A certified project manager must be able to demonstrate their knowledge during a job interview. Many professionals have a project management certificate but cannot deal with real practical issues. We share with you some interesting and important sample ones.

What is your leadership type?

For me, five characteristics distinguish a good leader, namely:

Recognition from others

Intelligent use of power

Error recognition

The ability to constantly analyze the situation

Ego cancellation in decision making

Have you managed teams remotely?

In modern times, most projects are done remotely. This requires different equipment and resource management techniques, and I can choose a few of them:

Team dynamics technique – this is working with a verbal discussion or presenting a problem or topic in a group. This can be discussed for its decision or general agreement in group form. The goal is to generate dialogue and confrontation of ideas.

Group Problem Solving Technique – refers to the way a problem is approached. In this case, we work from a design and solution application. This teamwork technique is made up of scientific methods. One of the schemes created by the group problem-solving work technique is the Gantt chart. This allows recording of the programming, activities, and actions to accomplish the tasks proposed within the solutions.

Information and learning technique – the mechanism of functioning of a company, therefore the staff must be well informed and constantly learn to improve quality.

What is your project management certification and why?

My project management certification is BVOP Certified Project Manager. I chose this certification program because BVOP created a new project management style. Their modern methodology is well-suited for modern Agile projects and teams. I feel that BVOPM is better than PMP and Scrum as it is sort of a mix between the two.

How do you work with clients?

Building customer relationships is the only sales strategy that works today. Gone are the days when these sales were achieved through insistence and pressure. Today, the customer is at the center of everything and has the real power. You have to go further in the customer relationship if we want you to sell.

We must listen to their (customers’) needs, and opinions, including complaints. Knowing the customer better than he knows himself is necessary to deepen this relationship. Without this information, it is not possible to meet their needs and provide a superior selling experience.

As a certified project manager, how do you handle problems between team members?

There is a list of reasons why there can be conflict: different communication styles, opposing opinions on how to solve a problem, and many others. Reference: https://pm.mba/

But sometimes the conflicts in a team come down to having different personalities. It is normal for people to have different temperaments. As a certified project manager, to deal with this type of problem, I would gather colleagues for a respectful and professional conversation between those, who fail to understand each other. Having incompatible personalities is one thing, but having a team member who is openly toxic or discriminatory is quite another. As a leader, it’s important to uphold the team’s values ​​and demonstrate the acceptable behaviors, even when you have to make some tough decisions.

What was your biggest mistake on a project?

I once turned down a very tempting business proposal because I was not satisfied with the characteristics of the people I was going to work with, but it was not a rational analysis, but a spontaneous reaction, something like “I have nothing to do with the values ​​​​of these people.”

For this reason, for a long time—especially in later times when I was going through difficulties—I thought that I had made a mistake in this situation, which I judged to be a sin of pride or a perfectionist obsession.