This article will show you a few but the most important sample questions and answers that a project manager may face in an interview.Please read all the questions carefully and prepare your own version of the answers depending on what kind or type of projects you already have completed.
Q: Please describe a project that you undertaken?
I have the opportunity to undertake a data network capacity upgrade and software update project of a mobile phone operator. The project objective was to increase data capacity and update the data node software’s in order to provider our user’s better bandwidth and to accommodate more users at a time in the network. The project was mainly divided into the following parts.
!. BTS level capacity increase
2. Abis link(the link between mobile devices and the Base station) capacity increase
3. Replace the existing backbone routers
4. Update the software of data node and AAA Server (accounting), authorization and authentication servers)
5. Testing network redundancy
6. Testing access network data throughput
7. Billing package test (both prepaid and post-paid)
8. Monitoring the operation closely for a agreed upon time after the final test, before closing the project.
The main concern of the project was to avoid network outage if our software up-gradation failed and/or database got corrupted. So before that start of the phase I had to prepare a software roll back plan and had to keep the option open for keeping the data service on in-case of software failure, which was approved by our network’s General Manager.
This project was completed successfully without causing any service disruption by allowing the authorization process to bypass the AAA, only during the time of software up-gradation.
Q: Describe a project you have undertaken which was not delivering its objectives.
I did not have the opportunity to experience such type of incidents. But this type of negative experience is necessary-though not desired always- to develop strong skills to run a project that is not meeting objectives. Though we know that the risk factor exists in every project and the higher the experiment of a project manager the higher the possibility that the project manager will identify the probable potential problems before the starting of a project
Q:Example of an excellent customer service
One of our customers (a Bank) who used our wireless VPN service had complained for low data speed to our local customer care centre and expressed strong dissatisfaction to our service with a threat to switch on to the other service provider. Unfortunately, our local customer centre could not give him the expected level of service and escalated that case to me. As I was the data service in-charge(technical) in that time, I called that client, and said sorry for his ongoing problems with data connectivity, and was able to convince him that the problem might be in the communication equipments in his offices or with our base station transceiver or it can be a wireless interference related problems. I assured him that I was giving his problem the highest level of priority, and would send our expert team to his office to take a look at the situation within 24 hours. He agreed with me and allowed me time to solve that problem. And within less than 12 hours, we solved his problem and he continued with our service.
What I learned from this incident is that even a dissatisfied customer has the mindset to listen to you if you politely express your views, with confidence, for any inconvenience, which he is going through, and show him that you are paying 100 percent attention to him what he is saying about the problems. Finally, we should not make any promise to our customers that we cannot keep in the long-run.
