Succeeding at the top five project management interview questions

Congratulations if you’ve managed to secure yourself a job interview; now it’s time to impress, and let your personality shine through 

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Robert Half

Here are five popular project management interview questions and our advice on how to answer them effectively.

• Describe your communication style.

Communication is key in almost everything, but especially in this case as being a project manager is all about communication. In your role you’ll need to be able to talk with customers, team members and other managers. Having a strong communicator and leader is often the difference between a project being successful or not.  

Take time to think about how you communicate – ask your friends or colleagues if you’re unsure. For example, do you get straight to the point, and avoid wasting time? Do you have an ‘open door’ policy? Are you assertive in your communications? Use some real-world and work-based examples of when you have demonstrated your communication style(s) and how it worked well for you.

• How do you motivate your team members?

As a project manager it’s important to keep your team motivated. In an interview, start by showing your understanding of the importance of a communication and motivation. Explain, using examples whichexplain the  techniques you use to keep morale high. 

• How easy do you find it to delegate responsibility to your team?

Delegation is also fundamental to the role of a project manager; you cannot do everything yourself, and some people find it difficult to delegate or simply relinquish any power. 

The answer is trust and strong communication. Make sure you show that you understand the importance of effective delegation and explain how you delegate tasks. 

• What project manager tools do you currently use, and why?

Asana, Trello and Aha are great examples of helpful project manager tools. Consider some of the tools you have tried and the reasons you wanted to use them; showing an understanding of both their strengths and weaknesses is important. 

Try to also explain why project management tools are becoming increasingly beneficial to businesses – for example, to assign tasks and track progress. This is even more helpful today, when more and more staff work remotely.

• Describe one of the most challenging projects you’ve managed and what you learnt.

Don’t simply pick the first example that comes to mind. Take time to consider what you genuinely learnt the most from. An interviewer is interested in seeing how you dealt with this situation and turned a negative into a positive and ensured project was successful.

These are just some of the questions you could be asked at your next job interview and a good starting point for you to prepare for, and get, your dream project manager role. 

Good luck!