1. Can you tell me when do you know the project is off-track?
Every project hits a snag along the way, but not every project manager is aware of that delay until it's more pronounced or even beyond repair. The ability to monitor and track the progress of a project and tell immediately when it's not meeting the benchmarks you set in the planning phase is perhaps the most important duty of a project manager.
2. Tell us how do you control changes to your project?
Some level of change is inevitable, but as a project manager, it's important to quickly adapt to those changes. Explain to your interviewer how you continue to keep your team on track whenever any project changes pop up.
3. Explain me how do you go about managing the performance of your team?
It's important to show that you have leadership skills when you answer this question. Be thorough about your daily tasks when it comes to managing your team's performance-for example, perhaps you hold weekly strategy discussions and meetings. You'll also want to provide specific examples of how your management style has resulted in positive team performance.
4. Tell me how do you work with customers, sponsors and stakeholders?
Even project managers have to answer to someone. Responding to executives and stakeholders requires a different approach than the one they would use with teams and vendors. Part of their duties includes managing stakeholders who hold a position of authority over the project manager. That takes a subtle touch.
5. Tell us how do you ensure you and your team deliver or exceed customer expectations?
In a nutshell, the interviewer wants to see how, in detail, you're able to succeed as a project manager. After all, meeting (or exceeding) customer expectations when it comes to project delivery is your ultimate goal. It's important not to be vague and give a generalized answer; you'll want to give precise examples and details about your process.
They better! The last thing you want is a project manager who carries everything on their shoulders. That's nuts. But this is a bit of a trick question, or at least one that has an implicit question embedded in it. What you really want to know is not whether they delegate, but how they delegate. This is a great way to weed out the micromanagers.
7. Explain me have you managed remote teams and outsourced resources?
Not all projects are executed under one roof. With more dynamic project management tools and a global workforce to choose from, many project managers might never meet the members of their team, at least in the real world. Then there are the necessary resources that will be outsourced, which involves a different management technique than when working with employees. Knowing how they would manage people and resources can be a crucial point in your decision to hire or not to hire.
8. Explain me how easily do you delegate responsibility?
Easily delegating responsibility is an essential quality of any project manager. Be sure to discuss a relevant example that assures the interviewer that delegating responsibility comes naturally to you.
9. Explain me how do you communicate bad news?
It's likely you've had to deliver bad news in the past as a project manager, and your interviewer wants to see how, exactly, you go about doing so. They want to see that you're considerate and upfront with everyone, that you have all of the facts first, and that you've thought about how this news will impact all of your team members-not just the person you're delivering the bad news to directly.
10. Can you explain me what's your leadership style?
Talking about managing a project will inevitably lead to a discussion of leadership style. There are many ways to lead, and all have their pluses and minuses. Depending on the project, a project manager might have to pick and choose how they lead, ranging from a top-down approach to servant leadership. See how well-versed they are on leadership techniques.
11. Can you explain me 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.
12. Tell us what are your career and project goals for the next six months?
Be honest about any short-term project goals you have currently, as this shows the interviewer that you are enthusiastic about your projects and that you're goal-oriented. When it comes to discussing your career goals, be sure to include the company you're interviewing with as part of your goals. If you're interviewing with a recruiter for job placement, you may not have a specific company in mind and that's okay-just be sure to be clear about what type of role you see yourself working in.
13. Tell me how do you gain agreement with teams?
Where there are people, there are conflicts, and even the best projects have people problems. Good teams collaborate and trust one another. If there's a problem between two or more team members, it must be resolved quickly. But this can also apply to stakeholders, vendors, etc. A project manager is a bit of a psychologist who must know how to resolve conflicts quickly.
14. Can you explain me how do you deal when you're overwhelmed or underperforming?
It's easy to forget that project managers are people, too. They are hired to perform and lead a project to success, but they can suffer the same setbacks as anyone on the team. The difference between a good and great project manager is the ability to monitor oneself and respond proactively to any drop offs in performance.
15. Tell us how do you motivate team members?
It's crucial as a leader to not only ensure your team stays on the right track, but is motivated about the projects they're working on. Maybe you give praise for a job well done as a form of motivation. As long as you can clearly demonstrate past examples of how you've motivated team members, there's not really a right or wrong answer here.
16. Tell us how have you handled disgruntled employees?
The interviewer wants to see that you're a critical thinker and effective problem solver. Even if you don't have a specific example to talk about, explain that you always care about your team members and would want to uncover the root of the problem, and find out why, exactly, they're unhappy. While it may not be possible to please every disgruntled employee, the interviewer just wants to see that you would make an effort to rectify the situation and be professional about everything.
17. Explain me a few examples of a time when you made a tough decision and it backfired?
This question is a tough one for candidates to handle as it tells the interviewer how honest you are with yourself and compels you to talk about an instance when you failed. Your interviewer wants to see how you handle setbacks, because no matter how good you are at your job, they will happen. Most importantly, they want to know that you learned from these experiences. When you give your examples, explain how you used those setbacks to improve as a project manager overall.
18. Tell us what is your delegation style?
This is a question that is designed to ask about leadership skills. Explain what has been best for you and use examples of how your delegation style has worked well in the past. Even if you've never technically led a team before, it's important to find an example of how you might've delegated in the past.
19. Explain me how did your last project end?
This question is about discovering any lessons they learned from that project. Everything is a learning experience, and each project offers lessons from which a good project manager grows.
20. Tell us how do you manage team members that are not working to their full potential?
Sometimes, no matter how much due diligence you put into assembling a skilled and experienced team for the project, someone underperforms or creates conflicts. While the project is rolling, you don't have time to stop and tweak your team. Rather, the project manager must deal with the problem and resolve it. This comes up with even the best team, so any capable project manager would know how to nip underperformance in the bud.
21. Tell us what, according to you, is an important skill for a project manager to succeed?
Well, if you are a project manager you might already be thinking that there can't be one skill that is enough to be successful. And, you are right. Your answer could be leadership skills, communication skills, or time management skills. What the interviewer is looking for is the justification for the answer. So, before you blurt out anything, have your reasons ready.
From meetings to project management programs and everything in between, there's an endless list of tools and processes that project managers use to stay organized. Be sure to list as many tools as you can think of that you're familiar with to demonstrate your knowledge of project management software and other tools.
23. Please explain how do you set goals for your team? And how do you track these goals?
Whether it's deadline goals or overall project goals, setting goals is an important part of being a project manager, as it motivates team members and helps to keep projects on track. Be sure to give specific examples that demonstrate how you've set goals for your team in the past and how you've tracked these goals. For instance, you might have set a project completion goal for a specific project that required everyone to complete their part by a certain date. Perhaps you regularly checked in with team members to see if there were any obstacles that could stop them from meeting that deadline, and if so, you offered possible solutions.
24. Tell us what were the communication challenges on your last project?
As a project manager, you'll need to effectively communicate with your team for all projects. Communication challenges will arise; nobody expects that this won't happen. What the interviewer wants to see, however, is how you've handled these challenges in the past. It needs to be evident that even with communication issues, you were still able to effectively work with your team. For example, perhaps instead of being able to have face-to-face meetings when necessary, you were able to put together web chat meetings. Think of a time when something like this happened and how you dealt with the communication challenges efficiently to ensure that the project outcome was still a good one.
25. Explain me if the project is not adhering to schedule, how do you get it back on track?
Knowing that a project is not keeping to its schedule is only as important as being able to get the project back on track. Once a project manager is aware of the discrepancy between the actual progress and the planned progress, what steps do they take to get the project back on time without jeopardizing the enterprise? Any project manager worth hiring will be able to answer this with practical specifics.
26. Top Technical Project Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ Please describe yourself, your background briefly.
☛ What was the biggest or most challenging project you managed?
☛ Do you have budget management experience?
☛ Have you ever failed in a project? Do you have any experience of handling failures?
☛ How do you monitor projects whether it is going on track?
☛ Can you tell me an example of how you communicated a failure to your team, manager and customer?
☛ How do you motivate project team?
☛ Do you have outsource personnel or supplier management experience?
☛ Do you have international project team management experience?
☛ How do you deal with gold plating in your project?
☛ You managed the project work as per requirements. However, customer is not happy with the result and does not accept the project. How would you convince the customer?
☛ How do you deal with underperforming project team members?
☛ How do you resolve conflicts in your projects?
☛ What are the three words that describe you best?
☛ Why should we hire you?
☛ Where do you see yourself in five years?
☛ What is your current salary and compensaion package?
☛ What is your salary expectation?
Think about a time when you reluctantly agreed to a challenging request, because as a project manager, you're expected to make things happen. Explain to the interviewer how you managed to juggle your tasks and effectively manage your time in order to ensure that you would be able to follow through with a difficult promise. Even though you may have had a lot on your plate, interviewers want to hear specific examples that show you were still successful in accommodating additional requests.
28. Please explain what are some of the tools and resources you've used to develop your team?
This is your chance to show your knowledge on some of the many different technologies that project managers use these days. Be sure to name any software programs, online tools and other things that you've used to complete your daily tasks. Be sure to also explain that you are always open and eager to learning new tools or programs.
No project goes without a hitch, and people expect that. What your interviewer wants to see is how you handle anything that can result in a potential setback. An effective project manager should always have a few tricks up his or her sleeve.
It's always important to take initiative as a project manager, and your interviewer wants to see just how you do that. Think of specific project examples that included a lot of proactive decision-making, but don't also be afraid to include examples that don't include the workplace.
31. Explain me where do you see yourself in five years' time as Technical Project Manager?
This is a top project manager interview question. The answer shows whether you have realistic expectations from the job you are applying for. It helps the interviewer check if your personal goals align with that of the company.
If you are applying for an entry-level position, it might be too ambitious to say ‘I want to be the CEO of this company'. It helps to research on the employee growth in the company and estimate where you could reach with your best performance in the next 5 years. On the other hand, if you are applying for a senior position, you can talk about how you wish to take the company forward and what your contribution towards that would be.
32. Explain me what was a challenging project, and how did you manage it?
This takes the conversation from the theoretical to the practical. You can see how the person responded to real-life problems, which helps you determine how they would manage projects at your organization. This question also provides a sense of the person, such as how they lead teams and deal with conflicts. By asking about a challenging project, you can see how they act when pushed to their limits and beyond.
33. Can you tell us do you have budget management experience?
It helps to drill down into specific experience. Naturally, if the candidate has specific skills they'll be briefly sketched in the resume, but here's your opportunity to get a deeper sense of where they stand in terms of budget management. Project managers are known as planners. They schedule and lead teams to success. But there's often money involved, so they better know how to handle a budget.
34. Do you know how tall are the pyramids in Egypt?
Talk about not being prepared. Who is going into a job interview with this information in their head? You don't really want an accurate answer to this question, but you do want to see how the project manager deals critically and seriously with the question. Because, during the project they will be sidelined with unexpected challenges and questions.
35. Explain me how do you prioritize tasks on a project?
Prioritization is important. There's going to be more work in a day than can be accomplished, so any good project manager is going to have to determine what is crucial and what could be left undone if necessary. It will prove interesting and informative to see how the candidate makes these decisions.
