Interview as a Hiring Manager Tips
Are you about to recruit someone for your PMO? The purpose of the interview is to find someone who meets the requirements of job description and can fill the post. The better prepared you are, the more likely it is that you will give candidates the chance to shine in interview – and hopefully you’ll make a better choice about who joins the team.
Here are 5 tips on how to prepare for an interview as a hiring manager.
1. Review the job description
In our experience, it takes some time between preparing a job description for a vacancy and finally seeing someone for an interview. The internal process for approving a new job can take weeks. Once you’ve finally got the go ahead to recruit, you then have to brief a staffing firm on what you are looking for and sift through applications to create your short list.
By the time someone is booked for interview, you might have forgotten the exact responsibilities on the job description! Make sure to read it through again to refresh yourself on what you are looking for during the interview.
2. Prepare your interview questions
You may have a bank of questions to draw from, based on what was asked at past interviews or what your HR team has provided. You have to decide which ones to ask. If you don’t have a resource of interview questions for project managers, we have several guides to help:
Interview questions for PMO roles
Interview questions for risk management roles
Interview questions for PMO director roles
Choose some behavioral questions that allow candidates to show how they behaved in a particular situation in the past. Blend those with experiential questions that are specifically designed to get more information about what career experience the candidate has.
For each question, add two or three extra prompts on the same theme that you can throw in if the person is struggling to respond or seems to have gone off topic. That will give the candidate the opportunity to get their answer back on track and deal with any nerves.
It’s always a good idea to have a few extra questions in case the candidate answers quickly or has nothing specific to say in response to one of your questions.
You’ll want to ask each candidate the same questions so you can adequately compare their experience and interview performance at the end. We find it helpful to create a document template with the questions pre-populated. Use one template per candidate and record their answers to help you remember later.
3. Prepare practical tests
If you are giving candidates a practical test, make sure you have everything set up for that including the questions, case study or background notes and the tech required for them to complete the work.
Finally, make sure that they are aware they’ll be doing a test and how long it will take.
We have a Primavera interview test you can use.
4. Review candidate applications
Who is coming to interview? Make sure you have the right resumé for the right appointment and read through it in advance. Highlight topics that you want to know more about or areas where you want the candidate to expand on their experience.
You can also search for the candidate on LinkedIn and see what information is publicly available about them.
4. Plan for their questions
Interviews should be a two-way conversation so be ready to answer candidates’ questions. Think about what they might want to know about the job and consider how you could respond. Typical questions asked by candidates include topics about:
- Onboarding, mentoring and support in the role
- Organizational structure and where the job fits within the business
- Opportunities for professional development and training
- Typical career paths in the business
- Work environment and expectations around flexible/virtual working.
It’s OK to say that you don’t have the answer to their question if you do get caught off guard. Be sure to note the question and follow up with the candidate afterwards.
5. Prepare with other interviewers
In most cases it is better to interview with another person. Take a moment to catch up with that individual to plan the logistics for the interview. If you are meeting the candidate in person, decide who will go down to reception to meet them and bring them to the room. Talk about who will ask which questions and who will take notes – or perhaps you both will so you can compare notes afterwards.
The candidate will have a better impression of the business if you have organized yourselves in advance and the whole process will feel smoother and more professional.
Whether you are interviewing for the first time or the hundredth time, being in a small room with a candidate can be a nerve-wracking experience – made more so if you are doing the whole thing online. Prepare in advance and follow your notes as you go through the interview. And remember: they are probably just as nervous as you! Try to make the environment as conducive as possible to a ‘normal’ conversation between colleagues and you’ll all get more out of the experience.
When preparing for an interview as a hiring manager, you don’t have to go it alone. We can assist with project management staff augmentation, so get in touch and find out how we can help.