Volume 5 Issue 1 - December 2009 Print

PMP Passport - Project Management Institute - Making project management indispensable for business results
Knowledge Zone
Stand-Out Interview Skills

Highlight your skills, experience and credential to help you stand out to potential employers.

The last issue of PMP Passport included Tips to Refresh Your Job Search. Here human resource experts and credential holders offer their advice for making the right impression during your next interview.

While your résumé may get your foot in the door, you still need to pass the real test: the interview. You need to keep thinking like a salesperson, and sell your skills and yourself.

Credential holders have an upper hand and should leverage it, but you also need to articulate your achievements and the contributions you can make to the organization.

Make Your Value Known
Your potential employer may not be familiar with the PMP credential. Therefore, it’s up to you to describe what the credential signifies, the work you put in to earning and maintaining it, and how it will help you on the job.

The credential is not only proof that you have project leadership experience and competence in performing tasks, but it also requires you to hone your skills and stay abreast of the latest tools and techniques through the maintenance requirements.

But don’t just tell your potential employer that and think you’ll get the job. Provide other evidence of your worth as a project manager. Go to the interview with a copy of a project management plan and explain the challenges and opportunities you encountered and how you applied lessons learned, suggests Naomi Caietti, PMP, a Virtual Community Leader for the PMI Project Human Resource Management Community of Practice.

Tie Your Assets to the Organization’s Success
It’s also important to discuss how you can contribute to the organization’s bottom line. Explain that employing a PMP credential holder provides solid advantages to the organization because you use tangible, repeatable methodologies and techniques.

“You need to attend the interview [showing] how you can make a significant contribution to greater profits or demonstrate how you can reduce costs [through the process you use],” says John Cornish, a chartered marketer at project management consultancy Micro Planning International Ltd., Wimborne, Dorset, England. “[This] will separate you from the rest of the crowd and get you noticed.”

Highlight Your Mastery of Soft Skills
In an interview, the PMP credential goes a long way to prove you have a grasp of the technical skills such as risk management, resource management and scheduling. But don’t forget to spend some time pointing out proficiencies in areas like conflict management, emotional intelligence and leadership.

Call on past experiences that demonstrate your people skills and be sure to use references able to point out these traits to potential employers. Employers want good project managers who come with both hard and soft skills, Ms. Caietti says.

Be Prepared
Part of how you present yourself comes from your research on the company and the position, and then knowing how to leverage that information on pre-interview phone screenings or during the interview itself.

Also remember that in today’s virtual world, your potential new employer can research you too. Technology has given interviewers a new source for assessing a candidate’s strengths—and weaknesses. Rosemary Hossenlopp, PMP, founder of Project Management Perspectives, LLC, Mountain View, California, USA, sees more and more employers researching perspective employees’ business acumen before they even walk in the door.

Keep your participation in networking sites like LinkedIn and Plaxo strictly professional. Don’t be afraid to show off your expertise through a personal, but professional, blog or through Twitter. And always be sure to include your “PMP” designation after your name.

Quick Tips for Interviewing
PMP Passport had asked readers about their job interview experiences. One of the responses summed up the following quick tips:

  1. Present yourself with confidence toward performing any project task.
  2. Do not use your PMP credential as the golden key. Bring all your skills (technical and soft) and experience to the interview.
  3. Ask the employer for the long-term goals for creating a PMO if none exists.
  4. Assess the employer’s willingness for supporting further training and professional development that awards you PDUs.

James Ostad, PMP, project manager based in Grand Blanc, Michigan, USA.

Use your PMI Resources

PMI’s PathPro®
No matter where you are in your career—starting, building or advancing—PMI’s PathPro can help you prepare for the next step. This unique career development tool helps you determine where your skill-set and experience place you on the project management career ladder.

PMI’s Career Headquarters
Talented project professionals are in demand all over the world. If it is time to move onward or upward in your career, Career Headquarters is an excellent project management employment resource.

Membership in a PMI Chapter
PMI’s geographically-based chapters often host forums and networking events on job searching and career advancement as well as job fairs and special seminars. Mahmood Kahn, director of professional development programs for the PMI Silicon Valley, California Chapter based in California, USA recently held a session at the North America Congress highlighting the chapter’s “Job Search to Job Creation Program.” Launched in 2009, the program addresses the needs of members in job transition using several tools, including professional coaching, employer and member matching, learning and networking opportunities and workshops.

Do you have a comment about this article or would you like to offer more advice or tips for conducting a successful job interview? E-mail the PMP Passport Editor. PMI would like to hear from you and may consider your response for future publications.