To find good candidates for this position, make sure you are familiar with how to interview candidates to find out people skills, business methods, and expertise.
Interview: Professional skills and working methods
Technical skills make a great start to an interview because they are classic to answer, thus making the candidate feel at ease. Let's start with easy questions:
At your old company, what software did you use to manage projects?
Then try a more difficult question:
If I gave you a laptop to plan an upcoming project, what software would you use?
Once you decide on a candidate with expertise, learn about how they manage projects. Even if this is not a candidate for a senior project manager, use these general questions:
How do you manage projects?
What are your views on how to do your project – are you agile?
Then ask a lot of specific questions about the method of work
How do you organize your working time?
How do you allocate resources?
How do you stay up to date with your progress?
Each candidate will have their own method. Maybe they use software, a notebook, or years of experience.
Interview questions on communication skills
A great project manager possesses communication skills that can help team members work together, so these questions to know how to interview candidates to understand more about these aspects. Questions about these skills may include:
How can you control caution?
Or details:
Tell me about a time when two core members had conflicting opinions. How do you solve this problem?
The answer you are looking for should be consensus-oriented and focused on the original goal of the project.
Interview questions about relationship with project sponsors
The question “Tell me how you worked with the project sponsor?” will reveal two things: First, how do project managers receive information from project leaders, and second, how do they view sponsors?
Some candidates will say the project sponsor is the one who will re-evaluate the project, while others say it is the one who holds the budget.
The tough skills questions will test the specific project management skills the candidate can do for your company:
Are you trained to manage supply chains?
Do you manage people or just manage projects?
Are you responsible for delivery or financial or administrative paperwork for the project? Tell me about the goals and results of the last project.
If the candidate has a professional project management certification, discuss the process. When did you get this certificate? What is your hardest part? Which part do you like the most?
Asking questions about past accomplishments can tell a lot about a potential project manager's skills:
What was the challenge in your previous project?
When the project failed, what happened?
What happens when your project fails?
How do you proceed to the next plan?
What is your preferred way of speaking and expressing about results?
How do you end the process?
How often are you interested in a project after it's completed?
Ending question
Close the interview by asking a few behavioral questions about common problems in project management at your company. For example, if the candidate will have to work with a team of associates from many countries, you should ask:
Tell me about a time when your working group and the foreign work group disagreed?
What problem is that? How do you solve it?
Knowing how to interview project managers, you can help your business identify candidates with the right skills, qualities and expertise to become the right project manager for your business.
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