Top 57 Project Management Interview Questions and Answers (Updated for 2021)

Interviews can make even the most confident of us nervous. Especially, if it is for a responsible position as a project manager, then they are bound to make our heart rate speed up. But, don’t worry. You can help yourself and bring down your nerves by anticipating the questions and preparing for them beforehand.
The profile of project managers has evolved extensively over the years. Along with organizational and negotiation skills, communication capability, and leadership powers are some of the key attributes of an effective PM. Today, project managers play a crucial role even in digital transformation by facilitating digital initiatives in their respected organizations.
In a project management interview, the hiring manager will try to figure out whether your experience and management style are a good fit for the role by asking a variety of questions. To crack a project management role you must have an idea of the top project management interview questions and answers for preparing beforehand.
Below are the top 30 project management interview questions and sample answers to help you with this preparation:

1) How will you identify stakeholders and why do you need to know more about them?

The process of identifying the key stakeholders begins when a project starts.
To recognize the decision-makers, you ask the following questions:

• Who will furnish funds for the project?




• Who will supply resources for the seamless execution of the project?





• Who are the end customers for the outcome of the project?




• Who will offer other types of support?





• Who will be giving guidelines/regulations that need to be followed while working on the project?




• Who will provide specifications for the project?

Knowing about stakeholders and engaging them throughout the project lifecycle is crucial for project success. The reason being that the project is being undertaken to fulfill its objectives and expectations.

Source: mindtools.com

2) What is stakeholder analysis and Power-Interest Grid used for?

Stakeholder analysis involves preparing a list of all the potential stakeholders who will be associated with the project in some way or the other. A power-interest grid is used for categorizing stakeholders and prioritizing them based on significance and impact.

Source: projectmanagement.com
Stakeholder analysis and power-interest grid help in prioritizing the positions of the stakeholders in the project for developing relevant stakeholder engagement strategies for different groups.

3) What kind of documents do you need during project initiation?

a. Business Case Document:
It acts as a reference point for the initiation of any internal project. This document offers a detailed financial analysis of the potential investments and benefits likely to come from the project along with the financial justification of whether the project should be done or not.
b. Agreement:
The agreement is one of the first documents a PM refers to understand more about the project. It is the contract signed with the client and outlines the scope, time, cost, and terms/conditions agreed between the performing and the requesting organization.
c. Project charter:
This document outlines the specific objectives of the project and establishes the formal authorization of the project. The project charter has the name of the PM and is signed by the sponsor.
d. Stakeholder register:
A stakeholder register includes the details about the interest and powers of different stakeholders, their current level of engagement. New stakeholders keep getting added to the register as they get identified during the project lifecycle.

4) What are the techniques that you can use to collect project requirements? (Mention techniques for collecting requirements + different classification of requirements.)

Requirement collection and final concurrence happen with the project stakeholders with the help of functional experts and business analysts.
The crucial techniques used for requirement gathering are:

• Data gathering (pondering, standardization, focus groups, questionnaires, and surveys and interviews)




• Data analysis (examining different project documents)





• Observation (monitoring the performance of the team members)




• Affinity diagram (grouping of requirements and ideas)





• Prioritization of the requirements by using techniques like MoSCoW




• Prototyping

Gathered requirements can be classified into different categories such as transition, reliability, functional, non-functional, security, quality, and regulatory and user-interface-drive. They help the team in visualizing different aspects of the project requirements and addressing them accordingly.

5) What is the importance of maintaining a requirement traceability matrix?

The purpose of designing a requirement traceability matrix is to track each requirement at every stage of development. The end goal is to make sure that no phase gets closed till all the requirements are taken into account. Additionally, it helps the team to avoid missing any requirements.

Source: preforce.com

6) What are the details that a project plan should include? (Mention project baseline and who prepares project management plans.)

A project plan is a blueprint that includes detailed information about how the project will be executed, monitored, and closed. It comprises the project scope, schedule, cost estimates, and budget constraints known as project baselines. A project plan is prepared by the PM with the help of inputs given by the core team members involved in designing various components of the plan.

7) What is a WBS and how does it help in preparing a good plan?

WBS is referred to as Work breakdown structure which is a crucial technique for having a complete idea about the project scope. It entails breaking up the project work into smaller and manageable chunks known as work packages.
A well-thought WBS leads to the development of an accurate and robust project plan. WBS helps the PM and the team in refining and defining the specific project requirements and scope in detail for seamless execution and tracking of the project progress. The result is coherent project management.

Source: workbreakdownstructure.com

8) How does the RACI matrix helps in resource management?

Once the project manager starts assigning roles and responsibilities among various team members, it becomes extremely important for a PM to chart a RACI matrix.
In simplest terms, the RACI matrix is a responsibility assignment chart used to map out every task, milestone, and key decision required to complete a project. As there are many stakeholders and involved in a project having clarity about the duties of every member helps in removing doubts for which the RACI matrix is crucial.

Source: teamgantt.com
It's one of the most popular responsibility based assignment charts with four possible roles “accountable”, “inform”, “responsible”, “consult”.

9) What is the role of a critical path in project planning?

The critical path is crucial for effective project planning as it helps in determining the best possible timeline for completing the project by outlining the sequence of dependent tasks that forms the longest duration. Identifying, managing, and monitoring the critical path and ensuring all its activities aren’t delayed is vital for completing the project within the deadline.

10) What are the steps that you will take to do risk planning?

Effective risk planning is central to the success of a project by minimizing threats and maximizing opportunities. The steps involved in risk planning are:

• Discovering risks




• Analyzing potential risks including their probability and anticipated impact





• Prioritizing risks




• Developing risk responses for opportunities and hazards





• Maintaining a risk register

Source: ownerteamconsult.com
Risk planning compiles all the risk events, their probabilities, impact, and response plan that will serve as a reference point for establishing cost estimates and project schedules.

11) You will be using QA and QC for ensuring the quality of the final deliverables. What’s the difference between them?

Keeping the quality of project deliverables in check is highly important which is done using Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC).
QA involves the principles and processes to do the project work and sticking to these processes ensures the final deliverables will meet the expectations of the project. QA is done through seamless execution and development.
QC includes analyzing the final deliverables based on the laid down guidelines and leveraging inspection to check whether the outcomes meet the expected standards.

12) What kind of bid documents can be used for procurement management? And, what kind of contract types will you use for engaging with contractors and suppliers?

The crucial types of bid documents that can be used for procurement management are:

• Procurement Statement of Work (SOW)




• Request for Information (RFI)





• Invitation for Bid (IFB)




• Request for proposal (RFP)





• Invitation for Quote (IFQ)




• Purchase Order (PO)

There are three types of contracts used for engaging with contractors and suppliers:

• Fixed-Price Contract




• Cost Reimbursable Contract





• Time and Materials Contract

13) How do you plan to tackle project execution?

Effectively handling project execution requires the PM to act as a leader and work in collaboration with project stakeholders, sponsors, and peers by demonstrating excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

14) How does organizational structure influence resource acquisition? And, how can you acquire the necessary resources?

Resource acquisition ideally happens first from internal sources and then from external resources. If the organization is functional or matrix it will happen internally as the resources will be by default a part of other groups. For a project manager, this can become daunting.
If it is a strong-matrix organization the PM will have more say in resource allocation. In the case of a weak-matrix organization, the same won’t be the case. However, in project-based organizations, most of the resources are hired from outside so the PM has a lot of authority in selecting them.

Source: pm4dev.com
Manpower and physical resources are acquired from within the organizations, common resource pools, or various functional groups. A PM should be involved in proactive negotiations and work closely with the procurement departments for hiring these resources from within the organization or outside agencies.

15) What kind of motivation theories and formal techniques do you plan to use to keep the team motivated?

One of the core responsibilities of a project manager is to ensure that the entire team is constantly motivated. For the project success, motivational theories include:

• McGregor’s Theory




• Vroom’s Expectancy Theory





• McClelland’s Theory




• Hertzberg’s Theory





• Maslow’s Theory

The role of the PM is to understand the fundamentals of these theories and leverage them. Satisfying the needs of team members, offering them a challenging environment to function, and rewarding them timely keeps the team motivated.

16) Are you aware of conflict management techniques that can be applied for managing conflicts between stakeholders and team members?

Conflicts in a project are a result of disagreements between stakeholders and team members. They are common and the PM must tactfully intervene and resolve them to create an environment of trust and respect.
Conflict management techniques for a project manager include:

• Problem-solving/collaborating or confronting which is the best method to fix disputes




• Competing/Forcing





• Accommodating




• Avoiding/Withdrawing





• Reconciling/Compromising

Source: projectmanagementqualification.com

17) What would be your leadership style when it comes to leading the team during execution?

A project manager’s role involves being a leader. The responsibility of the planning, procurement, and execution of the project necessitates guiding the team members, showing them the right direction, and motivating them. Leadership helps in project management to develop team spirit and support the team in case of adversity.
There are different leadership styles for a project manager are:

• Democratic




• Autocratic





• Liaises Faire

18) How will you manage underperforming team members?

A PM must keep a close observation of the performance of every team member to get a thorough idea of what is going on in the team.
Ways in which a PM should try to deal with an underperforming team member are:

• Have a direct and informal conversation and take an empathetic approach to understand the underlying cause.




• Offer meaningful help, encouragement, and training to motivate the underperforming team member.





• Analyze if there is a possibility to change the role of that particular team member within the same project after assessing their capabilities.




• Observe if the underperforming resource can be changed with a capable one.

Ultimately, the project manager should strike a balance between the project success and supporting the underperforming team member to raise the bar of their performance.

19) How do you prevent Gold Plating?

Gold plating is one of the most common phenomena perceived during project execution. The underlying notion is that customers will feel happy as the development team is delivering more than what is expected.

Source: scholars99.com
However, a PM should be completely aware of the idea, the tendency of the team and try to avoid gold plating with the help of the following guidelines:

• Keep communication lines open with the entire team so the PM is aware of what’s going on.




• Never encourage the team members to add any extra features or functions to the product without seeking approval from the client.

20) How will you execute a project with new change requests coming in?

Change requests are also referred to as “CR” are quite common in any project baseline. This involves tweaking any aspect of the project plan such as the timeline, resources, technology, scope, and requirements. These requests can be raised from the client or any other stakeholder, even the team members or the PM.

Source: teamgantt.com
There are many reasons why CR comes in a project such as:

• A change from the stakeholder’s end when they want a new feature or technology to be added or some changes in the aspects like the budget and timelines.




• Regulatory changes that require the project needs to comply leads to changes in the planned project strategy.





• In the middle of a project, the team members might feel that they need to take corrective measures to resolve an issue.

The key steps included while implementing change management are as follows:

• Performing a comprehensive impact analysis of the CR on different aspects of the project.




• Discussion with relevant stakeholders such as customers or sponsors. Letting all the stakeholders know about the insights from the impact analysis of a CR and seeking their approval after understanding the points.





• After the approval from the stakeholders, the PM should prepare an updated project plan and get it confirmed with the sponsors.




• Once the sponsor approves the updated project plan the PM should start implementing the change in the ongoing project.





• Maintain a history of all the changes happening in the project after implementing the CR.

The challenges in handling CR are:

• Lack of a formal change management plan.




• Stakeholders informally raise CR.





• Handling frequent CR is quite challenging.




• The inability of the PM or the team to deny a change request.





• A constant conflict between the team and stakeholders regarding the relevance of change requests.

Handling change requests is one of the most common responsibilities of a PM that require dealing in a formal and disciplined manner.

21) What’s the difference between project monitoring and controlling? (Mention how controlling and monitoring should be done, should this be planned as part of the project management plan.)

Monitoring includes determining differences between real project performances against the project baseline. Controlling comprises detecting repair for handling the variances and suggesting corrective measures.
Both project monitoring and controlling assist in keeping projects on track and are done from the beginning to the end of the project. These processes need to be planned as a part of the project management plan for the seamless functioning of the project lifecycle.

22) What do you know about performance reports? (Mention what are the performance reports prepared by the team, the difference between the progress report and status report.)

Performance reports are created to demonstrate the status of the project and its actual performance in comparison to the established baselines. While monitoring and controlling the project the team prepares different performance reports such as:

• Progress report




• Status report





• Forecast report

A progress report highlights the work completed in the project so far but a status report is focused on the discrepancies in the project performance to date.

23) How will you implement Earned Value Management? What are EVM and its use?

EVM is a project management methodology for computing the schedule and cost differences with the help of schedule and cost performance index. It helps in creating new performance and cost predictions in a project.

Source: projectmanager.com
EVM is a pragmatic technique for determining the discrepancies and performance of a project numerically to help the team in making forecasts and planning relevant preventive measures for handling the variances.
A PM should know how to implement EVM by maintaining a project schedule listing all the project tasks along with their start/end dates and budget. This schedule will act as a reference point to measure the project progress.

24) What do you know about fast-tracking and crashing techniques?

Fast-tracking and crashing techniques are leveraged to shorten the project duration while keeping the project scope intact. They are applied in case there is a discrepancy noticed.

Source: GreyCampus
Crashing may add extra cost to the project by adding resources but fast-tracking can add additional risk as the tasks are performed in parallel.

25) What are the activities that you plan to perform during the closing of a project?

The closing phase is quite crucial and is the introspection span for the team by consolidating all the lessons learned.
The activities that help in making the process hassle-free are:

• Examining and ensuring all the project criteria have been fulfilled.




• Consolidating and handing over the final deliverables to stakeholders.





• Submitting all the documents such as manuals, SOPs, and so on to the customer and taking a formal signing-off.




• Creating the final project report highlighting the key points and consolidating lessons learned for future reference.





• Concluding all the financial dealings with vendors and suppliers.




• Rewarding project contributors.





• Conducting appraisal performance for team members and provide feedback.




• Freeing up all the resources and equipment.





• Celebrating

Precise project closing gives an orderly end to the project and helps in moving on to the next step seamlessly.

26) How do you differentiate between trend analysis and variance analysis?

Variance analysis is done regularly and is a method for computing the variance between the actual performance and the planned numbers that's the project baseline. It helps in tracking discrepancies so preventive measures can be taken before any risk arises.
Trend analysis determines if any patterns or variances are cropping up during the project and understanding the cause to design corrective measures. Trend analysis is done regularly but not as frequent as variance analysis.

27) What’s the difference between corrective and preventive actions?

Corrective action is taken to remove the cause of an existing defect. For instance, a corrective measure in a case when a project is lagging behind the schedule is to accelerate the remaining work to compensate for the delay.
Preventing action is taken to eliminate the occurrence of potential variance. Let’s take the same case of a project lagging behind the schedule. The team figured out that it happened due to a lack of effective management. The preventive action is to provide clear guidance to the team for avoiding any such events in the future.

28) Tell us about yourself

Most project management job interviews start with this question. ‘Be relevant’ is the mantra to do well in this question. Give a brief introduction of your background and educational qualifications. If you are an experienced manager, emphasize the projects that you have done that are relevant to the job you applied for. If you are a fresh graduate, you can tell them about any college projects that you have done. Treat this question as an opportunity for self-promotion to show the employer why you are fit for the job.

29) What, according to you, is an important skill for a project manager to succeed?

Well, if you are a project manager you might already be thinking that there can’t be one skill that is enough to be successful. And, you are right. Your answer could be leadership skills, communication skills, or time management skills. What the interviewer is looking for is the justification for the answer. So, before you blurt out anything, have your reasons ready.

30) How do you begin a newly assigned project?

Through this question, the interviewer is essentially trying to check your clarity of thought. He/she wants you to describe the important first steps you need to take to ensure the success of a project. A good manager would try to understand ‘what’ of the project before ‘how’. What it means is your first try to understand what is the objective or purpose of the project before diving into how to achieve the goals of the project. Hence, anything on the above lines would get you some brownie points.

31) Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

This is a top project manager interview question. The answer shows whether you have realistic expectations from the job you are applying for. It helps the interviewer check if your personal goals align with that of the company.
If you are applying for an entry-level position, it might be too ambitious to say ‘I want to be the CEO of this company’. It helps to research the employment growth in the company and estimate where you could reach with your best performance in the next 5 years. On the other hand, if you are applying for a senior position, you can talk about how you wish to take the company forward and what your contribution towards that would be.

32) How important is it for a project manager to be ‘proactive’?

By very nature, projects are unpredictable. Hence, it is essential that a manager anticipates problems that can occur and plans ahead. Your answer then has to reflect the importance you attach to proactive project management. Show the interviewer that you can handle risks and rise to the challenges that can occur during the course