1. Don't you think that you are overqualified for this position as Field Coordinator?
You might feel that I possess more degrees than you require for this position. But, I believe that I grow everyday when I talk to my staff, customers and superiors. So, basically the learning process continues through out the life - I don't think I am over qualified.
2. Tell us how long can you commit to work with us?
I like new challenges and a chance to grow. As long I keeping getting these, I don't think I'll need to switch over. I'd like to believe that this relationship lasts for many years. However, I haven't set a time limit as such.
3. Tell us how would you compensate for the lack of experience you have for this position?
As we discussed in the last question, your ability to understand and pick up new things quickly should be able to compensate for the lack of work experience you have.
4. Explain what are the most important things for you as a manager?
The two things which should be most important for a manager to succeed in his role are:
a.) His team should be happy and keep performing
b.) The project he is working on with his team is successfully finished with minimum problems.
5. Explain to me your strengths?
Discuss strengths that show your professional expertise, some of the answers could be:
☛ Multi tasking: Say I have been working on mulitple project and I am required to keep tabs on each project and co-ordinate with a lot of teams, and I am able to do it efficiently.
☛ Problem Solving: You can say that in my current job role I have spent a good time to know how to solve problems. My team members see me as a go-to person to solve issues.
☛ Communication
☛ Team player
☛ Quick learner
6. Explain something about your hobbies?
Answer it with honesty, as they can go deeper into this discussion. You can include:
Browsing the internet
☛ Blogging,
☛ Listening to music,
☛ Chatting with friends,
☛ Reading newspapers,
☛ Reading books,
☛ Shopping,
☛ Watching movies….
Even if you think there is no one single skill that is the most important, name just one.
The interviewer simply wants to see how you think and express yourself. So be short and to the point. An example of one important skill for a project coordinator is multi-tasking, being able to juggle many tasks simultaneously. Or you can talk about teamwork since a coordinator must be able to cooperate with many teams at once and ensure coordinated action between them.
8. Tell us why does this role interest you? Or why have you applied for this job?
Keep the focus of the answer to this question on your skills, experience and personal qualities.
Link the job requirement to your skills rather than talking about the challenges, career and progression.
9. Explain with an example of working in a team with specialists as a project coordinator?
If, for example, you have worked in a development company, an obvious example is working closely with the development team to define goals, coordinate resources, solve conflicts, and minimize risks. Project coordinators direct resources and are thus connected to resource managers and the procurement. They work to satisfy quality, deadlines, and budget limitations, and might also work closely with specialists like quality engineers.
10. Tell me what is more important to you money or success?
This is tricky question, as money and success both are important and you cannot outweigh the importance of one over the other. Personally you might prefer money over success or success over money, but it is better to be neutral when answering this question in an interview:
You can say, that money and success both are important for you, but if you have to choose you would choose success. The reason being, if one is successful money often follows and you need not focus on money over success..
11. Tell me how would you define the typical working conditions of a project coordinator?
Busy, complex, involved with cross company teams and many levels of the organization management, its affiliates, and customers, all at once. Do not hesitate to say that because of the breadth of your field of work, a typical day is characterized by uncertainty and surprise. This requires quick and creative thinking, flexibility, tolerance, adaptability, and formidable multi-tasking skills.
12. Tell us what is your current CTC and what are your expectations?
Be honest about your CTC, as you will have to produce you salary slip as a proof of employment
Be realistic when you state your expected CTC, you can ask for a 30-40% hike
If you are underpaid at your current company you can look for the standard salary paid for the experience you have and ask for that amount
13. Suppose that you are selected, what will be your strategy for next 60 days?
If I am selected for this position, I'll use my initial 60 days in understanding my role carefully in terms of the contribution to the business and increasing the overall profitability. I'll sit with my line manager and other juniors to understand what has already been done and what its impact has been. From there on, I'll formulate my strategy to growth in close conjunction with managers and see that it is properly implemented.
14. Explain can you work independently?
Yes, I can work independently without supervision or support from a team
Do not emphasize on working independently as that will be seen as an inability to work with others.
15. Explain your experience with IT projects?
Simply describe your experience in detail. For instance, how you've directed and monitored the requirements and progress of short term IT projects with limited personnel. You can also elaborate on how you've ensured that products and services answered your client's specifications within the allocated resources and framework.
16. Tell me are you planning to go for further studies?
Be transparent in your answer.
If you are pursuing further studies, say so. Tell them why you want to go for that course
If you are taking up a distance education course or a part time course, they should know, as you will need to take leaves when you appear for exams
17. There's some gap in your work history. Why?
Yes, I was feeling exhausted after years of non-stop work. So, I decided to take a break and spend some time with my family on a rejuvenating vacation. I am happy to have returned fully recharged.
18. Tell us why do you want to work for us?
Start by discussing the profile you have applied for and go on to say that the organization would provide an opportunity to enhance your knowledge and help you to grow professionally
Discuss how you would be of use to the organization and how you plan to develop your professional competencies
19. Do you know what is involved in planning a project?
A coordinator typically produces feasibility studies for project ideas. He then plans project progress: sub targets and tasks, goals, milestones, etc. Personnel planning means distributing responsibilities between the assigned employees in the most effective way.
20. Explain why are you leaving your previous job?
Do not go around defaming your company, it will give a bad impression about you.
Give reasons such as:
☛ Professional Growth
☛ New challenges
☛ Change in profile
☛ Planning to relocate (if applicable)
☛ With time I found my job was becoming monotonous and I didn't want this to have any impact on the job I was doing for my employer
☛ I am not actively looking for a job change but, I saw this opening and it looked interesting.
21. Tell us the most stressful situation you came across in your previous job?
Here you should discuss a stressful situation that you were able to overcome and keep a positive tone, do not say you never came across a stressful situation. Typical answers can be:
Our team's targets were increased three fold and initially everyone was overwhelmed by the number, but we discussed it with our manager and he was co-operative and understood the situation. But he wanted us to give it a try and was ready to reduce the targets to a more realistic number.
You can also talk about a very demanding project where you worked for long hours/2 shifts and had to sacrifice on family time, but once the project was done you got recognition for the hard work and you were over the stress.
22. Explain will you be happy to work in night shifts or over the weekends?
You need to answer this question taking into consideration what is suitable for you. Say that you can work in the night shifts, only if you can really do it.
Closely understand the qualities and skills a person holding the position would need and match them with the qualities you have.
If you believe that you are missing a big quality required for the position under discussion, say that, "I understand that this is an important quality required in the person holding this position but given a chance, I will inculcate it in me." Back it up with a confident body language.
24. Please tell us what do you know about us?
Research the company and its business a bit before appearing for the interview. Also, find out a bit about the technologies they work upon. You don't need to know everything inside out but having a fair idea about the company makes you appear interested in the position, to be taken seriously.
For e.g. I see that your company does a lot of projects based on OpenSource platforms like Joomla, Drupal, Magento which is quite interesting as I have a similar kind of experience.
25. Tell me how would you improve upon our product/ company?
Since I'd be coming from an altogether new environment, I am bound to possess a new perspective towards everything here including the company, product, customers, environment, strategy etc. This will enable me to constructively question things which anyone else here might not do. This will help in improving the things and making the product & company better.
Having worked closely with product development team I understand how the research for product development is carried out and how is customer requirement analysed; I'd be able to provide a value addition there too.
