Project Management Interview Questions
Interviews are hard when you are out of job & quite enjoyable otherwise. I hope you are
here to prepare for an interview either you are a hiring manager or the candidate itself.
Here, I have compiled most important Project Management Interview Questions. I have
gathered this data mostly from my personal experience, LinkedIn & as well as from
colleagues.
I have divided this into two section
1. Interview Questions for a Project Manager
2. Interview Questions for a Project Planner
As I do believe these are the most common and authentic roles on a project in Project
Management point of view.
Interview Questions for a Project Manager
This is one of the top positions in any given project. This guy has the charter to deal
with the resources of a Project and ultimately is responsible to utilize in effective manner
or accountable otherwise.
The questions to be asked most of the times are situational that is usually to judge
communication skills, leadership & Managerial skills at the sometime. As in Project
Management, you know higher the position requires less technical skills but high
Leadership skills.
Most Frequently Asked Interview Questions
Question-1: Tell us about the major projects you have managed?
Answer: My major projects include a Tower project where I handled 15 contractors in
parallel. It was a worth of 300 Million USD. This was much versatile in scope wise.
Question-2: How you rate yourself as a project manager from 1-5 star.
Answer: Well, this is bit tricky one, but to be honest Project Management is really a vast
field but considering Mangers around I can only rate 3 stars only as I am surrounded by
most competent people around.
Question-3: Tell us about your qualification, certifications etc. if any?
Answer: I was graduated as Civil Engineer from a well reputed university, later I went for
MS in Project Management and I hold a valid PMI– PMP certification which I consider
an extra feather. I have an extensive fifteen years of extensive experience & have
managed a number of successful projects globally.
Question-4: What qualities should a project manager must have?
Answer: Good communication skill is always that matters a lot everywhere then comes
the managerial & lastly, I consider technical. My opinion as per my experience but may
differ on text.
Question-5: How you normally handle the politics at project?
Answer: I always try to look on both sides of the conflict in handling the situation. I try
not to complicate things as there may be many factors. Any powerful stakeholder may
be involved in it. First of all, I need to understand the structure of organization either it’s
projectized or functional before making any conclusion. At the end, I try to tell the
personal benefits to all for completing a successful project.
Question-6: Who is most important stakeholder in any project?
Answer: I consider always Client the major & then top Management, SME- Subject
Matter Experts, Project Team, Legal Team etc.
Question-7: What is Gold plating and how to avoid it?
Answer: To do extra work that is not as per your contract (scope statement) to get credit
the Client – Boss buttering in easy sense. To avoid simply refer to scope statement
always & distribute its copy to your relevant team members.
Question-8: What is difference between Change Order and a Variation Order
Request?
Answer: These are just anonymous. Different culture uses different terms. But I only
have heard verbally about Variation Order Request but never seen any form about that.
I only know Change Order Request.
Question-9: Are you familiar with any scheduling software?
Answer: Yes, I know Primavera P6 & Microsoft Project very well.
Question-10: Can you tell us about Conflict Resolution Techniques?
Answer: I think 95% of conflicts are due to poor communication. I try to get the people
involved Face to Face and it resolves 80% conflicts on spot with win-win situation. I
always focus of behavior not the personality. But if still someone has already crossed
the lines then I always refer to HR manager to tackle the members.
Question-11: Do you know about Crashing & fast Tracking?
Answer: Both are schedule compression techniques. Crashing involves additional
resources & Fast-tracking needs to re-arrange activities but increases the overall risk.
Before applying any technique, I always discuss with my team first & then the
management.
Question-12: How will you handle Risks on a project?
Answer: I always try to stick with basics and follow to avoid, mitigate, transfer & accept.
As risk is not always a negative sometimes it helps you a lot. Even the best planned
project may hit any risk anytime.
Question-13: What reporting tools you use to prepare status report for
stakeholders?
Answer: I normally prefer Primavera P6 but also use Microsoft Excel to make better
visualization that are helpful for ease of management. I can use Microsoft project also.
Question-14: Can you elaborate about contingency plan?
Answer: It’s just a plan B or backup plan in case something went wrong on original plan.
For example, if the main contractor/supplier goes bankrupt all of sudden? Or, your
project control manager gets fever on meeting day suddenly? How many projects you
can handle at a time easily?
Question-15: How do you evade Liquidated Damages on a project?
Answer: Eying on each & every milestone where LD is applicable & follow strictly the
critical path. Also get inline all the contractors to work on it.
Question-16: What are major factors to look at when accepting a change order?
Answer: There are many factors but I consider time frame & the Cost. Then I do some
calculations for extra resources if available.
Question-17: Which Project management tool you use and why?
Answer: I use normally Primavera P6 as I said earlier, It has unlimited features for
reports of every kind.
Question-18: Who has the rights on Float to use in the Schedule?
Answer: It’s always as per contract if not mentioned there then first come first alleviate
basis for Contractor or the Owner.
I have only compiled the questions & answer as per my experience & qualification but if
you need to know more explanation you can comment below. I am always happy to
answer.
Question-19: What is the difference between Waterfall & Agile?
Answer: Major difference Agile is very adaptive and we follow rolling wave planning in it.
While waterfall is not that adaptive and hence more risky that Agile.
Question-20: What do you know about Scrum?
Answer: Scrum works under the umbrella of Agile where we used time-boxed sprints
that make is more adaptive. Scrum team works cross-functional. Scrum master play a
bridge roll between the team and the Product owner.
Question-21: How to decide if we need to follow Agile or go with traditional water-
fall?
Answer: There three significant factors that help us to decide
1. Level of uncertainty – Higher favors Agile & vice versa
2. Team Competency : Agile needs more experienced and competitive teams
3. Stakeholder Types: Collaborative favors the Agile and Contractual is for traditional
waterfall approach.
But these can be used as hybrid if possible. Software development favors the Agile
while in capital construction is really hard to follow it.
Question-22:What is the difference between Project Life Cycle & Project
Management Life Cycle?
Answer: Yes, both are different things. Project Management Life Cycle is applicable to
all and every kind of projects. It remains the same.
Project Life Cycle on the other hand can be different for any other project. It depends on
the phases of a project. For example;
Evaluation – Designing – Manufacturing – Delivery
Designing – Coding– Testing – Launching
Each phase can be treated as a project that has it’s own Project Management Life
Cycle.
Continued! ……………. Will be updated continuously to make it best available pool.
Please suggest me more questions related to this.