IT Job Interview » Management Questions

How do you resolve conflicts and issues when there is a disagreement among different parties involved in the project?

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:26:04 +0000

“Depending on the specific situation, I may use different approaches to resolve different conflicts. First I would try to understand the situation, know what’s going on and analyze the issues. I would work as a mediator to bring all parties together and talk it out. I would listen carefully to all of them and help them analyze the pros and cons of their points. If possible, I would use existing documents and standard to help make decisions. In many case I would be able to find compromise acceptable by all parties. Only if when necessary I would bring in upper management to solve the issue. In general, to avoid possible conflicts, I would encourage effective communication among all team members and enforce documentations.”

How do you lead the effort to plan and jump-start a new IT project?

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:25:08 +0000

That’s a typical question for project manager or project lead. It does not ask you the experience, so you can talk the talk. All you need to understand is the project lifecycle.

“First I would get to know all parties involved in the projects, – learn who is the stakeholder? who is the customer? who is the executive sponsor? and who is the key player? Then I would do a lot of interview with these key players to find out what do they want from this project and what are their expectations. The next step would be to work with users to collect business rules and create requirement documentations. I would also analyze the scope of the project available resources. Based on the requirement analysis I would start to create architecture and high level design. Following that would be detailed design and development, and go on through the development lifecycle. Basically that’s how I would start a new project.”

As An IT Manager, What Would Be Your Priority On The First Day Of In This Position?

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:10:28 +0000

Do you have a plan? How do you initiate? Your employer wants to find out. In general, your first day should be focused on learning, listening, and discovering. Don’t rush to setup new rules and disrupt existing procedures in the IT department.

Sample Answer:

“First, I would meet with my boss to find out what is expected of me and what my first priority should be. I would also like to learn what goals my department is responsible for that fit in with the organization’s mission. Then I’d meet with my team, introduce myself, get to know them. I’d discuss with my team about our department’s procedures, standards, projects, issues, and problems. I’d find out who’s the most knowledgeable member of the team, who’s the best person to help me get up-to-speed on current projects and processes. Based on the information I gathers, I would be able to develop a plan for solving existing problems and improving performance of the department.”

Have You Ever Fired Anyone?

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:45:49 +0000

That’s another question for supervisory positions. Firing someone is a difficult task, but as a supervisor, it’s something you may have to do. Don’t just answer “Yes” or “No.” If you have fired an employee, explain what happened, why you made the decision to fire the person, and what the end result of that decision was. If you have never fired anyone, tell what you would do if it ever became necessary.

Sample Answers:

“Yes, I have. The person I fired had a negative attitude, often missed deadlines, and always turned in work of very poor quality. Because he didn’t want to take action to improve his performance, and was adversely affecting on the rest of the team, I made the decision to let him go. After his departure, the team’s morale and productivity went up, and the person I hired to replace him was a great team player who did much better job.”

“No, although I’ve been a supervisor for several years, I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve never had to terminate anyone. If such a situation were to come up, I would follow the organization’s procedures for disciplinary action and take the action necessary for the good of the team and the company.”

Have You Ever Had to Discipline a Problem Employee? If so, How did You Handle It?

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:27:06 +0000

This question is often asked when you interview for positions with certain supervisory or management duties. It is a good opportunity to show your problem-solving abilities. Your answer should explain how you have used communication skills, coaching skills, and established procedures to help problematic employees. Tell successful stories, demonstrate you can turned troublesome employee around.

An Example Answer:

”I had one employee who was always late for work. I met with him and explained that his being late was putting an unfair burden on others in our team. He said she understood and promised he would change, but was still late and gave a different excuse each time. I gave him two verbal warnings, telling her that being chronically late was unacceptable and he needed to change his behavior or risk disciplinary action. When he was late again, I contacted HR to deduct his salary for the hours. Then I met him again to inform this action, at the same time I explained that I wanted to help him. I offered to change her work schedule, and also suggested that he would find another job if the alternate schedule is not acceptable. He took it seriously this time. Since then he is been working on his schedule on time.”

If you’ve never experienced this type of situation before, say that, but then tell them how you would handle it.

How Would You Handle a Team Member Who Is Not Performing?

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:16:36 +0000

This is a common interview question for project managers, team leaders, or supervisors. This is a very good opportunity for you to insure the interviews that you have skills and experience to handling difficult management situations. The best way to answer is to give an example from your previous experience for how you have dealt with under-performed employees. However, your example must provide a positive outcome, that means you’d better no say you fired the employee. You should rather explain how you helped the team member achieve better performance and reached the team’s project goal. A recommended answer would like this one:

“As the team leader I am interested in the success of every team member. I don’t want anyone from my team left behind therefore I always do my best to get my team work together to achieve our project goal. As for under performing, there could be many reasons behind it, such as insufficient skill, lack of training, motivation issues, personal problems, team communications, etc. In most cases, I am able to manage the case and work with the individual employee to help him or her catch up. In a previous project of 12 team members, I noticed a poor performing team member after couple of weeks of the project start-up. The first thing I did was to determine the reason he was not performing. I had a private conversion with him and let him be aware of expectations. I also ensure him that I was there to help him achieve the expectations. From this conversion I learned that he didn’t have enough hands-on skills to perform the tasks, and also he was afraid of communicating with other team members because he didn’t want to be looked ‘stupid’. Actually he was worried about his job and didn’t know what to do. In this case, I needed to give him a lot of encouragement, I provided personal mentor to help him speed up on skills. I also met with a few core techies from the team and asked them to provide necessary support to help the problematic individual do him job. It happened that he was a quicker learner, once he got the basic skills, he gained the confidence and communicate well with the rest of the team. Finally he became a significant contributor to our project success.”

Based on your experience, please describe 3 factors that are the most critical to the success of an IT project?

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:38:54 +0000

This is an open question. My answer would focus on management, people, and technology.

“To me the first critical factor is the management support. Without a strong executive sponsorship, a project could not start and go on. I would make sure the management team understand the scope and purpose of the project, and have reasonable expectations. During the project I would communicate with the management effectively and keep them updated. The second factor is the team building. I would build a strong team with different skills and experience that could handle different tasks in each phase of the development. The third factor is the technology. We need to do a lot of research and analysis to select the right technology suitable for the project. Depending on the type of project, we may need to evaluate development tools, middle tier software, database servers, and hardware. There are many factors to consider. Let me know if you want me to go in details on this topic.”

What Type of Methodology, Tools, and Techniques Have You Used to Assist Project Management?

admin — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 22:37:10 +0000

This question is often asked to project manager candidates in order for interviewers to learn how a candidate can use project management tools effectively in project management process. If you have little idea for this question, here is a suggested answer.

“I believe adapting a structured methodology is very important to the project success. As a PMI certified project manager, I follow the PMI’s PMBOK methodology framework in most of my IT projects. I feel this methodology is very helpful to my project planning process. In daily project management, I use Microsoft Project Manager 2000 to help me stay on top of tasks and due dates. Project Manager is a good tool for me to track project status and scheduling, and manage task assignments to my project team members.”