Last week, the Project Management Recruitment Ideas looked at Questions at the Interview, this week we focus on a particular type of interview question, the scenario. Scenario questions are used by employers to test the real life experiences of a project professional, questions that are designed so the candidate cannot just answer theoretically. After all, anyone can pick up a book or attend a course, what the organisation is looking for is someone who can really deliver what they say they can deliver
Project Management Interviews – Scenarios
So, you’re in the interview and you’ve already received some generic questions about project management and the role you perform. The interviewer now wants to see if you could be a good enough fit for their particular business. Consider the next question, “You’re conducting a project team meeting when it appears that two of your team members seem to have a problem with each other resulting in a few heated conversations, how do you deal with this issue?”
Scenario questions based on the softer skills of project management are very popular in interviews as its such a easy way to find out what steps people would take, their approach, their style etc. What the interviewer is looking for here is not your answer in direct relation to the scenario posed but rather you talking about a real life situation where this kind of thing has happened. The interviewer is not looking for a text book answer straight from the conflict management manual but rather your personal experiences in such a situation.
If you need a technique to help gather your thoughts about how to answer a question like this, consider the STAR technique; Situation or Task, Action and Results. So you’ve been given the Situation, now think about the actions you took in a similar situation and the results that happened as a result of your direct actions.
To prepare for similar questions of a soft skill nature think about all the potential relationships you have as a project professional. For example, a Project Manager will interface with the sponsor, a programme manager, suppliers, team members, users, stakeholders, clients, project support etc. It’s then quite easy to think about the types of questions you might receive; “Your supplier has recently missed a few deadlines, how do you resolve this situation?”; “Your client has called an urgent meeting because one of your team members has caused a issue on a particular piece of work, how do you prepare for this meeting?”
With project support, the softer skills questions nearly always fall into the category of; “You need to obtain information from a particular project manager for monthly reporting, this project manager is always late in delivering, what can you do to change this situation?” I think it’s rather telling of the project office’s relationships that this question, or a variation on the theme, are always prominent in scenario questioning.
Next think about all the softer skills that exist in project management; communication, teamwork, leadership, conflict management, negotiation and influencing. Ask yourself, how do I demonstrate my abilities, skills, personality, style, approach etc in all of these key areas. Thinking about this before an interview will definitely help you to get into the mindset of soft skills scenario questions.
You can, of course, receive questions that test the more technical aspects of project management too, questions like; “A risk management workshop has been arranged; who do you need to be there and what preparation do you need to make” or “When creating the project plan (PID) for a new project, what information do you need?” Again, when the question is asked, quickly state your own personal situation, what actions you take and the results.
So remember, when a scenario question comes up, don’t answer to the scenario directly but use this opportunity to quickly state you have been in this situation before and then talk about your situation briefly, the actions you took and the (successful) results. Give the interviewer what they want; that you can demonstrate the real practical experience required to manage these kinds of situations. Deliver the message in your answers so they are in line with your personal experiences – I can’t stress it enough 
