Top 30 Project Manager Interview Questions & Answers You Must Know!

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A career in project management is an extremely lucrative one, with almost every company in every industry in need of skilled project managers. There are numerous job opportunities with great pay and growth prospects, for these professionals. A project manager works on a variety of projects and the responsibilities they have to fulfill vary from organization to organization. Nonetheless, it is an exciting profession and if you too are interested in landing this profile the project manager interview questions and answers listed in this article will be a boon for you.

But before we get into discussing the project management questions, let's get a brief into the project manager profile and what it entails.

Project Manager Role & Responsibilities

The project manager position entails tasks and responsibilities that span the lifetime of the project they are managing. In other words, they ensure the smooth execution of projects on time and within the budget. They are strategic business partners who are involved in organizational success through different projects. Their roles & responsibilities include:

• Day-to-day organization of operations related to the project
• Planning and execution of projects
• Managing all project requirements
• Overseeing restraints like risk, project schedule, and budget
• Lead teams, define the ultimate goals and work through the closure of a project.

Hence, they are responsible for the project's success or failure. Following are some common project manager interview questions and answers that will help you prepare well for the interview and land the job.

Project Manager Interview Questions & Answers: Basics

Project management involves multidirectional work and every project manager (aspiring or experienced) must have a clear understanding of some basics. The project manager interview questions and answers listed below are crafted to test this basic knowledge of project management frameworks and the domain.

Q. Describe a project plan in simple words.

A project plan defines the whole execution of the project. It includes timelines and stages involved in the project, resource requirements, risk management, milestones, communication with the stakeholders, deliverables, etc. In short, a project plan underlines the schedule of the project, the cost risk involved, the overall scope of the project, and the end goal.

Q. What do you mean by Project Management?

This is one of the most common project manager interview questions and you must be bang-on with your answer to leave an impact on the hiring manager. The answer to this question looks something like this:

Project management as a discipline incorporates technical skills and knowledge of project management, its processes, methods, etc. with the intention of achieving the project objectives. Project management methods are different from normal management. That is, while routine management concerns day-to-day activities/ normal business operations, project management concerns following a proper plan that must be implemented according to a strict timeline. A project manager must hence have excellent time management skills and great project management skills like planning and achieving targets within a specified time and budget limit.

Q. Define project management lifecycle.

This is one of the most common project manager interview questions that you must be prepared for. By definition, a project management lifecycle or project life cycle is a step-by-step framework of best practices used from the beginning of a project until its completion and achievement of pre-fixed goals. Following are the four phases of a project lifecycle:

1. Ideation & Initiation: This stage concerns ideation and the initial planning relating to the project. It includes an overview of the project scope and setting of project baselines along with the strategies required to attain desired results.
2. Planning: This phase entails framing detailed plans to help guide the whole team through the implementation phase and closing phase. It includes planning everything in reference to costs, different types of risks quality, revisions, and timelines.
3. Project Execution: In this phase of the project lifecycle, project tasks are assigned and resources are allocated. The efforts are directed towards the smooth execution of the plans made while solving any issues that arise during the timeline.
4. Closing: It involves product release and product delivery.

These are the most commonly accepted stages/ aspect of the project management lifecycle. However, the exact stages involved in any particular project may differ for different organizations and types of projects. For example, for some project types, there may be a fifth phase between the execution and closing stages that involves monitoring and controlling.

Q. What are common project management tools you use to plan a project?

As a project manager, you should be aware of the different tools and project management software as well as stay updated with the trends. It is recommended that you make a list of all common project management tools that you use. It can also be helpful to you in answering such project management questions. Some common project management tools are:

• RACI charts,
• Affinity diagrams,
• Interrelationship diagram,
• Prioritization matrix,
• Asana,
• Gantt charts,
• Trello, etc.

If there are some important tools that you haven't used, it is better to research them and familiarize yourself with them beforehand.

Q. Differentiate between program, project, and portfolio.

Such questions need you to be clear with the exact definitions of these terms. Avoid beating behind the bush. The details of these terms are as follows:

Program: This refers to a set of interlinked projects that are supposed to be managed together. It has a pre-determined timeline and follows high-level plans that are supported by many in-depth plans. So, it is a large project that is made up of many smaller projects. Hence, Program management involves managing programs in accordance with business objectives

Project: It is short-term and smaller than programs. It takes into account cost, timeline, and resource constraints. The main focus of a project is on detailed delivery.

Portfolio: This refers to a group of projects and operations that a single group manages with the aim to achieve a single strategic goal. Unlike projects and programs, a portfolio is permanent in nature and involves strategic planning.

Q. How are stakeholders identified?

Identifying stakeholders is an important step that needs to be done at the beginning of every project. A principle analysis of the stakeholders could be performed in this regard. The process of stakeholder analysis entails creating a list of all possible stakeholders that are connected to the respective project in any way or form. Once this is done, it is important to prioritize the stakeholders. You need to do a mapping of all the stakeholders and group them according to their influence and their interest in the project with the help of the power-interest grid/ influence grid. It helps in categorizing stakeholders based on their impact and importance. Once this is done, there is a need to understand the prime stakeholders and engage with them.

Q. Define various project management methodologies?

A project management framework is a set of principles that help in organizing projects to ascertain their optimum performance. There can be many ways to manage different types of projects ranging from traditional methods to more conventional ones. Choosing the right methodology depends on many factors, including a budget, risk factors, team size, stakeholders, etc. Some commonly used methodologies are as follows:

1. Waterfall methodology: Here the tasks are completed in a sequential manner and each stage of the project must be completed before the next stage commences.
2. Agile methodology: This project management method is believed to be more collaborative and quicker than most methodologies. In this, all of the work is taken and backlogged and the project managers prioritize the backlog for the teams to know which one to focus on first. It involves small phases of work with constant testing, reassessing, and adaptation.
3. Kanban methodology: This method is similar to Agile methodology. It saves the team from wasting their energy on too many tasks and focuses their energy on each task individually.
4. Scrumban methodology: It is a hybrid of both the Agile methodology and the Kanban methodology.
5. Adaptive project framework methodology: Here teams try to anticipate the risks and brace up for the unexpected risks that might come up in the project.

Q. Mention some essential qualities project managers must have.

Since project managers are responsible for the overall success of the project, they need to have certain qualities that help them drive the project toward successful completion. It is hence common for interviewers to ask this project manager interview question. Here are some essential skills/ qualities that you can use in your answer:

1. Leadership skills: Effective project management requires one to have strong leadership qualities. Good leadership helps to keep the project team motivated and keeps the project on track. A project manager with good leadership qualities will be able to drive actual performance from the team and keep the project on schedule.
2. Sharp decision-making: One of the critical skills a project manager should have are good decision-making skills. There may be many situations where they will need to take quick and accurate decisions. And not being able to take a prompt decision can be detrimental to the project's progress.
3. Effective communication skills: Good communication skill is an important quality for a good project manager. They need to convey his/her thoughts, goals, and ideas clearly and effectively to the team. For this, they need good communication skills along with the ability to connect with the team and stakeholders effectively.
4. Technical knowledge: An effective project manager needs to have in-depth technical knowledge of the industry, company, and operations to understand the intricacies of the project. Hence, both technical and theoretical knowledge is required to help the project manager in taking result-oriented decisions and designing good strategies for the success of the project.
5. Has a good vision: It is important for the project manager to spell out his/her vision to his team members effectively and clearly. A person with a good vision can keep the team motivated and direct them in the right direction.

These are the five most essential skills a project manager must have, but these are not exhaustive of the skill set needed. If you believe any other hard or soft skills are of key importance, feel free to include them in your answers. Also, read- Key Skills That Will Make You A Successful Project Manager.

With the completion of the basic project manager interview questions it's time to move on to the next section which includes important project management questions which are more subjective in nature. 

Project Manager Interview Questions & Answers: Behavioural

There is no wrong answer for behavioral project management interview questions per se since they are subjective and will change depending on person to person. Nonetheless, there is a way to tackle these questions and give good answers. Listed below are questions and answers that will help you out. Also, check out the tips section at the end of the article to know about a fun way to tackle such subjective project manager interview questions. 

Q. Give a brief description of the last project you worked on.

By asking this question, the interviewer wants to assess your exposure and skills in the project management domain. If you are an experienced project manager you can describe some important projects that you must have handled. Share the details such as the objective of the project, about the entire team, and the approach that you took to take the project to its closure. Stating facts and figures is always a good way to answer such questions.

Q. What is your approach to prioritizing tasks in a project?

This is a common project manager interview question. As a project manager, you must have some formal techniques to coordinate/ prioritize different tasks. And the interviewer wants to understand this very approach to adjudge your job fit. A sample answer would like:

A good way to prioritize tasks is to begin by determining critical tasks, keeping a tab on the deadlines, and understanding the needs of the stakeholder. Project prioritization basically involves focus. It involves an assessment of where the resources need to be assigned and the right time to start a project. It enables the best use of resources of the company. Projects which are a high priority need the best resources to be diverted for them to ensure maximum quality and timely delivery.

Q. Do you have experience with budget management?

Budgeting plays an important role in the implementation and success of a project. The interview panel might hence ask this project management question to gauge your budget management experience. In case you have no experience in the same, honestly tell the panel. On the other hand, in case you have sufficient experience in budget management, go ahead and share your experience. A sample answer is:

Budget management primarily includes the estimation of cost, funds allocation, keeping a record of the expenditure, and keeping a scope baseline for unexpected expenses/ potential risks. [After giving this definition share an instance from previous work where you managed the budget of a project.]

Q. How do you define a successful project?

By asking this project management question, the interviewer wants to understand your perception of a successful project. it is best to give a precise and clear answer. You can say something like this:

The features/ parameters that determine the success of a project according to me are:

1. Meeting business requirements and achieving the pre-fixed end goal.
2. Making sure that the projects are implemented as per the project timelines/ schedule stipulated at the outset. 
3. Ensuring that the projects are completed within the budget limits.
4. Strive for the expected business value and return on investments.

Tip- You may also use this opportunity to demonstrate your strengths as a project manager that helped you lead successful projects in the past.

Q. How would you create positive collaboration amongst your team members?

You can be asked such types of behavioral project manager interview questions since it is important for a PM to keep the team motivated and drive them to showcase optimized performance. It can also be the biggest challenge and is critical to a project’s success. Your answer must include points that help foster positivity in the team. Some examples are:

Good communication among the team members is key to promoting collaboration. Providing constructive feedback when needed and showering appreciation when due is also important. Motivating the team from time to time towards a common goal and being open to new ideas and client feedback are also good ways of creating positive collaboration.

Q. How has your experience been in this industry so far?

This is an important project manager interview question and must reflect your passion for your field of work. For this, you need to be familiar with the industry or domain wherein the company is operating. You need to research the issues, scope, and challenges of the industry to give your overall perspective regarding the industry. Listening to expert opinions about the industry would be quite helpful for you. As far as your experience is concerned, you can speak about your learnings and challenges that you experienced in the industry. You can mention the skills that you gathered and which have helped you in taking your career forward.

Q. What in your opinion is the best way to manage underperforming team members?

Through this project manager interview question, the interviewer wants to understand your team management style. It is not uncommon to have underperforming teammates for various reasons and have internal conflicts as well. It is best to use your communication skills, and conflict management techniques to concentrate on solving the problem. Effective delegation of the task could be one way to proceed in this situation and not hamper the progress of the project. Your answer should highlight your motivational, and leadership skills and other soft skills like perseverance, quick thinking, etc. 

Q. What is your communication style?

It is yet another common project manager interview question. Communication is an important part of project management and the interviewer would like to know whether you can maintain expressive communication with all stakeholders and team members. An assertive, clear, and to-the-point communication style is what you must aim to showcase with your answer. Also showcase that you are a good listener, attentive, and also keen observer.

Q. What type of leader are you?

A project manager has to lead teams to the completion of the project and hence their leadership style will affect the project's progress. This is why you might come across this project manager interview question. In your answer, be clear about your leadership style. One way is to take the flexible approach where you say that your leadership style depends on the project. It may range from transformational or interactional or pure leadership depending upon the requirements. Sometimes in order to be a hard taskmaster, you could even adopt transactional leadership (which is more of a rigid form of leadership), especially for short-term projects.

Q. What is the definition of an 'ideal project' for you?

This is one of the trickiest project manager interview questions. The interviewer wants to assess what types of projects excite you as a project manager. You can go ahead and be honest about what you like. For example tight or flexible deadlines, team size, innovation in the project, etc. You can share your strengths and skills with the interviewer to support your answer to this project management question.

Project Manager Interview Questions & Answers: Advanced

We have already covered basic and behavioral project manager interview questions in the section above. In this section, we will focus on some project manager interview questions that deal with more technical aspects of the project management domain. 

Q. How do you manage stakeholders?

Managing stakeholders and sponsors are an integral part of the project manager's job. For this PMs must understand their expectations. Following are some ways of managing stakeholders effectively:

1. Keeping the stakeholders in the loop: It is important to engage stakeholders via interviews, briefs, questionnaires, feedback requests, etc. on regular basis. It is critical to keep them informed and also helps avoid any conflicts.
2. Strategize a way to handle change requests: In complex projects, change or modifications are almost inevitable. It is hence a good idea to define a way of managing requests from the onset.
3. Effective communication: It is important to maintain regular communication with stakeholders to ensure that everyone is on the same page. 
4. Analyze from the stakeholder's perspective: A project manager needs to visualize any situation from the stakeholders' POV. By understanding how the project impacts them, a project manager can be better prepared to manage their expectations and incorporate any feedback they might have.

Q. How do you ascertain whether a project is going off-track or not?

The best way to ascertain if the project has gone off-track is to conduct a detailed assessment. It helps in assessing whether the project is progressing as per plan. If not, then conducting a risk analysis and implementing a risk management plan will help keep the project within budget and time limits.

Q. What escalation paths do you use while dealing with projects?

This is another important project manager interview question and your answer must showcase your problem-solving skills and critical thinking abilities. A sample answer is:

Escalation in project management is an expected increase in costs of resources like equipment, labor, material, etc. due to the falling purchasing power of money. An escalation path needs to be designed to handle this issue. The plan of action varies depending on the type of situation. In case of timely knowledge about the risk, it is best to try to manage the situation and mitigate the risk. In the case of high-risk situations, involving the stakeholders and seeking additional support is an alternate approach. However, a PM must be prepared for every situation and have an effective escalation plan ready in case a need arises. The following are the advantages of having an escalation plan:

1. Establishes clear responsibility in the decision-making process.
2. Saves time and energy by providing a clear path for decision-making.
3. Minimizes delays in the project
4. Guides and trains new team members on ways to deal with risk factors.

Tip- You can quote an example from your past experiences and share how you were able to manage the success of your project by mitigating the risk factors.

Q. Explain the project management concept- RAID.

RAID is short for Risk, Assumptions, Issue, and Dependencies. It is an important tool that helps PMs track the progress of a project and make necessary changes in real-time. 

Tip- Depending on the time you have it is a good idea to explain each of the four concepts.

Q. State the difference between risk and issues. Also mention major risk types you might encounter in a project.

The primary differences between risks and issues are as follows:

Some common risk types that may arise during the project lifecycle are- cost risk, legal risk, market risk, external risk, schedule risk, technology risk, strategic risk, performance risk, operational risk, governance risk, etc.

Q. Define gold plating and ways to avoid it.

Gold plating is the practice of adding additional features to a project that were not a part of the original plan. The project team/ manager might be pushed to make these changes at the insistence of the clients or even top management. It is also possible that the team itself decides to expand the scope without client insistence or approval. Some ways of avoiding gold plating are:

• Establishing rules against gold plating and strictly following them.
• Looking at the scope of the project from a third-person perspective can help narrow down instances of gold plating and help push the project back to its original track.
• Ensuring that top management restricts its activities to primary project requirements and baseline scope.
• Follow a PMP technique if the project team members themselves believe that they need to expand the scope of the project.

Q. What is the use of stakeholder analysis and the Power-Interest Grid?

Stakeholder analysis is the process of listing out all the stakeholders who will be associated with a respective project over its lifecycle. And the power-interest grid helps in organizing this list on the basis of the importance/ impact different stakeholders have. This grid can later be used to determine the plan of action regarding a specific category of stakeholders and the level/ kind of correspondence they receive.

Q. What is EVM and how to implement it?

EVM is short for Earned Value Management, and it is a project management system that combines the time, price, and scope of a project to assess overall performance and progress. In other words, an EVM helps the project manager define a benchmark against which they can compare the progress of the project. Some ways of implementing it are:

• Creating a schedule, and
• Creating a work breakdown structure (WBD).
• Track and compare earned revenue with the actual effort exerted.

Q. Explain- Work Breakdown Structure (WBD).

A WBD is a system used to define the core activities involved in a project and differentiate them from sub-activities. This structure follows a hierarchical pattern where the core activities are divided into sub-activities that are housed under the respective parent.

Q. Define traceability matrix.

A traceability matrix maps out the relation between various requirements of the projects and their artifacts. It is extremely helpful to a PM in ensuring that everything is on track to meet the goals by running the right tests, managing projects, and making decisions.

Q. Differentiate between risk impact and risk probability.

Risk impact refers to the cost or extent of damage a risk will have on the project. Risk probability, on the other hand, refers to the likelihood of a risk occurring in the future.

Q. What is the use of Ishikawa or a Fishbone diagram?

An Ishikawa (fishbone) diagram is a visualization tool used in root cause analysis of any risks/ problems. This technique is especially helpful in bringing to the fore the hidden causes or underlying factors of a complex problem.

This brings us to the end of the project manager interview questions and answers. Next, we will share a few quick tips to help you pass the interview with flying colors.

Tips and Tricks to Tackle Project Management Questions

The position of a project manager entails a lot of responsibility, quick thinking, and strategic planning. An ideal project manager candidate must be confident enough to take on such a big role. Here are some tricks that will help you put your best foot forward in the job interview and increase your chances of getting hired:

• The first tip we have is in reference to behavioral questions. These are one of the trickiest yet most common interview questions you will come across. One of the best ways to answer these questions is with the help of the STAR method. It stands for situation (where you explain a situation you were in), task (mention the task assigned to you), action (explain steps you took), and result (share the end result). 

• You must be thorough with the basics of project management, the tools, strategies, and key terms.
• Since project management is a multi-phase process, it is important for the candidate to lay emphasis on his/her organizational skills.
• You may talk about the anecdotes from your previous project management experience where you displayed exceptional organizational skills in one of the challenging projects that led to its successful completion.
• One of the main motives of a project manager is to deliver a product timely, you must talk about how customer satisfaction is important to you.
• You must make sure that the interview panel views you as a manager who values time, customer expectations, and stakeholder relations, and respects and trusts the team.

The project manager interview questions and answers as well as the tips in this article will help you up your game and stand out from the crowd. After you are done with all the prep, all you have to do is to stay confident and be true to yourself. #BeUnstoppable

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