hello my name is Richard McMunn from the
interview training company past my
interview comm and in this tutorial I am
going to teach you how to pass a senior
project manager interview now obviously
this is a tough interview to pass and
I've carried out loads of research to
help you pass your interview and I'm
gonna provide you with a large number of
tips but more importantly senior project
manager interview questions and high
scoring answers so it does not matter
which organization you have your senior
project manager interview for please do
stick around and watch this video from
beginning to end now before I get into
those tips and also the interview
questions and answers a very warm
welcome to this tutorial my name is
Richard McMunn I am a former fire
officer and I've been helping people now
for about twenty years to successfully
pass their interviews and I do that by
carrying out lots of research on your
behalf and I provide you then with top
scoring answers that you can't find
anywhere else please do subscribe to the
channel by clicking the red button below
the video and I would also very much
appreciate it if you gave the video a
like that always motivates me to do more
thank you very much now in preparation
for your project manager your senior
project manager interview we have to
make sure that you demonstrate the
following skills qualities and
attributes first of all that you have an
ability to manage multiple difficult and
complex projects concurrently so if
you're going to be a senior project
manager for a large organization you
have to be able to manage and deliver
multiple projects you also need to be
able to demonstrate effective on-site
and off-site leadership skills so it's
about managing and leading people and
resources both face-to-face but also
remotely you also have to meet project
goals obviously timescales and
specification as determined during the
planning stage of each project which you
will be greatly involved in also utilize
effective project management skills to
lead and inspire team members
contractors and those people who have a
vested interest in the project also work
solely to achieve the objectives of the
plan as determined by
the client or the senior directors or
the senior management team of the
organization you're employed for and
also most importantly be able to
demonstrate excellent communication and
interpersonal skills now I've put that
as a final one because that is one of
the most important aspects of passing
this interview now there are people out
there and I get contacted on LinkedIn
lots of times by people who say I'm a
brilliant project manager however I'm
not very good at passing interviews so
the answers that are coming right now
are designed to ensure that you are the
standout candidate so please do make
sure you study them in detail now you
can either take notes as I give you the
senior project manager interview
questions and answers or if you watch
the video from beginning to end I'll
tell you where you can download the full
set of these and other senior project
manager interview questions and answers
so let's get straight into those now the
first question why do you want to become
a senior project manager and what can
you bring to this role so pretty much a
guaranteed question during your senior
project manager interview so we want to
get you off on the right footing this
needs to be a concise response and also
one that demonstrates that you are
positive you are professional and you
can communicate in a logical and
professional manner so here we go here's
my sample response I want to become a
senior project manager for three
specific reasons now the first reason is
that I want to be the person who has
full responsibility for delivering
difficult projects and for also
motivating my staff to be the best they
can be now I want to excel in my career
and I feel that I am making a positive
difference in the work I undertake as a
senior project manager now secondly I
have lots of experience managing
projects and people and this role is a
natural progression for me based on
years of hard work and self-development
now thirdly I believe I have the right
interpersonal negotiation and persuasion
skills to get challenging projects
complete and to the necessary standards
that you expect so in terms of what I
can bring to the role I can bring years
of expertise in varied situations an
ability to inspire motivate and drive a
team forward and also the guarantee that
I will get projects finished to a very
high standard
whilst adhering to the project
specification and the budget excuse me
so that he's a great answer it shows
that you thought about the question why
you want to become a senior project
manager and also more importantly what
you can bring to the role let's take a
look at another question for your senior
project manager interview why have you
chosen our company to be a senior
project manager so there are obviously
lots of different organizations that you
can apply to to become a senior project
manager but they want to know the exact
reasons why you have chosen their
organizations so here is my suggested
answer to this question the expectations
of a senior project manager can only be
realized if you are working for an
organization who has three things high
standards a supportive approach to its
staff and also a constant desire to
improve and develop within its industry
now I have chosen your organization
because you have all of these three
important ingredients that will allow me
to perform my role as a senior project
manager to the highest achievable
standards now I have researched your
company in detail before deciding to
apply for this job and I was nothing but
impressed with your values your work
ethics and the already strong and
dedicated team you have behind you now
if I'm successful and I get to become
your senior project manager I'm
confident I will excel in the role and
meet all of your expectations so this
demonstrates this answer demonstrates
that you thought carefully about why you
want to join their organization the rest
of the candidates the majority of them
will say things like well you just you
know you're a good company to work for
you've got a good reputation but you've
got into more detail about this and you
are also this is what I like about this
response you use you are giving three
specific reasons why you want to join
them so that is a solid positive answer
let's take a look at another excuse me
senior project manager interview
question now they're getting a little
bit harder now tell me about a time when
you manage the difficult contractor or
stakeholder so as project managers and
senior project managers who have all
come under situations like this but this
is where we have to demonstrate strong
communication
persuasion and negotiation skills so
here's my specific answer to this
question recently I was tasked to be
working on a project which included a
particularly challenging client who not
only made life difficult for the team
through his style of communication but
who also continually requested
unreasonable changes to the agreed
project plan now I requested a meeting
with the client to try and build a
positive relationship with him and to
also agree a mutually beneficial way
forward now during the meeting I first
of all established his goals and what
was important to him in respect of the
project completion I then explained to
him the project execution process and
how he could assist us in making sure
the project not only ran smoothly but to
also make sure it was completed to the
highest completion standards possible I
also suggested some guidelines in
respect of communication moving forward
and asked him to go direct through
myself during the project development
stage now at the end of the meeting I
felt we had built up a positive rapport
with clear agreeable guidelines that
ensured the project from there on in run
smoothly and successfully so this
demonstrates that you can turn a
challenging situation into a positive
one that you have more control over and
that is the key to answering this
question now I've got two more very
challenging senior project manager
interview questions and answers to go
through with you but just to make you
aware if you want to pass your interview
with high scoring answers there's a link
that's appeared right there in the top
right hand corner I've created a guide
that has 15 senior project manager
interview questions and answers you can
download that and use it during your
preparation so when you're ready you can
click that link and it will take you
through to my website let's move on to
the next question a hard one describe a
time when you solved a complex project
related problem what idea did you
utilize and how did you make it
effective so let me just quickly repeat
that describe a time when you solved a
complex project related problem what
idea did you utilize and how did you
make it effective so let's take a look
at my sample answer here we go
I was responsible for delivering a
challenging project that had a very
tight budget and limited staff in order
to make the project effective like
came up with an idea that enabled me to
make use of a pool of talent for
specific project related tasks from
around the globe now because I was using
tried and tested out sources from
different countries this meant a large
portion of the technical project
specific tasks could still be carried
out at night whilst I was away from my
desk now each day when I logged on at 6
a.m. I would already have received
updates from the project out sources
around the globe on the progress they
were making with their specific tasks or
area now this meant the project workflow
continued 24 hours a day which enabled
me to get the project completed on time
now in addition to this the cost of
using out sources from some countries
was considerably lower than others which
meant I was able to meet the specific
financial constraints of the project so
that's a solid answer a great answer
where you have used initiative and you
you use creative thinking to come up
with an idea to get round the problem of
having a very tight budget and also
limited staff let's move on to another
another question for your senior project
manager interviewed again and if you're
on LinkedIn I've put my LinkedIn and
address in the description below and
please connect with me I love connecting
with people professionals online next
question tell me what you know about
project risk now obviously you have to
not only manage risk as a senior project
manager you have to foresee it you have
to identify and understand what type of
risk it is now there will be times when
you when you may take risk and you know
as a former fire officer I used to
attend many many incidents and I would
have to calculate the risk carefully was
I prepared to take the risk or was it
not worth it and it's the same in
business and you know when you're a
senior project manager you have to
understand the risk and the impact of it
so this question assesses your ability
to know about risk and what you would do
about it so here we go there are
fundamentally three categories of risks
that I always plan for whilst managing
and delivering projects these are cost
risk schedule risk and performance risk
now cost risk is the potential for the
escalation of costs due to substandard
initial project costing estimates
and also the lack of foresight in
respect of the allocation of finances
for unexpected costs the schedule risk
is the danger that the agreed completion
date can be missed again essentially due
to poor planning now the performance
risk is the danger that the completed
project will not function or perform as
agreed as per the specifications now the
only way to minimize all three risks is
by furrow analysis of the project
requirements and by also taking into
account for every potential issue
challenge or problem problem so you and
I know as experienced project managers
and leaders that the the success of a
project is essentially based on the work
that's done at the beginning you know
thinking about the dangers and risks of
that demonstrates you know about risk
you know about it in detail and you are
prepared for it so don't forget if you
want all 15 senior project manager
interview questions and answers you can
even click the link below the video
right there or if you click the one in
the top right hand corner it takes you
through to my website pass my interview
comm direct to this page where I've got
the full list of senior project manager
interview questions there you can either
spend time taking a note of all these
questions that I recommend you prepare
for or if you want to download the full
set of answers scroll down to the bottom
you can get a copy of those now I've
also put in here four key tips for
helping you pass your senior project
manager interview just take your time to
read them as well because I believe they
are very important now as you can see
from my content my aim is to make sure
you are the standout candidate and to
make you come across as professional
concise someone who's a great
communicator and I've specifically done
that in the answers I've created for you
I hope you've enjoyed that tutorial
thank you very much for watching don't
forget to connect me on LinkedIn
I love teaching you how to pass and your
interviews I get a great sense of
achievement from it thank you for
watching and I wish you all the best in
your pursuit to passing your senior
project manager have a brilliant day