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N AV I G AT E

18 Project Manager Interview Questions &

Answers

You are a professional and applied to a project management position

recently. Employer invited you to the project manager interview. However,
you did not attend in a job interview recently or you are nervous about the
project manager interview you will attend.

Do not worry. You are at the right place.

18 Project Manager Interview Questions

1. Please describe yourself, your background briefly.
2. What was the biggest or most challenging project you
managed?
3. Do you have budget management experience?
4. Have you ever failed in a project? Do you have any ▾
experience of handling failures?
5. How do you monitor projects whether it is going on track?
 6. Can you tell me an example of how you communicated a
failure to your team, manager and customer?
7. How do you motivate project team?
8. Do you have outsource personnel or supplier management
experience?
9. Do you have international project team management
experience?
10. How do you deal with gold plating in your project?
11. You managed the project work as per requirements.
However, customer is not happy with the result and does not
accept the project. How would you convince the customer?
12. How do you deal with underperforming project team
members?
13. How do you resolve conflicts in your projects?
14. What are the three words that describe you best?
15. Why should we hire you?
16. Where do you see yourself in five years?
17. What is your current salary and compensaion package?
18. What is your salary expectation?

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▾
 
We have gathered the eighteen project manager interview questions that
you will be asked, most probably, during your job interview. Is that it? No,
we also provided guidance on how you should answer these project
manager interview questions.

Let’s go over the questions one-by-one.

Question #1: Please describe yourself,

your background briefly.
Actually, this is a typical job interview question. You can face this
question not only in a project manager interview, but also in any job
interview.

Consider this question as a self-promotion opportunity. Because, you will

be telling about your background, your education, work experience and
projects you have completed. If you are a new graduate, you can tell
about your university projects. If you are an experienced professional, job
interviewer will look for the keywords in your background that will match
with the requirements of the job.

For instance, if you are a 5+ years of professional looking for a project

manager position, you should not start from your primary school when ▾
answering this project manager interview question. Briefly, describe your
place of birth, where you grew up and your university education. These
should not be more than two or three sentences. Then, you should
highlight the critical points in your background that is relevant with the
position you applied for.

For instance, let’s consider that a software analyst working in a software

vendor has applied to a project manager position. He has not any project
management experience. However, he wants to get this project manager
position and the employer invited him to the project manager interview.

What should this guy answer to this question?

Sample answer for this project manager interview question can be as

below.

I was born in 1991 in New Jersey. I grew up in New Jersey and

went to high school there. I have completed my university
education in Georgia Institute of Technology in the field of
computer science. After I graduated from university in 2013, I
applied for the software analyst position of Accenture in Plano,
Texas. After a couple of interviews, I got the job and since 2013, I
am working at Accenture as Software Analyst. I have worked in
eight projects until now and the biggest one was shopping cart
customization project of Walmart website. Project took eight
months to complete. There were four software analysts and I
worked as the lead analyst and supervised the other three
analysts. There were 11 software developers and 6 test engineers.
In total, project team had over 20 members. Last year, I got a
promotion from the employer and my title has changed as Lead
Analyst. This is my background in brief.

This will not take more than two minutes if you speak it in a project
manager interview session. As highlighted, the project manager
candidate gives the critical points in his background that can qualify him
for the project manager position he applied to. He highlights that he
worked as the lead analyst in a project. This shows that he has people
management skills, which is crucial for a project manager position. He
also adds that, he got promotion, which shows that his current employer
▾
appreciates and treasures him.
 360 Degree Project Manager Mock Interview

Question #2: What was the biggest or

most challenging project you managed?
You have to be prepared for this project manager interview question.
Because, your answer to this question will show your limits about your
experience. Note that, this question might come with additional
questions asking about how many people there were in the team, who
you were reporting to, and how many projects in total you were managing
at the same time.

Before sitting in your project manager interview session, go through your

experience. Choose the most challenging project that you were involved.

▾
Following can be a good answer to this project manager interview
question.

The most challenging project I was involved was Golden Gate

Bridge Construction Program. I was managing the project of
construction of the towers that will carry the bridge. There were
three architects, six civil engineers and 47 construction workers
in my team. In total, I managed 56 project team members during
this project. The most challenging part of the project was meeting
the deadlines. Because, several other projects were dependent on
my project. Any delay in my project was causing delays on the rest
of the project. For instance, a one-day delay in my project was
causing 200 hundred construction workers to wait for our work to
be completed. And the cost of one-day delay was around
$80,000. This was causing a big pressure in executive
management of the company and therefore it was a big challenge
for me as well.

First highlighted part in this answer shows the size of the project team
that this project manager managed. Second highlighted part stresses the
challenge of the project financially. Provide numbers, budgets and
statistics if you have any. These will make your answers stronger.

Question #3: Do you have budget

management experience?
Budget management is a crucial aspect of project management.
Therefore, this question is very important in a project manager interview,
if the candidate will be managing a budget if he is selected for the
position. Depending on the roles and responsibilities of the project
manager in a company, budget management might not be required from ▾
project manager. Especially, in vendors, budget management is required
while it might not be required from project managers working in service
providers.
If you are applying for a project manager position that requires budget
management, this project manager interview question will be an elective
one.

Assuming that you have budget management experience, you can

answer this interview question as below:

I have managed the project budgets in my projects as well. I

managed up to 35 million dollar project budget. I was in charge of
approving expenses and procurements in my projects. I was
contacting directly with the vendors during procurement and
managing the communication with finance department of the
company. In case any additional funding needed, I was organizing
meeting with the project sponsor to express the reasons of
additional funding. I was responsible for finding additional
funding for the project when needed.

First highlighted part of this answer shows that the candidate has a good
level of budget management experience. Second highlighted part makes
the answer even stronger. He adds that he was also responsible for
convincing executive management for additional funding when needed.

Question #4: Have you ever failed in a

project? Do you have any experience of
handling failures?
Success and failures, these are inevitable facts of life and your
professional career as well. Do not even think to answer “No, I never
failed in a project”. This will not be counting a positive mark in your
evaluation believe me.

Actually, this project manager interview question assesses your risk

management experience. Therefore, think of an event, meeting, activity or
a moment in project where you had trouble. Then, answer this question
accordingly.
▾
Following can be a good sample answer for this question.

When I was managing a telecommunication project, after our

software package deployment, subscribers of the telecom
operator could not make calls from a specific region. This was the
biggest failure I had in my projects.

Actually, we did all post deployment tests and everything was

green. Next morning, I woke up with the phone call of my
customer. He was so angry and complaining that 87 subscribers
reported that they could not originate a call from their phone. I
tried to calm down the customer on the phone and told him that
we, as whole project team, will be arriving on site in one hour to
investigate the problem and fix it.

Right after my customer phone call, I called the software

developers and test engineers to come back at office to
investigate this issue.

We were in the office, whole project team, in 45 minutes. Our

software engineers investigated the problem. However, they could
not find any hint regarding the problem. Majority of the
subscribers were able to do calls without any problem. Customer
was getting angrier each minute because as the time passes,
number of complaints started to increase.
▾
All reported incidents were from Louisville, Kentucky. We thought
that this is a local problem affecting only a part of the subscribers.
 We contacted with three of the subscribers who reported this
problem and asked them to re-initiate a call. In the meantime, our
software and test engineers collected logs of the failing calls.
After analysis, they found that a customized routing for Louisville
city was not updated by customer during deployments. After
defining the routing, problem was resolved. It was a long six hours
of my life. Customer was on my neck and asking the situation
each minute while we were trying to fix the issue.

If you look at the answer, first part reflects that the candidate did his
responsibility by post deployment tests to avoid any failures. Second part
highlights the emergency of this issue. Third and the last part highlights
how he handled the failure.

Question #5: How do you monitor

projects whether it is going on track?
This project manager interview question will assess your monitoring and
controlling skills and your familiarity with project management tools. The
primary responsibility of the project manager is completing a project
scope on time and on budget in the agree quality levels. To do this, a
project manager must use his or her skills and project management
tools.

Following can be a good sample answer for this project manager

interview question.

After I completed the initial project planning, I take a baseline. I

use this baseline to compare the progress of the project and
actual values against the baseline. Each week or in every two
weeks, I forecast the duration and cost of remaining project
activities with my team to determine whether the negotiated
deadline and budget will be met. I use Microsoft Excel to keep
track of issue log. I assign an open issue to a project resource or
any external resource in project issue log. I set a deadline for the
▾
issue and I follow the issue until it is resolved. I use Microsoft
Project for creating project plan. However, I have used Jira
 software tracking tool as well. When I am using Microsoft Project,
I compare the actual values of the tasks with the baseline values.
This helps me to see whether a task is on track, behind schedule
or ahead of schedule. When I am using Jira, I create my own
dashboards for late tasks or open tasks. I report these tasks to
the assignees each week or more frequently if they are urgent.

This answer shows the technical knowledge of project manager

candidate. Because, he uses “baseline” and “issue log” terms. Answer
also provides solid samples on how to monitor and control a project like
taking baseline and comparing actual values against baseline.

Question #6: Can you tell me an

example of how you communicated a
failure to your team, manager and
customer?
This project manager interview question will assess your risk
management and communication management experience together.
Bear in your mind that, failures, emergencies or critical points about a
project must be communicated face to face. If face-to-face
communication is not possible, then, you should choose teleconference
meeting or phone call.

▾
Following can be a good sample answer for this project manager
interview question.

We were working on an online learning portal project of an oil

company. Deadline of the project was Feb 15, 2016. Although we
completed our development tasks and internal tasks on time,
customer could not complete their acceptance test on time.

Executive management of the customer was pushing to deliver

the project on time. However, since customer could not complete
their acceptance tests, it was risky.

First, I called my manager. I wish we could have spoken face-to-

face but she was in a business trip at that time. I told her the
situation. She agreed with me to speak about the risk of the
situation with the customer.

Then, I organized a meeting with the project team. I told the team
that they did all they have to do. I added in the meeting that, we, as
project team, met our deadlines and objectives. However,
customer could not complete their acceptance tests on time.
Therefore, we will be postponing the project launch for one month.
This made some of the project team members upset because we
were working hard to complete the project on time but the project
was postponed because of a customer-sourced delay.

Finally, I organized a meeting with executive management of the

customer. During the meeting, I told to the project sponsor and
executive managers of the customer that, customer acceptance
tests are not complete yet. In addition, if we launch the project, we
might face critical problems on live environment and this can
cause dissatisfaction and lose of reputation. At the end of the
meeting, executive managers were agreed to wait till customer
acceptance tests completion. ▾
This answer shows that the project manager approaches to the failure
communication in a systematic way. First, he reports to his manager. If
his manager would not accept the situation or propose alternative ways
with the project team and customer, he could have changed the approach
to the team and customer respectively.

After getting the approval of the manager, he speaks with the team first
and then communicates to the customer respectively.

Project Manager Interview Simulation

Question #7: How do you motivate

project team?
Project team motivation is crucial for the success of a project. If a project
team is not motivated, it will be impossible to reach project objectives. Or,
even if you reach your project objectives, project quality will suffer.

This project manager interview question is critical to get insights about

the people management skills of the candidate.

Following is a sample answer for this question.

After I create the project baseline, I mark the milestones of the

project. Then, I send this project plan to all project team members.
Whenever we pass a milestone successfully, I organize an event
to celebrate this. This can be a picnic, a weekend trip or a dinner
depending on the project budget or amount of the allowance
provided by the company for these celebrations.

Additionally, I try to celebrate birthday of each project team

member. I organize a 30 minutes break for celebration and invite
all project team members to this break.

Moreover, if a project team member over performed during the

project, I send a special email to his manager to appreciate his
▾
efforts. I know that these kinds of emails will be important for the
line managers of project team members when they are doing
 annual performance evaluation of the employees. My
appreciations will bring additional points and opportunities for
promotion or bonuses for the project team member respectively.

This answer shows that, project manager candidate does not do only
regular celebration activities like milestone and birthday celebrations. He
can also speak or contact to the functional managers of the project team
members to appreciate project resources for promotion or better annual
performance evaluation.

Question #8: Do you have outsource

personnel or supplier management
experience?
Managing outsource personnel or supplier is a different project
management skill. If you are applying to a company that works with
outsource personnel or suppliers, this project manager interview question
will be an elective one.

If you have a project management experience in a vendor, most probably,

you will have outsource and supplier management experience as well.

Let us first define what outsource and supplier is. Outsource personnel is
hired or acquired by a company only for a limited time or for a specific
project. For instance, assume that you are installing a database for a
utility service provider in scope of your project. You need a database
administrator for this work. However, your company does not have a full
time database administrator. You have to hire or outsource the database
administrator for a limited time to work for your project.

Suppliers are material, equipment, tools etc. providers of your project. In

your project, if you need database servers, and if these servers will be

provided by a 3rd party company, this company is supplier of your project.

▾
After defining outsource and supplier management, let’s go through a
sample answer for this project manager interview question.

I was working for a billing system project for a telecom operator.

One of the products we had to install was Ericsson’s SDP product.
Our company was not having a SDP product expert. Therefore, we
had to outsource two SDP product experts for three months to
work in our project. I managed the communication with Ericsson
to outsource these two consultants and planned their start and
end dates in the project. Moreover, we had to install 24 servers of
the SDP product in three different locations across UK. To do this,
we have negotiated with a server installation company, Servus. I
was in the process of negotiation with this supplier. I managed the
SDP consultants and Servus, server installation company,
throughout the project.

Answer clearly shows the outsource and supplier management of the

project manager interview participant.

▾
Question #9: Do you have international
project team management experience?
If the company you applied for is a multinational company, international
project team management will be a critical evaluation factor. You might
not have this experience. In this case, say no honestly.

This question might be followed by additional questions asking about

how the experience was and whether you have any strange story about
your international project team management experience.

Following can be a good answer for this project manager interview

question.

I have managed a team of 15 project team members from five

different nations. We were working in a natural gas
implementation project in Brazil. There were natural gas
engineers, environmental engineers and civil engineers in the
project team. Five members were from Brazil, three members
were from UK, three members were from Spain, two members
were from India and two members were from Qatar. It was a great
experience to learn from different cultures when working with
them.

It was the first time for me to work with project resources coming
from a Muslim country, Qatar. While most of the project team
members were having Monday syndrome, engineers from Qatar
were performing better than other project team members on
Mondays! After some time, I asked these engineers why they are
more willing to work on Mondays. I learnt that, their official
weekends are on Friday and Saturday. Therefore, Sunday is their
first weekday. Therefore, they were performing better on Mondays

in our project since it is 2nd day of their workweek. It was a

strange experience for me to see people better motivated on
Mondays.

Project manager candidate answers the question with numbers through a

real project he managed. Besides, he gives a strange experience he faced ▾
with his international project team management experience.
Question #10: How do you deal with
gold plating in your project?
This project manager interview question assess your technical
knowledge and scope management skills. Gold plating is a technical
term in project management. Gold plating is delivering more than what is
required in the scope. If the project team performs an extra activity and
delivers extra work, which is not in the scope of the project, this is called
gold plating.

A good project manager must prevent gold plating in a project. Because

gold plating can cause delays and extra cost in project.

Following is a good answer for this project manager interview question.

When I am assigning a task to a project team member, I clearly

define the KPIs, requirements and scope of the task. Then, I work
closely with the technical leaders of the project whether the
project team member is doing gold plating. We were working for
an e-commerce website development project in US. The
requirement of the customer was loading the homepage in less
▾
than three seconds across US. Developer of the homepage was a
very skilled resource. Although he completed the homepage
 development before the deadline of the task and with a loading
time less than three seconds, he was trying to lower the
homepage loading time. Project technical noticed this during a
weekly meeting and notified me about the situation.

Developer was a skilled and motivated resource. I had to speak

with him but not demotivate him. I called him for a coffee in a
break. First, I appreciated his efforts in the project. Then, I
explained him what the gold plating is. After that, I have
expressed him that, we have a project scope to finish first and we
have to deliver what is required first. I told him that, If we deliver a
website project with missing web pages, this will be unacceptable.
However, if we deliver a homepage with a loading time less than
three seconds, this will be accepted. Therefore, we need to deliver
what is required first before diving into optimizations. He
understood me very well and when he was performing his other
activities; he did only the scope of his task and then asked to get a
new task.

This answer shows the knowledge of project manager candidate about

gold plating term. He also gives an example of gold plating in the project,
and how he handled gold plating in the project.

Question #11: You managed the project

work as per requirements. However,
customer is not happy with the result
and does not accept the product. How
would you convince the customer?
This is a very common and tough to deal situation in project
management. Although you delivered the project scope as you agreed
with the customer in the beginning of the project, customer may not
accept the product at the end of the project.
▾
This project manager interview question assesses your convincing and
justification skills.
In case you receive this kind of question, you have to demonstrate the
agreed scope and how your end product fits with the agreed scope. Note
that, final stop of a disagreement like this is courts. However, never
mention this during your project manager interview. Because, you have to
fix conflicts with communication and companies do not wish to go courts
in these cases since it will take years to reach a conclusion.

Following is a sample answer for this question.

At the end of my website development project, customer was not

happy with the delivered results. Therefore, they did not accept
the project. Our initial scope was delivering an ecommerce
shopping website with five different pages:

1-Homepage

2-Login/Signup Page

3-Category Page

4-Product Page

5-Profile Page

We have delivered this agreed project scope at the end of the

project. After customer acceptance tests, they agreed that the
features of these pages meet their initial requirements. However,
the customer was telling that, their competitor has a referral
program that boosts sales. They need to have same program
feature as well.

I organized a meeting with the project sponsor and customer

testing team as well. I asked my manager to join the meeting as
well. During that meeting, I have gone through the agreed project
scope and showed how our deliverables meet the initial scope.
Then, I explained that customer referral program was not
mentioned anywhere in the requirements list, agreed project
scope and in contract as well.
▾
Project sponsor told that this is a critical requirement and they
have to get it before launching the website. At this point, I told
 that we can deliver this as a change request in one month.
Customer did not want to pay any additional cost for the project.
After some discussions, my manager proposed a revised cost for
this additional feature. Customer accepted the proposal and we
fixed this conflict. After delivering the customer referral program
feature one month later, customer was happy with the final
product.

Project manager candidate approaches to the conflict with documents

and rationally. After convincing the customer that the new requirement
was not in the project scope, he proposes that they can deliver this
feature in one month as a change request. Therefore, he creates
alternatives and approaches in a result driven way.

Question #12: How do you deal with

underperforming project team
members?
If you are an experienced professional, you might have worked with a
demotivated or underperforming colleague. The critical point for the
project manager is, he or she has to motivate all project resources to
produce the most out of their capacity. Project manager must motivate
underperforming resources in a project.

This project manager interview question assesses your people

management skills. This question will show how you motivate your
underperforming resources.
▾
Following is a sample answer for this question.

When I see an underperforming resource, first, I observe him

whether it is a one-time issue or occurring frequently. Because,
depending on the daily life, each person can have fluctuating
motivation level. If the project team member is underperforming
for a couple of weeks, I invite him to a coffee break. First, I ask
 him how does he feel about the project, whether he is happy to
work in the project. Then, I ask him whether there is anything
demotivating him about the project, work or company. If there is a
problem with the project, work or company, I will try to find the
root cause of the problem and then I try to resolve the issue that
is causing demotivation. In some cases, demotivation can be
because of the problems in daily life of the project team members.
In that case, if the team member tells about the problem, I will do
my best to help him.

A software developer in my banking project was performing very

well. All of a sudden, I noticed a decent drop in his performance.
After one week passed, I talked to him. I was thinking that he was
demotivated because of recent promotion and bonus
announcements in the company. However, I learned that, he just
broke up with his long lasting girlfriend. It was a personal issue,
however, I tried my best to motivate him. I organized a couple of
team lunches that all project team attends to change his mood.
After two or three weeks, he was performing well again.
▾
Project manager candidate describes how he approaches to a
demotivated project team member step-by-step. Then, he gives an
example from his project, which makes his experience stronger in this
project manager interview question.

Project Manager Interview Simulation

Question #13: How do you resolve

conflicts in your projects?
Conflicts are inevitable in a project. A good project manager must be able
to resolve conflicts without hampering the motivation and relationship in
the project team. By its nature, conflicts seem to be resolved in favor of
one side over another. However, with good communication and conflict
resolution skills, you can resolve the conflicts in a win-win situation.

This project manager interview question assesses your conflict

resolution and communication management skills.

Following can be a good sample answer for this question.

I experienced several conflicts arising in my projects during my

career. First thing to look when a conflict arises is the source of
conflict. Conflicts can be between two project team members,
between the team member and his lead, between two
stakeholders etc. After knowing the source of conflict, I look at
the alternative solutions to resolve the conflict. The best option
to resolve a conflict is collaborating where all parties are happy. Of
course, I try to find a win-win situation first. If this is not possible,
then, I try to analyze the pros and cons of different alternatives for
resolving the conflict. I try to demonstrate the pros and cons of
each resolution alternative analytically because numbers,
figures, statistics and mathematical approach is the best way to
convince people for a solution. After showing the alternative
solutions, I guide people to rethink about the conflict. I expect
them to reach a consensus. If this is not possible again, I try to ▾
solve the conflict with democracy. For instance, if the cause of
the conflict is a how to solve a technical issue in a software
project, I show the options to the project team and expect the
 software developers to vote for the best option to resolve the
conflict.

Project manager candidate approaches to solve the conflict in a win-win

situation. Then, he approaches to demonstrate different alternatives in a
mathematical approach. This is great. Because, if you can describe a
solution mathematically with statistics, numbers, figures etc. you will
eliminate most of the arguments about the topic. Then, he opens the
conflict to voting. By this way, he ensures that the majority will decide
what will be the solution. He is not forcing or directing on what needs to
be done in the project.

Question #14: What are the three words

that describes you best?
This is actually a cliché interview question generally asked by human
resources personnel. This shows hints about your personality and how
your colleagues think about you in work environment.

When answering this project manager interview question, try to

remember your positive attitudes and what your colleagues say about
your work behavior.

▾
Following can be a good sample answer for this interview question.
 The best three words that would describe me can be discipline,
result-driven and analytical thinker.

My colleagues call me German. I am not a German you know it J.

They tell that I am working in a very well discipline, record every
detail and approach in a systematic way to the problems in the
project.

When I am working on a project or task, I always keep in mind that

“what is the expected result?” Sometimes, if you forget what you
are trying to achieve, you can deviate from your targets. Therefore,
keeping in mind the expected results help me to focus on what
needs to be done during the project.

I try to rationalize status, progress and alternative solutions to a

problem. I do this by approaching analytically to a problem. For
instance, I create dashboards for waiting issues, waiting time,
assignee etc in a project to monitor how well the project team is
resolving issues. Similarly, I record the number of codes each
developer produces a day to forecast remaining activities in the
project.

Project manager candidate answers the three words that describe him
best first. Then, he gives examples and justifications for each word.

Question #15: Why should we hire you?

This question is not special for a project manager interview. Most of the
human resources personnel ask this question to evaluate a candidate
during job interviews.

There can be hundreds of other applicants that you have to surpass to

get a project manager job. Your background, skills, and resume should be
impressive and matching the requirements of the job description. This is
obvious. However, you have to be unique when providing answer to this
question. Interviewer must say, “Wow, he knows what we exactly look ▾
for”.
For the best answer to this project manager interview question, you can
search about the recent news of the company before the interview. A
recent financial report, investment, research and development project
news that the company is launching can be good information to place in
your answer for this question.

Following can be a good answer for this interview question.

When I saw that Apple is looking for a project manager, I was very
excited. Because, Apple is my dream company that I would love to
work for. I went through the position details and saw that you are
looking for a 5+ years of IT project management experience with
a special focus on screen touch sensors. I have over seven years
of project management experience in software development
projects. I worked for Elo for three years and managed their last
inductive led screen development project. I’ve heard from the
recent news that, Apple is planning to remove “home” button from
IPhone and move the features of the “home” button to the screen.
My software project management experience in a screen
company will be very much beneficial for the projects in Apple. I
will learn a lot from Apple culture as well.

Project manager candidate highlights how he saw the position vacancy

and why he applied. Then, he clarifies why he matches to the position
requirements. He also adds that while he will be providing benefits to the
company, he will learn a lot from Apple as well.

Question #16: Where do you see

yourself in five years?
A typical human resources interview question! This interview question
assesses whether you have a career plan and if it fits with the position.

For a project manager interview, you have to draw a career plan that fits
to a project management path. ▾
Following can be a good answer for this interview question.

I have over nine years of experience. Last four years is project

management experience. I want to proceed my career as a
project manager for the following three years. Then, I would like
to evaluate the further level of management position
opportunities, such as program manager or project manager
opportunities, that will be arising in the company.

I have PMP certification. I am planning to take ITIL foundation

certification to improve my IT service management skills and
PSM-1 certification to improve my agile project management
skills.

I am pretty sure that project management experience in this

company will add a lot to my professional background.

Project manager candidate highlights that he will be proceeding his

career as project manager for the following three years. This is critical for
an employer, because each employer expects a candidate to stay in the
position for at least two years. Then, the project manager candidate adds
that he is planning to get relevant professional certifications to improve
his project management skills.

Question #17: What is your current

salary and compensation package?
Be honest when you are responding to this question. Note that, human ▾
resources departments of companies are very well aware of industry
salary benchmarks. Therefore, they will be able to estimate your salary
and compensation package.

If you say a salary that is too much above the benchmark, you can even
lose the job opportunity. Because, there will be a limit of what the
company can pay for this position.

Briefly, tell what you earn and compensation package, when this question
is asked in your project manager interview.

Question #18: What is your salary

expectation?
This is one of the last questions that you will be asked in your project
manager interview session. There is not a concrete answer for this
question. However, the common practice is, aim to increase your salary
at least 20% in your next job.

Considering your current salary and compensation package, you should

tell your expectations. You should not say a salary and compensation
expectation that is too much above your current package.

Conclussion
We have tried to gather all questions that you will be asked (most
probably) in your project manager interview session. We have also
provided sample answers to each interview question. Note that, these are
our recommendations and depending on the industry and the position
you applied for, answers for these project manager interview questions
can vary.
▾
Before going to your interview, go through your resume and prepare
your own good examples from your project management experience for
these questions.

We have a 360 Degree Project Manager

Mock Interview program for professionals,
like you, who are getting ready for a project
manager interview.

In this program, you send us your resume and details of the position you
applied for. Then, our expert project manager interviewer prepares
customized questions for you. You come together with the interviewer at
the time you will select from the available slots of our project manager
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interviewer will ask you realistic questions that you will be asked most
likely in your real interview. Then, interviewer will be preparing a detailed
assessment report about your project manager mock interview
performance. In this report, you will see your strengths, improvement
areas and how well your background and skills match with the position
that you applied for.

You can see a sample assessment report.

Let us help you sharpen your interview skills and give you a real hands- ▾
on mock interview so you can get the job you deserve!
 Enroll now in 360 Degree Project
Manager Mock Interview.
Project Manager Mock Interview

Author

Resit Gulec, MBA, PMP, ITIL has over 10 years of work experience. Resit
worked in 20+ countries, managed million dollar budget projects and
several people. He worked as engineer and manager in multinational
companies including Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson. Resit trained 50,000+
professionals for PMP certification exam since 2014. Resit is Founder &
CEO of Master of Project Academy, and he appeared in hundreds of
media outlets including Yahoo Finance and Wall Street Journal with his
venture, Master of Project Academy.

Project Manager Interview Questions & Answers

Review by: Lewis Bailey
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