PM place interview : what would you ask for? 2

[FrenchCAD]

Hi all,

I'm about to have an audition for a PM place within a big company (I already had a 1 hour phone interview). The audition is planned to last one day long :

* Audition at a recruitment office the morning

* Audition at the company the afternoon (first with Human Ressources, then with my potential future boss)

I am wondering what can be asked to me that need to take a whole day long audition. I suspect I gonna have some CAD test (20% of job for this place) but then I have no idea.

For you who already have a PM place : how was your interview?

For you who would hire a PM : what would you ask?

Thanks for your help

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

 

[RDK]

If hands on CAD skills is a major factor then the job is not management.

For a manager I would look at the skills needed for a manager, budgeting, scheduling and quality, safety, people management.

How would you establish a financial budget for the project? How would you ensure that the financial control and accountability is in place?

What sort of schedule do you use? How detailed is it? How often do you do formal and informal updates? What skills do you gave using MS Project or Primavera?

How would you establish a quality control program? What sort of tests and tasks would you perform for the program?

What sort of safety program would you establish and how would you implement it? What is your safety history? How would you treat safety violators?

How would you manage the people in your team? How would you resolve conflicts and interpersonal issues?

In a lot of these there no absolute right or wrong answers. It may simply come down to management style and how well your personal style fits with the management style of the employer.




Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[FrenchCAD]

Thanks for your answer RDK.

Design is not the most important part of job. I may have to do some formal design (main lines of the systems) but then designers do all the design work.

I'm currently PM into automotive industry but the interview I had for this place was very short (only spent a couple hours with my manager). The place I am applying for is into micro-mechanics and selection seems more important

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

 

[PSE]

Aside from the "mechanics" of creating and running a project, I would suspect (and hope) that a good portion of the interview will be in how you "fit" with some of the key players you will be expected to readily interface with. Interaction, communication, and personality traits take a lot longer than an hour or two to get a handle on.

Good luck,

 

[RDK]

If they put a lot more effort into the selection process then it sounds like they are looking more for fit then just acquiring the skills anyway they can.

If they are more concerned with fit in terms of management style and personality then even if you have the necessary skills and experience you may not be a good fit. Don’t take rejection personally in this case.

On the upside if they are concerned with fit and are willing to do the work you will most likely find a place of work where they are concerned about you as a person and not just as a bundle of work skills.


Sounds like a good place to work so far.


Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[Ashereng]

At some companies, in order to try to get a good "feel" for who you are, they use multiple interviewers.

At the end, all the interviewers give their impression of "who you are", in order to determine if you will be a good "fit" with the company. The more people who feel a certain way, the more likely that they will be accurate.

This method attempts to eliminate a "bad interview", or personal biases. Also, I would imagine each interviewer probably approaches the interview in a different way. Variety is a good thing in an interview I think. Anyway, it seems to work well for that company - like anything else, most of the time. It does take a long time though. I have been on both sides of this type of interview. Ours actually lasts 2 days.

At the end of the first day, we take the interviewees out to dinner because:
a) we run late and everyone (mostly me I guess) is hungry
b) we probably owe them at least dinner for all the work we put the interviewee through

 

[RDK]

Some other reasons to take an interviewee out for a meal

Check on their table manners.

If the job involves meeting clients and otherwise representing the firm you want someone who can do this politely. (I am often amazed at how bad some people’s table manners are.)

Check out what they order.

If they order the most expensive thing and several drinks, watch out.

See how they treat the wait staff.

It’s a good example of how they will treat subordinate staff in the work place.


See how the act when relaxed, what sort of stories they tell and how they can relate to several people that they have just met.




Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[Ashereng]

No, our reason is much more prosaic.

We went to dinner because we were hungry and it is a nice thing to do.


As to your other reasons, I have heard that too. I don't hold much for the table manners, what they order etc. Too much variations in culture, preferrences, etc. to get into. A non-Canadian may not like most of the menu because it is foreign, and may order something that is expensive because a) he is stuck on himself, b) the most expensive item is the only thing his religion/alergy/etc. allows him to eat, c) he only recognise the english word for lobster and is too embarassed to ask what the rest is, d) none of the above.

 

[RDK]

The choice may be made for any of the reasons, but if the guy orders several drinks, especially doubles watch out.

In any case I would imagine that a candidate could influence your decision about him by his behavior at dinner, either positively or negatively.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[ddelaiarro]

I know we're getting a little off-course here, but when I was working for an energy consulting company, we were looking at hiring a PE. The owner passed him around to all the employees for interviews. It was a small, small company and most of us would be his subordinates. The owner wanted to see how comfortable we felt with him. We all seemed to like him. Then, to see how the team came together as a group, the owner took us all out to lunch. This interviewee ordered two or three alcoholic drinks during the course of lunch - not even dinner. He was also rather rude to the wait staff.

Needless to say that, despite his basically stellar interview process, he lost the job due to his actions at lunch. None of us felt comfortable with him after that.

I thought the idea of a subordinate interviewing a potential superior (maybe interviewing is the wrong word, but we each got about 30-45 minutes to get to know the guy) was a refreshing approach. And seeing how the team gelled also made a lot of sense to me. It was very much out of the mold of what I had come to view as a 'normal' interview.

 

[Ashereng]

ddelaiarro,

That is in the category of "really dumb" I would think, on the part of the interviewee.

If someone was that careless, I would have expected something to crop up during the "official" interview process.

What RDK says has merits, as you have corroborated. I guess I have been fortunated (or unfortuante) enough to not have come across examples such as these.

 

[FrenchCAD]

Well, here was my interview day:

- Logical tests
- Personnality tests
- HR interview (2 hours)
- Technical interview (2.5 hours)

I should get final answer within 10 days.

Are test such like this common? That was the first time ever I passed some of them. Logical ones were kind of...logical (bite me, hehe) but personnality ones were kind of disturbing. Not easy IMO to discuss your personnality traits in a professionnaly oriented environment.

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

 

[Ashereng]

Yes they are. I have had several interviews that come with a battery of tests (personality, ethics, logic/IQ, technical, etc.).

In one interview, I was asked to derive the heat transfer equation of a bath tub filling up with water.

In another, it was a "trial week". I started working and they had someone literally look over my shoulder to see if I knew what I was doing. After a week, he introduced himself to me, explained what he was doing (I wasn't even aware, he did it so well), and said I passed and was good to go.

Its funny though. The companies that test have the same issues with personnel as companies that don't. They don't have enough good people, and way too many they wished they didn't hire in the first place.