Project Management Interview Questions

January 1, 2015 by

Infosec

Project managers are the central component for successful project support, organization and team building. You need the right people skills to work in project management, but it can be a fulfilling career when you want to work in the same industry but in a different aspect of project support. Here are some of the questions you can expect when interviewing for a project management job.

1. What skills do you have in the industry?

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A: This question is important since you need to know some general information about projects. For instance, you probably need some kind of software engineering skills to be a software project manager. Tell the interviewer why you can manage a project within his specific industry.

2. How would you rate your project management skills?

A: Be honest when you discuss your level of experience and skill set. If you rate yourself an 8 out of ten, then the company will expect you to perform at that level on the get-go.

3. What do you consider the most important aspect of a project manager?

A: How would you manage a project? What do you think is the most important way to manage several components of a project? Answer this question with your strong aspects and skills that push a project along.

4. How do you handle missing a deadline?

A: Many projects fail when it comes to deadlines. You want to answer this question with ways you can try to facilitate a faster completion date especially when the deadline is creeping up and the project is nowhere complete.

5. How do you handle scope creep?

A: Scope creep occurs when a customer makes too many changes that don’t follow initial documentation and requirements. The project manager must be able to work with customers and developers to ensure that scope creep doesn’t affect the deadline.

6. How do you delegate responsibility?

A: Project managers must be able to delegate responsibility properly or deadlines can be missed. For instance, if a change in software requirements is made, who do you assign the changes to and how do you manage those changes? With this question, you want to ensure that you know who manages certain project aspects, which would correlate with your experience.

7. How would you rate your problem solving skills?

A: Project managers usually run across some issues during a project, and you must be able to identify issues early before they become a serious problem and work with people to manage the problem. Answer this question with some experienced issues you’ve seen and how you handled them.

8. What type of technical skills do you have?

A: If you work in software project management, you should list your technical skills and any programming or operations management you’ve done before you were a PM.

9. How do you work with project sponsors?

A: Project sponsors are the people who have the budget to maintain the project. The interviewer wants to hear how you work with the sponsor to maintain the budget and keep a deadline to avoid extending the budget.

10. What were your challenges that happened with your last project?

A: Answer this question with typical challenges you’ve faced and how you handle the day-to-day challenges of a project that can become difficult.

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