Tell me about a time when you were effective at managing multiple projects at once.
"Initially in my career, I struggled with proper task prioritization; however, I have improved greatly by researching proper workflow management techniques and customizing an approach that works best with my leadership style. Now, juggling multiple projects is my forte! I recently launched an organizational effectiveness survey for the department. At the same time, I introduced a new benefits plan for the US region and hired 13 new team members. The executive team has expressed appreciation for my ability to take on a large workload while maintaining my usual level of productivity and enthusiasm."
"I thrive under pressure, both personally and professionally. Currently, I am in charge of managing sales performance, employee scheduling, goal setting, reviews, hiring and termination, merchandising, and forecasting. Last quarter, our head office asked me to begin assisting with buying decisions. To make sure that I continued to meet expectations, I began to delegate tasks such as merchandising. This experience has shown that I am highly capable of running multiple ongoing projects simultaneously."
"A couple of months ago, I found myself working on four RFPs at one time, which was a significant undertaking. I was also responsible for fifteen direct reports, sales forecasting duties, and customer service management. To help juggle the workload, I put in a temporary request to transition some of our customer services accounts to the customer success team. I leaned on our project management software heavily to make sure that my tasks were timeline correctly. I also worked overtime a few days a week until all RFPs were submitted. I like to remain busy at work so this time, although challenging, was not overly stressful. This situation also reminded me that I have a helpful and talented team to rely on when workloads soar."
"Right now, I have 4 client projects on the go, ranging from budgets of 50K-200K. I rely heavily on my systems and apps such as Zoho and Salesforce to ensure these projects run smoothly. Luckily, I am a naturally organized individual, and I have an incredibly supportive team of creatives who are always on the ball."
"As an executive assistant, every project that the CEO has on his desk is, essentially, mine as well. Currently, I am handling his travel and stay arrangements for a two-week international conference and client tour. I am booking his meeting schedule while also making room on his calendar for special events. Tasks include purchasing event tickets and ensuring his wardrobe is suitable for the 14-day trip. I am managing my regular workload on top of all of this, of course. I have been an EA to this executive for eight years and over-deliver on expectations at every opportunity."
"This year, I have a much larger workload than usual after public school budget cuts resulted in the lay-off of my classroom assistant. Now, I block off time each evening to ensure that my students are not left waiting for their marks for more than three days. It is a heavy amount of responsibility; however, I don't mind working hard for my students and being an example of a strong work ethic."
As a manager, you may be required to lead various projects and deadlines simultaneously. The interviewer wants to see evidence of your ability to juggle multiple projects while maintaining poise. Assure the interviewer that you are capable of doing so by discussing your approach to a heavy workload.
This question is phrased as, 'Tell me about a time when.' This means that the interviewer expects you to provide a story-based example of when you achieved success in this type of situation. You can form a reply using the STAR answer framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
"Last month, I was asked to open three new client projects on the same day. This volume is not typical for our company; however, our project volumes have increased tremendously since a recent marketing push. I started by building a custom workflow in 'Monday PM,' our team's workflow management software. Then, I assigned important tasks and sub-tasks to the best-matched team members. I ensured that deadlines were clear and then held a team meeting to review expectations. My strong organizational skills ensured that my team remained in control every step of the way. Just yesterday, we delivered on-time drafts to each client, and now we await feedback and edit requests."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
"S: During my first year at the University of Bristol, I was balancing my degree alongside being a fresher's rep for two societies and in a sports team for a competition.
"T: It was my responsibility to ensure I had the energy to fulfill all commitments to the best of my ability.
"A: I always used my free periods to complete all urgent degree work, treating education as a 9 "“ 5 job, this left me with enough time to rest in between school and the training.
"R: By micro-managing my time through the Eisenhower box method, I was able to find balance, something I hold in high regard to this day.
Cindy's Feedback
Great. Assume your interviewer isn't familiar with the method you used to complete all your work. How does the method work? How do you apply it?
Anonymous Answer
As you can see from my resume, I handle different analytical projects from research, pricing tool development, implementation and maintenance, profit study and portfolio management, reinsurance structuring, to predictive models. I can do so effectively by ensuring that I delegate the proper tasks to the best-matched team member, and leverage the strength of IT, claims, and business. Most importantly, I tie those different areas together on a solid foundation: an actuarial data mart that connects premium loss, UW exposures, rater information, macroeconomics data together. This allows us to automate many reports through Power BI's functionality.
Cindy's Feedback
Good start. It sounds like you have a lot of experience to draw on. Focus on one example of handling different projects at once. How were you able to manage them all? What specific steps did you take to ensure that deadlines were met or details were attended to? What was the result?
Anonymous Answer
As a design lead, we burn around 300 sp's between fte and vendors other than my hands-on work like roci, etc. This is can be done by earlier planning and delegate user stories to the best-matched member so the delivery deadlines are met.
Marcie's Feedback
Definitely consider defining industry-specific terminology like 'sp' and 'fte'. Not everyone would immediately understand what these mean. In addition, consider adding more information to your example so it's clearer. Be sure to emphasize how it shows you effectively handling more than one project at a time.
Unlock all 25 Management questions
Unlock expert responses that demonstrate your leadership approach to interviewers.
Get Started