Interviews are nerve-racking for all of us, even for the most confident of us. And when the position in question is of project manager’s then you are bound to be more anxious. However, with proper preparation and research, you can anticipate the questions and know how to answer beforehand.

To begin the research you must first understand what the employers are looking for. Mostly, they are looking for a person to plan, execute and complete a project who has a wide array of knowledge of methodologies and mastery over communications. The person must understand the strengths of collaboration and work delegation and focus on the weaker areas. 

So, let us find the most appropriate list of top Project Management interview questions that are asked by employers:

Project Management Interview Questions & Answers 2019

1. Please tell us about your professional background?

Here you must give a snapshot of your work experience and knowledge of your life story that addresses your way of work, whether you will fit in the role, culture adaptability, professional history, and stability, etc.

2. What is your prior experience of working in this industry?

If you have any prior experience in the particular industry you are appearing for then you can always elaborate, starting with the latest one; however, if you do not, that"s also not a game closer. You probably know by now that project management professionals are the same from industry to industry.

You just need to have strong skills related to your profile, and rest can be learned. You can still elaborate on the way you managed and handled your previous projects. Mostly, they note how confidently your answer and if you are an authentic person comfortable in the position.

3. Describe one of your most challenging projects and how did you manage it?

This conversation goes from theoretical to practical and they judge how the person responds to real-life problems. This will help them determine how you would manage projects at your organization. Besides, on-role job this also describes how a person leads teams and deal with conflicts and ask about challenging projects and still push through.

4. Elaborate on your leadership style?

All the leadership styles have pros and cons, it must change and adapt with a project to project, and you might need to choose from many in your list, starting from the top-down approach to several other tactics. Here, the tip is to make it sound positive and you need to be well-versed with leadership techniques.

5. What’s your typical communication style?

This is another question that has a connection to managing projects and leadership skills. Communication plays a very important role in the life of a project manager. You need to show that you are an effective communicator successful in conveying your message to the team members, stakeholders, vendors, seniors and everybody else in a positive and convincing manner.

It is important as stakeholders’ requirement are something else and team need more details and for successful delivery of a project, you need to cater to both the needs.

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6. How and when do you know that the project is hitting the ground?

Every project hits a hurdle every now and then, but that never means that it is beyond repair. However, a project manager needs to realize it much before it is off the rails. This question basically, is to understand your monitoring and tracking proficiency of a project continuously. And to understand when it does not meet the benchmark you set in the planning phase and mitigate the situation again before it goes out of the hand or not.

7. Show your technique to put the project on track when it is not adhering to the scheduled timeline?

It is important to keep and maintain a schedule for keeping a project on track. And getting back the project on track is as much important. Once you, as a project manager, is aware of the discrepancy between promised delivery and actual facts there are steps that you must take to get the project back on track, as it greatly impacts the time, resources and credibility of an enterprise. Hence, any project manager worth hiring must be able to answer such specifics.

8. What are your preferences and the ideal project that you want to work on?

Here, in this question, they are trying to understand your interests and comfort level of working in the project that they are looking forward to. Of course, the ideal project is the one you are hiring for; however, you need to answer them with honesty and with specifics. So, make them feel that you are comfortable handling the situations that might crop-up in this specific scenario and answer with a fine display of your adaptability.

9. What about your budget management experience?

It comes down to specific exposure and experience. The company is trying to attain a specific understanding as to where you stand in terms of budget management, given a chance to manage the budget of a project. It is considered that project managers are the best planners and often involve in handling budget with a fine grip in the finances. Try to showcase your strengths in this area.

10. Describe your work behavior with remote teams and outsourced resources?

It is the era of globalization, and hence there are companies who have various vendors, agencies and resources sitting at different parts of the world working towards the same goal.

This could be the twist to the tale, as you might never be able to see the remote workers working for you in person; however, you are required to achieve the best efficiency out of them. These remote workers are there for a reason and are a necessary part of the team and collaborating with them is one of the most important aspects of your team management skill.

Hence, your ability to interact and collaborate with a global workforce and remote resources could be a crucial decision to hire you at this point.

11. What tactics do you use to manage team members not working to their complete potential?

Sometimes, motivational tactics and team boosting activities also fails. No matter what, due diligence and well-assembled team sometimes, fail to perform up to the expectations, because of someone who underperforms or create conflicts.

Being a project manager, you cannot stop the ongoing project and do the tweakings instead, you need to deal with the problem and resolve the issues tactfully. This tact is what the hiring managers are looking forward to. They are hunting for somebody who can address the problems head-on.

12. What comes to your rescue when you are dealing with underperformance or when you are overwhelmed?

After all, you are a human being, and there will be times when you are either suffering from setbacks or facing a rough week. The best people always monitor, introspect and manage their behavior and quickly bounce back being normal, and do not let temporary drawbacks hamper their strengths or productivity for long.

13. Describe your working behavior with sponsors, customers, and stakeholders?

Even the project managers are answerable. There could be sponsors or customers or stakeholders that you would be answerable to. As a project manager, part of your duties includes managing stakeholders and communicating effectively with them with subtle tactics.

14. Do you believe in delegating work?

You must delegate work. A good project manager does not carry out everything on their own shoulders. They need to have mastery in delegating work as per the performance and skills of the team. This could be a trick questions for some; however, if you are a seasoned professional and worked with teams and good managers, you would quickly decipher the underlying purpose of the question. They, through this question, is trying to know, whether you delegate, how you delegate, and how you micromanage work.

15. Steps you take to prioritize tasks?

Prioritizing is an important aspect of one’s life and job. There is going to be ten different work at the same time, all the time. Prioritizing means to determine which one is critical and what could be left undone, if necessary. This is a very important aspect as a project manager and for hiring managers it is intriguing to understand how to make this decision .

Here, all the above questions are simply to assist you to ace the interview of a project manager position. The best way is to seek a PMP official and recognized training and learn more about the process, project lifecycle from PMI Official courseware and ace the exams.

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