8 Project Management Interview Questions & Answers

Skilled project managers are crucial for organisations, ensuring successful project implementation from planning to delivery, and playing a [pivotal role through the project life cycle. 

This is why, when hiring project managers, many recruiters and potential employers often have a list of predetermined questions they like to ask, to gauge your skills, experience and attitude, to evaluate whether you’re the right candidate or not.

If you’re currently applying for project management positions and don’t know what to expect during your interview, below we review a series of questions that may be thrown at you and how to address them to secure the job.

Question #1: Can you describe a project you’ve managed from start to finish? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?

Since project management is a role that requires you  to juggle multiple employees and tasks simultaneously, a question like this allows you to give insight into your project management style. 

Utilise your time to demonstrate your problem-solving, communication, planning and collaborative skills, giving your interviewer- a better idea of your overall attitude and approach toward managing projects. 

Example response:  

“I managed a project for a previous employer which involved the development of a new commercial website for the company. The very first thing I did was, with my project team, create an action plan, breaking the deliverables into smaller, manageable milestones, and assigning each team member their responsibilities. 

Through the course of the project, and once we reached the implementation phase, we encountered some budgeting issues, however, we worked closely with stakeholders, explaining why some costs were vital for the success of the problem and we managed to reach a resolution together. 

We ultimately met all our deadlines and concluded the project within budget. As a result, we created a website that received higher traffic and more visitor engagement.”

Question #2: Can you give us an example of a project that didn’t go according to plan? What were the key learning outcomes you got from that?

More often than not, throughout the course of your project management career, certain projects won’t go according to plan and you’ll be expected to think fast on your feet, displaying agility in your approach. In fact, project management software TeamStage reports that around 70% of projects globally fail, which can be the result of multiple factors, including: 

• Inaccurate requirements
• Imprecise estimates
• Shifting objectives
• Poor planning
• Lack of resources
• Inadequate risk management 
• Disengaged stakeholders 

However, failure in a project doesn’t necessarily mean failure as a project manager. The most successful project managers are those that can recognise their mistakes, learn from them and improve their approach for future projects. As such, this question is designed to assess your ability to identify where you may have gone wrong and how you will avoid making the same mistake again. 

Example response: 

“I once managed a project that missed its deadline by a few months, and when we assessed the reason behind that, we came to realise that it all came down to poor risk management. We had failed to account for any potential risks that might arise throughout its course, so we hadn’t devised a plan of how to tackle them appropriately. 

When those risks eventually caught up with us, we had to put the project on pause until we figured out how we could have effectively overcome them, but by that time we were running behind with our deadlines. Had we already had a risk plan in place we would have been able to deal with them quicker and get back on track.

This instance taught me the importance of setting out a comprehensive plan, which includes clear objectives, timeframes, budget and contingencies, at the very start of each project. I now utilise an agile methodology to consider all the aspects, assessing the possible risk at different project stages.”

Question #3: What system do you have in place when managing and prioritising multiple projects and deadlines? 

It’s very unlikely that you’ll be working on one project at a time. Most of the time you will be tasked with managing multiple projects at the same time, and in some instances, your projects will have similar or overlapping deadlines. It’s important to convey that you’re able to manage and prioritise numerous projects at once.

That being said, this question is the perfect opportunity to communicate your organisational, prioritisation and decision-making skills, all of which are essential qualities of a competent project manager. 

Example response:  

“The first thing I do in this case is evaluate the scope, budget, timeframe and potential risks of all projects at hand in order to determine their priority. I then focus on the highest priority task, and by employing a combination of Gantt charts and Kanban boards, such as ClickUp, I assign team members tasks, track their progress and adjust any timeliness when and if needed.

By breaking each project down into bite-sized, achievable targets helps me stay organised, efficient and on track with the deadlines ahead. Also, devising a risk management plan in the early stages of each project allows me to be prepared for anything that may arise and how to mitigate them without derailing the project.”  

Question #4: How do you create an environment of collaboration, making sure all team members are aligned, and understand the project’s objectives and key deliverables? 

The successful completion of a project relies on unified efforts by all team members, and collaboration, motivation and cohesiveness are all vital elements for this. Not only that, but in order to reach the desired outcome, all team members need to pull their weight, but they first need to understand the project’s objectives, key deliverables and their responsibilities. 

Thus, this question is formed to evaluate your leadership style, communication skills and your ability to motivate your team to tackle their tasks adequately. This is your opportunity to display your authoritative side, as well as your empathetic side, since you need to understand your team’s concerns and needs. In fact, EY studies have found that 86% of employees find that empathetic leaders and managers can boost morale, further supporting this.  

Example response:  

“Throughout the planning stage of each project, I always include all team members, making sure they’re involved in the decision-making, and collecting all their suggestions and feedback. I find it so important to ensure there is open communication so that everyone understands what the project’s objectives and deliverables are, yet they feel comfortable enough to ask when they don’t feel like they’ve been made clear enough.

During the execution and implementation stages, I make sure to regularly update the team on the project’s progress and provide them with timely feedback on their individual tasks. I also hold regular meetings to discuss any challenges that arise, making sure we’re all on the same page. Also, encouraging the team to be open and honest through the duration of a project further helps foster an environment of collaboration.”

Question #5: Can you describe a time when you successfully completed a project with a tight budget? What is your budget management approach?

Budget management is an essential skill for project managers, as often budgets tend to be rigid with very little wiggle room, so you should expect a question like the one above. Actually, after surveying project management professionals, RGPM identified that project managers’ biggest concern is lack of resources, reported by just over 44%. 

For projects with especially tight budgets, careful planning and cost-saving techniques should be employed to stay on target. Therefore, hiring managers are trying to test your ability to manage project resources effectively, prioritise accordingly and how realistic the goals you have set are.

Example response:  

“I was once tasked with managing an online marketing project for a client with quite a limited budget. The campaign called for SEO, PPC, email marketing and social media marketing, but with a tight budget, the first thing I had to do was allocate where it would be spent. I then identified the most cost-effective tactics each channel could utilise and prioritised them accordingly.

With a detailed budget plan, which I closely monitored and updated where needed, I was able to stay on track throughout the project, meet the project objectives and stay within budget. Our client was thrilled with the results, which made all the planning worthwhile.”

Question #6: What is your risk management approach in project planning? Can you recall a time you successfully mitigated a risk and how you handled it?

Risk management questions are amongst the most popular for project management roles and they tend to target candidates’ ability to recognise, expect and mitigate risks in the planning stages of a project. This is the perfect opportunity to showcase your critical thinking and decision-making skills.

Example response: 

“I’m well aware that risks are bound to emerge at some point in any project and from my experience it’s always better to be prepared for such an event rather than not. So, because of that, I always make sure to create a risk management plan at the very start of every project. In the plan I include all potential risks I’ve identified, assess how likely they are to occur, and set out detailed steps to navigate or resolve them.

In a recent project, we had almost exhausted our entire budget, so to mitigate that risk, we ran a cost-benefit analysis to pinpoint areas we can afford to cut back from without compromising the project’s quality. We then renegotiated our vendor contracts and identified ways to streamline the process.”

Question #7: How do you manage team conflicts during a project?

Managing a project means you’re responsible for the individual team members involved in that project, and one of the most important aspects is making sure everyone in the team gets along and works well together. Chances are you will experience, at least once (but realistic many times) a conflict between team members, which you’re expected to navigate through without affecting the course of the project.  

This is an especially important question for hiring managers, as often such conflicts may derail a project and affect its completion. Studies have found that grievances and conflicts take an average of seven days of managerial time to be resolved. Therefore, you must convey strong conflict management skills, as it can take precious time and attention away from a project. 

Example response:  

“I usually encourage my team members to resolve conflicts between them, however, there have been instances where I had to step in as it was affecting the progress of the project. In those cases, I sat down, privately, with each team member involved in the dispute trying to identify the resource of the conflict and try to identify the best solution. 

As I recall, there was once an instance where a software developer and a UX designer disagreed on how something should be created when managing a software application project. As they were unable to come to a resolution on their own, I held a meeting with both, and after listening to the reasoning of both sides I realised that the software developer was, in fact, correct as it was the one that most aligned with our project objectives and kept us on budget.”

Question #8: Which project management tools and software are you most familiar with? How do they help you in managing projects?

Project management tools and software are so important for streamlining processes, planning, task assignments, collaboration, communication and progress monitoring. It’s quite possible that hiring managers will ask you about your experience in working with these to identify how competent and proficient you are with these programmes, and whether you would require any training to use them effectively.

Example response: 

“I’m very comfortable working with project management tools such as Trello, ClickUp and Teamwork. I’ve used these tools in all my previous roles to create project timelines, assign tasks, keep an eye on my team’s progress and keep everyone aligned with the project’s objectives.

I can honestly say that these tools have helped me manage projects effectively and efficiently, while they’ve also enabled me to automate many administrative tasks that would typically take up a lot of my time.”

Be prepared to ace your interview

It’s important to show up to an interview prepared, having researched both the company and the role you are interviewing for. By doing this and reviewing the sample interview questions and responses above, you’ll come across prepared and professional, leaving a lasting impression on the hiring manager. Good luck! 

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