logan says. Project Sponsorship When youre asked how you w ork w ith project sponsors, your interview er is looking for tw o things: how you elicit information from project leadership and how you define project sponsor. Some candidates w ill say the project sponsor is the person w ho review s the project; others w ill say its the person w ho holds the budget. Hard-skills questions probe w hat specific project-management skills you can bring to the 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. Youre also likely get questions about your past performance to uncover your business skills:

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9/12/13

Interview Questions for a Project Manager Job | Monster

What w ere the challenges on your last project? When the project didnt go w ell, w hat happened? What happens w hen your projects fail? How do you do contingency planning? What is your favorite w ay to deliver and present results? What type of closure processes have you done? Do you typically revisit projects a few months after delivery? The Close At the end of the interview , you might get some behavioral interview questions related to the most common issues that arise for the organizations project managers. For example, if the job involves w orking w ith cross-cultural teams, you might be asked: Tell me about a time w hen your domestic team w anted to approach a project one w ay and your offshore team preferred a different approach. What w as the issue, and how did you resolve it? By preparing your answ ers to common project manager interview questions, you can help the hiring manager appreciate your mix of business acumen, technical competence and people skills needed to expertly manage projects. Related Resources: Free Salary C alculator Resume Writing Services Skills Analysis & Training

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