Conceptualizing interview questions for any recruiter is a demanding task. The presence of many books and online articles that allows applicants to prepare for questions sometimes permits them to fabricate their responses.
Due to this, recruiters should be creative, and at the same time, critical as well concerning the questions they will ask during an interview. This situation is especially true for those who are looking to hire project managers.
It is All About the Interview
The role of a project manager is crucial and must have the appropriate character, interpersonal skills, and work ethic to perform their duties and responsibilities well.
When it comes to preparing Interview questions for project managers, you have to understand their critical functions within a team.
Project managers have to deal with the following:
- Developing a suitable project plan
- Liaising with the stakeholders
- Integrating risk management within the project
- Ensuring that the budget is well allocated
- Managing the schedule
- Making sure that the project gets delivered on time
Understand that every function requires a particular trait from your project manager. These traits must surface as they answer the interview questions that you have prepared. The characteristics to be considered are the following:
Attention to Details
This trade is essential when developing a project plan, managing the team’s schedule, and monitoring the overall execution of the project. Every detail, such as knowing the workload and the schedule of your team member, must be taken into account when assigning new tasks.
Failure to do so could create disastrous consequences for the project.For example, if a project manager does not know the team’s work hours, they might get tasks assigned on irregular intervals.
Not everyone would be lucky enough to have an available team member who would be ready to accept an assignment late at night.
Interpersonal Skills
This skill is necessary when dealing with a variety of people. Being able to connect with them fluidly improves the coordination and overall result of the project.
Project management is not only about commanding the team but also communicating with the client on the capacities of your organization.
Diligence and Commitment
Diligence and commitment are the bread and butter of project management. A large portion of the job involves having to follow-up with many stakeholders. Some project managers perform well on projects related to industries that they are passionate about.
Hence, you have to test out the commitment of project managers to the entire job.
What kind of questions should I be shooting?
Information regarding their daily work activities and preferences, for example, would be a great set of interview questions for project managers. While it is exciting to know about their qualifications, management is usually about how they perform every day.
The heart of a project manager’s job is tolerance towards repetition. There will be times where sponsors, team members, or clients have to be updated about the same task again and again. Because of this, you would want to hire someone with the characteristics of an individual who enjoys the process.
If you can repeat these steps throughout the recruitment process, you will be able to filter out the best project manager properly.
