From the course: Job Interview Tips for Project Managers

How to approach this question

From the course: Job Interview Tips for Project Managers

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How to approach this question

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- This is one of my favorite interview questions. With this one, an interviewer is really trying to understand how you've acted in the past. They want to hear a story, but they're really trying to understand your thought process. They want to get to the heart of how you handle the stress of meeting deadlines and the actions you take when you're under pressure. The best way to answer this question is to use the STAR-L approach. This approach helps you give a detailed and thorough answer by checking off each important component of your story. Let me explain how it works. Start with the situation. Give important and relevant details about the circumstances. Then, the task, describe the main duties that you needed to complete. Then, the action, outline the steps that you took to meet your goals. The result, share the results of your efforts. And the learning, explain what you'd do differently or what you'd repeat in the future. You might prep for this question by thinking of five interesting stories that highlight your best qualities and relevant experience. Practice using these stories ahead of time to answer different types of questions. And remember, it's okay to talk about challenges and failures, but make sure you emphasize the positive lessons that you learned and that your team learned from the experience. Because every project team needs professionals just like you who can help them meet their deadline successfully.

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