Who is an excellent project manager? He or she is an excellent communicator with a broad range of skills and a deep knowledge of various methodologies. This person understands the power of collaboration and has all the necessary experience to lead the team.
In this article, we’ll give you tips on what to ask a project manager during an interview and how to find a versatile specialist who can handle overflow with ease and motivate the team. Ask these questions to narrow down the options to a handful of suitable candidates.
What should be the capacity of a strong project manager?
Check if the applicant has all the necessary qualities for a good PM. We focus on the most important ones below:
- Outstanding organizational and strategic thinking;
- Profound knowledge of human capacities and key processes;
- Excellent soft skills;
- Technical software knowledge;
- Leader and consultant capacities.
Best interview questions to ask a potential project manager
It is difficult but feasible to find a competent project manager. To discover a worthwhile asset, ask the right questions and study the answers carefully.
– Tell us about the projects on which you have been working. What was your position? Who were the parties involved?
An applicant should give an overview of the projects he has worked over.
It is essential to consider his examples, as it offers an insight into how a planner manages a project and interacts with others. The applicant should be descriptive and provide examples of explanations he or she gave to different counterparties.
– Have you worked with remote teams?
Today, being able to lead international teams remotely is a must. A project manager should use both his skills and experience to virtually manage a team. To ensure fruitful teamwork in a remote environment, he can combine different leadership strategies. Assure that the applicant uses different approaches to support and inspire the whole team. To ensure that all operations go smoothly, a specialist should have the requisite training and experience. Otherwise, businesses can have different challenges: delays, low work efficiency, and high extra costs.
– When running into challenges, how did you solve them?
Each project manager meets various tasks that have to be successfully solved. Reduction of funding, shifts in targets, and timelines are regular in many programs. Real experts never criticize teammates and instead suggest solutions to deal with the challenges. A candidate should outline how he has succeeded in solving all the challenges. A great PM will discover the real cause, change the resource management system, bring additional effort and develop innovative solutions.
– How will the duties be given priority?
This question helps you understand whether a PM understands importance and urgency, if he or she is adaptable, and can respond to new conditions. An experienced PM knows which tasks should be solved first and which tasks to postpone. Without losing sight of the resources used, he should give a reflective answer.
– What is your mode of communication?
Communication is essential because it is an easy way to make a difference. PMs engage continuously with developers, administrators, consumers, hold web workshops, brainstorm, explain those topics to customers and participate in in-house discussions. You can engage with the viewer without any difficulty. Choosing the wrong style can be a problem. This question will tell you if an applicant is in line with the company and employees’ communication style. The assertive approach is viewed as the most successful way of communicating because it means that the PM considers his teammate’s opinions, thoughts, suggestions, and desires.
Summing up
A project manager is a lifeline who can allow you to prepare all processes thoroughly, execute all projects, inspire the team, and produce outstanding results. Also, you can prevent expensive errors and fulfill the client’s proposal on schedule with the aid of a first-class professional.