Project Manager Mock Interview
Master 50 Project Manager interview questions covering scope, stakeholders, risk, and delivery.
Question 22 of 50
How do you manage customers and stakeholders?
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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 interact with and oversee many different groups during projects, ranging from vendors and teams to customers, executives, and stakeholders. The interviewer wants to know how you change your communication style and approach depending on who your audience is, particularly when the person or group you're addressing has authority over the project.
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,
"Communication is one of the most important parts of my job. I have to convey expectations, establish boundaries, maintain control, soothe disgruntled workers and/or stakeholders, and so much more. When it comes to customers and stakeholders, I aim to please them and keep them 100% satisfied. I do this by initiating communication early on and then keeping them updated on the progress of the project.
Some stakeholders and clients want frequent communication while others don't. I gauge this and then react appropriately. In general, my conversations with stakeholders and customers are concise and just overviews unless they have requested additional detail. If something changes during the project, I keep them apprised so they are fully aware of any potential changes to the project's budget or timeline."
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,
Discuss how you convey the project's objectives, costs, and timelines to customers and stakeholders. It can be helpful to provide a generic response and then communicate your understanding that each client, customer, or stakeholder is different and you customize your approach accordingly. Interviewers are more likely to resonate with your response if you can clearly demonstrate your ability to deploy a variety of communication styles based on what works best for the individuals involved.
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Anonymous Answer
It is very important to have effective communication with Customers and Stakeholders. Having them on board is critical to project success. Whether it is via regular project status updates or direct one-on-one discussions as a project manager you need to keep them in the loop. Each stakeholder is different so you need to tailor your communication strategy to that person, but generally regular and focused communication regarding the project in my experience has resulted in favorable outcomes.
Amanda's Feedback
Good job! Clear, timely communication is vital to partnering successfully with customers and stakeholders. You can make this response more memorable by talking about a recent project that required you to manage multiple stakeholders. Share how you tailored your communication to each stakeholder, how you built a trusting relationship, and how that helped you to overcome obstacles or tackle challenges effectively to achieve project deliverables on time and within budget.
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