Q8. Explain the difference between Project Charter and SOW?

Answer: The Project Charter is drafted during the Project definition phase and is the first
significant document of the project. It captures the high-level vision and scope, key
stakeholders, main project sponsor, cost, and primary issues and risks associated with the
project. It is prepared in tandem by senior leaders and the client and flags the project kick-
off.
The SOW (Statement of Work) is prepared later during the planning phase. It is delivered to
the client and includes:
 WBS or work-breakdown-structure, which outlines the detailed scope of the
project.
 CBS or cost-breakdown-structure, which highlights the project budget.
 RBS or resource-breakdown-structure. This includes the size and allocation of the
project team.
 PM Plan, which captures the final schedule of the project.
Q9. Explain project integration management?
Answer: For a project lifecycle to run smoothly, consecutive or overlapping phases need to
be “integrated” using processes. Your answer should include a few words on:
 Project Charter, defined when a project is put into motion.
 The PMC cycle (plan – monitor – control cycle). This will include the PM plan and
process groups to execute, monitor and control the project.
 Project closing activities (post-project delivery), as these are intended to support the
maintenance phase.
Q10. Explain any 3 tools for effective project management?
Answer: As a project manager, you have several powerful tools for effective project
management. We highlight some of the commonly used project management job interview
questions.
 PM Plan. This is your one-stop point to keep a close eye on the schedule, and
indirectly handle any issues related to scope, time, resources and cost.
 RAID (for risk management). This ensures that you (and your stakeholders) are
adequately prepared for any potential surprises that can take the project off-course.
You are also empowered to catch these surprises and address them in time.
 Communication with strong people management. As a manager, you will have a lot
to communicate with your stakeholders, good and bad. You will also need to draw
the unanimous support of cross-functional teams, sometimes with conflicting goals
(the classic development versus testing paradigm). An assertive communication style
with strong people management skills can help you stay on top of the game, and
your project. You can cite examples of good status updates, email communication,
meeting agendas, etc. to illustrate this.
Q11. Have you delivered a project ahead of schedule? How?
Answer: Here, the interviewer is often more interested in your awareness of PM tools and
techniques that enable you to do this. This can include:
  Crashing, a technique that uses time-floats to optimize the project schedule and
deliver early. This has no or low impact to cost.
 Fast-tracking, by adding additional resources to the project. (Or you could increase
the number of hours worked.) This has a medium to high impact on cost. While you
will not use this to deliver ahead of schedule, you may use this to mitigate a potential
delay (when the additional budget is available).
Q12. Explain how you have learned from past project management
mistakes?
Answer: Project managers are humans so don’t be unafraid to showcase this in your
interview. In fact, you actually improve your credibility by citing real-life examples of lessons
learned on the job.
 One tip is to share examples that highlight the potential for learning, rather than a
careless blunder from your end. For instance, capturing a risk as a dependency and
dealing with its aftermath can be considered a mistake. But failing to monitor the risk
altogether is an (unforgivable) blunder.
 You can also use this to showcase project management job opportunities for
innovation. For instance, perhaps your “mistake” drove you to conduct a lessons-
learned meeting with project and quality teams, and this, in turn, resulted in process
improvement. This would be an excellent example! J
Q13. What are your weak areas?
Answer: We have 2 suggestions for you here.
 Keep this straightforward. Don’t attempt to *trick* the interviewer by sharing a
weakness that is actually a strength!
 Share examples that capture a lack of knowledge or skill, as this highlights the
potential for learning. Avoid sharing examples that highlight an inflexible or negative
attitude.
Q15. What do you know about us?
Answer: We suggest that you research the home company prior to the interview until you’re
familiar with its vision, mission, market performance, goals and objectives for the next
quarter, and potential plans for expansion. This information will help you conduct an
intelligent discussion on the company, so you can use this question to re-iterate your
passion for the job. Let it not appear that you’re there only because of the perks offered.
Q16. Why do you want to join us?
Answer: Again, we cannot stress this enough: Do. Your. Homework!
Here, the interviewer wants to see what “connects” you to the home company so you stay
excited and loyal while at work. Perhaps they are in a niche domain, or you align and connect
with the company culture. Or perhaps you want to experience diversity in your work. Be clear
and convincing with your answer to show them that they are special to you. You care enough
for them to hire you!
Q17. Why should we hire you?
Answer: In (16), you showed them why you care about them. Here, you convince them to
return the favor! Speak of that “extra bit” you will bring with you: passion, niche skills,
unwavering commitment, a perfect fit for the company culture, anything. Explain what sets
you apart from the mediocre Tom, Dick, and Harry interviewing for the job.
Q18. What attracts you most to a job?
Answer: As you can see, questions (16), (17) and (18) are essentially different ways of asking
you the same thing. And they’re asking, “Is salary the top-most item on your list?”
Hopefully, this is not the most important part of work for you. Your response should re-
iterate this truth.
Q19. Can you lie?
Answer: We bet this surprised you! In every interview, you will come across one trick
question, a make-or-break question. And this one is perhaps THE trickiest of the lot!
We have only one suggestion here: be ruthlessly honest while citing examples from your
past, so you clearly show them that you have the courage to speak the truth!
Q20. Do you have any questions for us?
Answer: While most interviews end with this, it’s often a wasted opportunity.
Don’t waste your opportunity to hear about your future company, right from the horse’s
mouth. Avoid questions on salary, perks, title, company timings, etc. as you’re sure to find
these answers with your final project management job offer. Instead, use this to opportunity
focus on
 Feedback for you, so you can perform even better at your next interview.
 Questions on the company’s vision, potential plans for expansion, etc. and how it
excites you.
Again, re-iterate to them that you are mighty interested in them!
We’ll leave you with one final tip you can use on any interview question. Companies
consistently prefer candidates who share real-life examples over text-book answers. Blindly
repeating the contents of the latest project management certification guide will win you no
brownie points!
Instead, prepare for your project management job interview by outlining the highlights of
your career.
 What major challenges have you successfully conquered? What strength/ virtue does
each example showcase?
 What is the growth you have seen in yourself, through your project management job
career so far? You can begin right from the knowledge you gained through formal
education.
 Are YOU convinced that this job is for you? Why?
Re-iterate to your own self why you ARE the best fit for the job. This will help you provide
the perfect answers with supporting examples during the final interview. I hope you liked our
help through these project management job interview questions.

Q1. What should be the qualities of the project manager?

Answer:
Project Manager required a lot of skills to be successful or make the things work for an
organization or a personal level as well. These skills could be time management, leadership,
communication and others like proactive, handling pressure etc. As we know, projects are
always having ups and down, to handle those problems one has to be ready for the situation
and keep the plans ready for the same. The handling of risks and taking bold decisions are
the most important part of the project manager.
Q2. How do you make sure that project work won’t breach the
deadlines or on the track in reach of deadlines only?
Answer:
It can be described based on your experience. It can be started as the expectations from
each team member has been explained before and already the time is being communicated
to them to meet deadlines. For making sure of deadlines, the process of Agile is followed in
a project where we have daily scrum calls to check the status of each team member. If any
blockers are there that needs to be addressed quickly, according to the complexity of the
time of the module or user story has been changed and reported as early as possible, so that
client won’t get impacted with this. The necessary action will be taken to complete the work
on time.

Let us move to the next Project Management Interview Questions.

Q3. What were the communication challenges or style with your
team members?
Answer:
As a project manager, one needs to have very clear communication with team members to
avoid confusion and unnecessary things. Now we are working globally with different people
from different regions or the parts of the world. To be on the same page, web chat meetings
were arranged or to minimize the gap, conversations over the phone were initiated apart
from formal communication through email. If all the team members are in the same office,
communication can be done through face to face meetings if necessary. You can explain
your experience as well.
Q4. Explain WBS and how do you use it?
Answer:
This is the common Project Management Interview Questions asked in an interview.WBS is
referred to as Work Breakdown Structure. It mainly defines the task or work activities that
need to be done for the project and divide into sub-activities to accomplish the work. The
breakdown has been done to the different levels, where one can easily understand the
requirement. The most important part is the estimation of time and effort that the team
member needs to put for the defined task. It can be explained in your experience in past
projects, how do you accomplish this.
Q5. How does a project manager need to communicate any bad
news or failure news?
Answer:
Each has own style to tackle the things, it depends on their nature and skills. One needs to
be positive in that period and address the team to learn it from their mistakes. Where each
can improve as working on the project collectively, we know our weakness and strengths.
Whatever gone wrong, how can this be remediated and not repeat the same mistakes in the
future? No need to be harsh or panic, the way you lead in this time that is the real skill or
qualities of the leader. This can be described on basis of your experience as well.

Let us now have a look at the advanced Project Management Interview Questions.
Q6. What is the role of integrity in project management?
Answer:
The organization or company wants the employee who can share values and principles of
the company. One has to be responsible and dedicated towards work and role that he carries
to represent on a team or multiple teams, which can be followed by others. On the daily
basis, one has to show this to earn respect and trust of the leaders and team members.
Please include your experience as well as per your last projects.
Q7. How do you convince the client or customers when they are not
happy with the project?
Answer:
A project manager needs to be in regular touch with client or customer for the updates of
the project that are going and what are the issues, blockers or challenges that team is facing
to implement the particular functionality and what all the efforts are putting to make the
things possible. Every time the things are not simple, it can be challenging. So, customer or
client should know this and whatever was promised will be delivered to them as per their
timelines, which will not impact their business or any critical work.
Let us move to the next Project Management Interview Questions.
Q8. What types of project do you like to do?
Answer:
The answer of this question can be purely based on individual interest, whatever you have
done it in past and share that experience on what technologies you have worked or on which
technologies you want to work and why.
Q9. What do you like the most in your career stability, challenges,
environment, recognition, money etc?
Answer:
This is the Advanced Project Management Interview Questions asked in an interview. The
answer could be your relevant experience and according to individual choice. Here the
interviewer wants to know to form the above things that you chose will fit that thing into
their company or organization according to their understanding. You just have to check the
intentions of the interviewer.
Q10. How do you make sure that your team is learning and
developing the skills?
Answer:
All the team members need to go through the latest training that is getting conducted in the
organization as per their interest and they have to participate in different coding tests to
know the exact potential of them. It can be answered as per your experience and thought
process.
Behavioral Job Interview Questions and Answers –
Why are behavioral job interview questions being asked in an interview? Because companies
value performances and not sweet talk! Yes, communication is of utter importance, but
performance is the most significant indicator of a potential employee’s worth.
Performance can be termed as ‘behavior in a key situation which directly or indirectly affects
a company’s return on investment’.
So, if ‘behavior in a significant situation’ is not being judged in an interview, the interviewer
wouldn’t be able to understand how valuable the potential employee would be if hired.

In this article, we will look at a few of the famous behavioral job interview questions and will
also give a pep talk about how to handle them. Some are tricky and some are significantly
easier than being thought.
You would also get guidance about how to handle any behavioral job interview questions in
an interview. If you read this article, you would get a comprehensive idea about what to do
when facing a behavioral job interview questions and you will eventually get better at facing
them.
Let’s begin.
Usually, there are five types of behavioral job interview questions that are being asked. We
would start talking about them in a minute. But for now, we need to give a bit more info
about behavioral job interview questions to create the foundation.

Always remember that behavioral job interview questions are basically about your past
performances and capacities. So, the questions would typically revolve around things which
you did in the past, in your past companies, in your past project, etc.
Be prepared. The behavioral job interview questions would be on the past, but the rationale
of asking you questions about your past is to test you about your future.
What if they hire you and you don’t have the qualities and capacities they seek to have in
you? What then? That’s the reason they test you by asking you one or several behavioral job
interview questions in an interview.
If you’re prudent enough, you would prepare yourself beforehand about behavioral job
interview questions and will become a star performer in an interview.
There are five types basically. If you prepare them well, you are done.

1. Failure interview questions:

Most interviewers love to wear black hats and have a sneak-pick of your experience. How
would they have a closer look? Simply by asking you questions about your failures,
sometimes your biggest failures.
They will ask you like –
 “What was the biggest failure in your past job and how did you handle it?”
 “Tell me about a team project you worked on and it failed drastically.”
 “What do you regret doing in a project that you don’t want to repeat in any future
project?”
The best way to deal with these sorts of behavioral job interview questions is to accept the
questions upfront. Be prepared in advance about these failure questions and tell the
interviewers that the biggest failures have led you to your greatest successes.
Tell them by example that how you showed leadership in the team even when there was little
or no hope for turning it around. Make sure you’re not taking the channel of falsehood to
answer the question.
That’s why it’s very much necessary to prepare yourself in advance for these kinds of typical
failures questions.
There’s an issue while answering these failures-related questions. You have to tactfully
manage the failure while highlighting your leadership trait to turn it around. If you
emphasize more on the failure, you will fail to create an impact on the interviewer.
Avoid all phrases like “couldn’t be”, “impossible”, “failure”; rather use phrases like
“challenges”, “possible”, “success rate” etc. No matter what you say your theme of talk
should tend toward positivity and should emphasize your role in the success of the project.
Don’t forget to appreciate the effort of your project members as well. In a whole, you need
to create an impression that you’re the perfect person to take charge of the position you’re
giving the interview for.

2. Handling Conflict Interview questions:

Handling conflict is one of the greatest skills ever in a professional arena. Thus, the
interviewers want to know how you handle conflict. And the best way to know about the
conflict for them is to ask you for real-life examples.
They will ask you questions like –
 Tell me about a situation where you had handled conflict well.
 If you were in a situation where you need to handle a tough boss, how would you do
it and make the project successful?
When out of a sudden one is asked these questions, the mind may get blank. So, it’s
prudence to prepare for the role-play questions. Know the basics of conflict
management and write down a few incidents in your journal to remember it well.
Add a few words to your depiction of events so that you can highlight your role in it and
then answer. If any question is being asked about the future or a situation, link it to past
experience. It will create more impact and the interviewer would be able to trust you.

3. Problem Solving Interview questions:

Business exists only because there are problems. Without problems, businesses can’t exist
because business is another name for providing solutions to them who have faced the
problems.
So, any business needs someone who is excellent at solving problems. But how would they
know that about you? They will only be able to figure out just by asking you questions in the
face to face interview.
People call it situational analysis when they go out and carry out the exact thing they would
do in an actual situation. So in problem-solving interview questions, the interviewers will put
you in the situation to analyze how good you’re in problem-solving.
The questions they may ask –
  Give me an example where you used your critical thinking to come out of a crisis
situation in your previous organization.
 Tell about 3 biggest challenges you faced in your professional career and how you
used your creativity to come out of those.
The way you can best handle these behavioral job interview questions is to showcase
creativity in everything you present in the interview. Pay close attention to the project you
present, the resume you show and the way you represent your achievements.
Remember, everything counts. Of course, you need to prepare beforehand for the situations
you would tell about, but the most important thing is your walk should match your talk.

4. Teamwork Interview questions:

Teamwork is very important if any organization wants to pull a successful project. How the
team members mingle with each other, how they focus on their strengths without sacrificing
the strengths of others, how they ensure that they create synergy out of the teamwork and
how they would under promise and over deliver in any given projects are the concerns any
organization has.
So how to understand whether the candidate is excellent at teamwork or not? Following
things will clearly point out.
 The candidate should be having the characteristic of empathy. If s/he doesn’t
understand what others feel in a given situation then it would be difficult to work
with them and ensure peace while working.
 The candidate should know how a group forms, goes through a storm, in the
beginning, adjusts by applying few norms, then how they perform and at the end
adjourn. If s/he is not clear about the structure of the group then it would be difficult
for him/her to be a good team member.
 The candidate should value the opinions of other members as much as of his/her
own. If not, then there will be no team.
 Amid the crisis, the bonding is more important than saving own interest. The
candidate should be aware of that.
To find out the ideal candidate for teamwork, the interviewers will ask several
behavioral job interview questions like –
 Tell us any situation you faced in your last company where you showed extra-
ordinary team-work.
 How did you handle the crisis as a team during the product-launch?
 When was the last time you valued one of your team members effort more than
yours?
These are tricky questions and if you don’t know the basic principles of teamwork or you
have never worked in a team, it would be difficult for you to answer. See the list above and
use the list as a benchmark for your answers.

5. Leadership Interview questions:

If you’re currently not in a leadership position, you may think that these questions aren’t for
you. But according to the 2nd Leadership Guru in the world, Robin Sharma – “If you can
breathe, you can lead.” So, even if you’re not at any top position in a company these
questions are equally applicable to you.
The interviewers want to know how you’ve shown leadership in the past and how you can do
it now in the job. So, they will ask you questions like –
 How did you show leadership when the chances of failure are high? Give us an
example or two.
 Do you feel inspired to do the work you do? Why?
 If you were not paid to do the work you do, will you still continue to do it for
contribution?
 “Leadership is a great trait in professional life” – prove the statement by giving an
example from your own professional life.
Leadership can be learned. And the moment you decide to let go of mediocrity and embrace
excellence, that day you would show leadership in your work.
Preparing answers are well and good but what you need to do is to make sure that you
believe in leadership. The people who don’t believe in leadership are the ones who think
leadership is a born-talent, but it’s not.

In the previous section, you learned about five types of behavioral job interview
questions and how to deal with them. This is a general guide for you to apply in any
behavioral job interview questions you face in any interviews.
Let’s dive in.
It’s called STAR.
 Situation (S): It’s prudence to first understand the situation before speaking. Pay
close attention to the question of the interviewer and then assess how you can shape
your answers to find relevance. Always remember that the recruiter is sitting there
and asking questions is because s/he wants to fulfill his/her purpose. Help him/her
fulfill his/her purpose.
 Task (T): Sometimes the situation is not given; rather interviewers emphasize more
on the task at hand. While answering for “task” questions, always emphasize on your
actions. In “situation” questions, the emphasis is on the event.
 Approach (A): Recruiters like people who give answers to the
behavioral job interview questions in the following way. First, they explain what
happened. Then what they did. And then why they did what they did. The whole
incident should be explained in brief and preferably in bullet point to ensure clarity.
Remember, your approach while dealing with behavioral job interview questions is of
utmost importance. Your approach decides whether you would be selected for the
job or not.
 Results (R): The whole world revolves around results. And as a business cannot run
in a vacuum, the professionals need to create expected results to make the business
going. Thus, the moment a candidate finishes his/her explanation of what s/he did
and why the interviewers invariably ask – What result/s your actions have brought?
When they ask that question, they’re actually looking for an answer which would be
specific and clarify all the doubt, like – “It increased the profit by 2.5% in that quarter”
or “It reduced the overhead cost by 1% for the entire year.” Thus, it’s wise to keep a
 journal wherever you go to take note of the fact so that you can quote from there
and make a strong impression.
If you follow the above four steps, it would be much easier for you to deal with any
behavioral job interview questions and answers.
The best part of dealing with them is while answering the questions, you also feel yourself
more than you thought you are and even if you don’t get selected for the job, you feel good
about yourself for the next.

10 Conflict Resolution Strategies that

Actually Work
By Stephanie Ray | Oct 16, 2018
Conflict is a part of any work environment. It can’t be helped. When you
have a group of people working under stress with different personalities, there’s
bound to be a few problems.
That conflict exists is not the issue, but having an effective conflict resolution
strategy to resolve that conflict if it begins to impact the business is crucial for
any manager. While conflict can be a creative fuel that helps teams compete and
work more productively, it can also easily blow up and bring everything to a
dead stop.
But how do you defuse a situation that is lit by anger and other emotions that
are not responsive to rational engagement? It’s not easy, but there are ways.
Here are 10 conflict resolution strategies that can help you manage volatile team
members.

1. Define Acceptable Behavior

Before there is any hint of a conflict, you can reduce or even eliminate potential
problems by setting a standard of behavior in the workplace. If you give the
team the room to define what is and is not appropriate, they will.
However, as a manager it’s your responsibility to set the tone. You can do this
by writing specific job descriptions, creating a framework for how discussions are
run, noting the hierarchy and who is responsible for what, defining proper
business practices, choosing which project management tools to use, helping
with team building and leadership development, etc. The more you set the
guidelines, the better the team can follow them.
2. Don’t Avoid Conflict
Depending on the type of person and manager you are, there are several ways
you might respond to conflict in the workspace. For one, you could ignore it, and
let the participants work it out among themselves. This is not always the worst
approach. Teams must know how to collaborate, and conflict resolution is one of
the tools they’ll need to do that.
However, if you’re avoiding dealing with conflict because it makes you uneasy or
because you don’t want to reprimand someone, then that’s a misstep. Of course,
it’s your job as manager to deal with such matters. You have the authority and
should act when it is called for. Not to do so only gives the conflict legs on which
to carry itself to a confrontation that will have an even worse impact on
business.
3. Choose a Neutral Location
One of the first steps to diffuse any conflict is to change the environment. People
are heated and that anger is often tied to a place. It sounds odd, but just
removing the people from the room they’re fighting in will help put the conflict in
perspective.
Then, to resolve the conflict, you’ll want to bring the upset individuals to a
neutral location. A neutral space will first bring things down to a level in which a
constructive conversation can occur. Secondly, by suggesting a meeting in a
coffee house, or anywhere outside the office where there isn’t intrinsically a
power dynamic, you are more likely to create a comfortable atmosphere where
you can productively deal with whatever caused the issue.
4. Start with a Compliment
After you’ve broken away from the place where the conflict arose, you can
address the problem. But you don’t want to jump right into a conversation with
an accusatory tone. Your job is to hear all sides and make an executive decision
based on the facts and the needs of the work being done. Therefore, to get a
person comfortable enough to talk, start by complimenting them. You want to
show that there is no bad guy or good guy here. You’re attacking the problem,
not the person.
5. Don’t Jump to Conclusions
The reasons for any conflict are often more complex than they first appear. In
order to be just in your treatment of all parties involved, it is advised not to
conclude anything at the offset. Even if you think the conflict is obvious, give
everyone an opportunity to share their perspective. Get a sense of the history
involved. You don’t want to assume anything about anyone. Gather your facts
like a quiet detective, and then weigh in with the wisdom of a judge.
6. Think Opportunistically, Not Punitively
While some conflicts are going to require consequences, most are just sparked
by passionate people coming at a situation from different vantage points. The
truth is that when conflicts arise, so does the opportunity to teach or learn.
Being a manager is seeing these conflicts as a means to address what were
previously hidden problems within the team dynamics.
7. Offer Guidance, Not Solutions
Another thing to think about as you address conflict in your workforce is not
jumping to just righting the wrong. What that means is there could be an
obvious reason for the conflict and a similarly clear way to get people back on
the same page working productively.
You’re leading the group, not taking sides in their arguments. It’s best if you can
get the team to work together to resolve the conflict. That means taking more
time to guide them to the conclusion you see, but they’re too emotionally
involved to notice.
8. Constructive Criticism
In any conflict there are a multitude of approaches, some more critical than
others. But sometimes things are plainly wrong, and criticism is the only valid
way to deal with it. Be that as it may, the people you’re criticizing are the same
people you’ll be working with tomorrow and next week and so forth. So, how do
you criticize without embittering, so you can still effectively lead?
That’s where constructive criticism comes in. It’s an approach that allows you to
address the issue and lay blame, but also support the good work that was done.
You offer guidance, so that the problem can be fixed. The team now has the
tools to avoid repeating it, and no one is resentful.
9. Don’t Intimidate
As a manager, you’re in a position of authority. Don’t abuse it. It might seem
like the simple fix to coerce the correct course, but that is not thinking in the
long-term. The team never learns anything from this but to fear you, which
means they won’t confide in you when something starts going wrong, leaving
you in the dark until the issue is possibly beyond repair. So, take the time to
work through your conflict resolution in such a way that it doesn’t pop up again
the next day.
10. Act Decisively
Remember, you want to put the time into conflict resolution to do it right. But
once you have gone through that process, then it’s time to act, and you should
do so decisively.
Don’t let the decision wait and leave the team lingering. It sets a bad precedent
in terms of your leadership. You’re leaving a void at the top, which will get filled
by ideas other than your own, and you may lose the authority you need to lead.
So, when you come to a decision, act on it. Some might not like it, but they’ll at
least know where you stand.