Project Manager Mock Interview
Master 50 Project Manager interview questions covering scope, stakeholders, risk, and delivery.
Question 6 of 50
Give me an example of a time when you successfully handled intense pressure.
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
Example Answer
Example Answer 2
How to Answer
Community Answers
Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
Project managers need to have the ability to juggle urgent deadlines, various personalities, sometimes unreasonable expectations, and more during complex projects. All of these moving parts can create a lot of stress, and the interviewer wants assurance that you can effectively manage high-pressure situations.
"There's no doubt that there's a lot of stress and pressure in the life of a project manager. I personally reframe the stress and look at it positively; I like variety in my work life and many times enjoy the challenges that arise. I see them as puzzles for me to figure out as quickly and efficiently as possible. Within my last role, we were two weeks out from the deadline with a few critical issues still needing to be resolved when one of my key team members got very sick and had to be hospitalized. I knew that I had to fix this fast so the project would stay on track. I re-assigned that person's high-priority tasks to other team members I trusted and hired some freelancer workers I had used in the past to handle his lower-priority tasks. I kept tabs on everything, and in the end, we pulled it off and the project was completed successfully."
Jessica is an experienced HR Business Partner with over 6 Years of experience in recruiting and interviewing for various industries including Oil & Gas, Aviation, Start-Up, Healthcare, and more.
"I recently had a situation in my current role where I presented timelines for a new project to my team and was told the team did not have the correct capability and capacity to carry out all required items. This was stressful and I had to sit down with the team and reshuffle existing tasks within the team to accommodate the new tasks. We were under pressure to get this new project and existing projects done. We had a 3-month timeline for this new project, and we spent a lot of late nights and weekends getting this new project done. We were able to get it done successfully."
Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
For questions like these, the STAR (situation, task, action result) method works well. Provide the background details necessary to set the stage, describe what was asked of you or what needed to be done, describe the specific actions you took, and then provide the details of the results of your actions.
Describe a time when you faced pressure from a number of angles. For example, you might discuss a project that had a strict deadline, a limited budget, and a difficult customer or team. Also, the value of your answer will increase if you are able to describe a scenario in alignment with the industry, the types of clients, or the types of projects you will likely manage if hired for the open role.
Interview Coach
Jaymie
A real coach, not AI. I read every answer myself and write back with personalized feedback.
Typically responds within 24 hours.
0 - Character Count
Anonymous Answer
Project managers are different in a lot of ways. One of the core character traits that good project managers have is the ability to focus under pressure. Recently, due to regulatory changes our project had an urgent change request that gave the team less than 1 month to complete. This would mean that we had to understand the change, determine the action items and work packages required to implement the change, and schedule testing all with precious time slipping away. Immediate action is to create a plan once you have identified all the pertinent details, and then stress and communicate the importance to your team. Hopefully, your team is in the Performing stage as my team was at this point in the project and they delivered upon the challenge that was thrown at them.
Amanda's Feedback
Great job! You've shared a recent situation in which you faced intense pressure and were still able to guide your team effectively to deliver the necessary change on time.
Unlock All 50 Project Manager Questions
Unlock expert responses to questions about budgets, timelines, and team leadership.
Get StartedJump to Question