A project manager is an important part of the team, responsible for the well-being of everyone, as well as for processes and projects. SoftServe employs more than 850 project managers in seven countries. Such a huge community in the company is taken care of by Project Management Office. This is the center of competence and expertise in project management, which is engaged in the development of PMs, their training, performance evaluation and hiring.
At SoftServe, we have developed an innovative approach to recruiting PMs, which, first of all, allows the specialists to realize their potential in the company. In particular, we determine not only the level, but also the profile of PMs, and focus on the practical experience of a person. Inna Perevalova, PMO Competence Manager, shared the ins and outs of becoming a project manager. This article will help you prepare for a technical interview and understand how the process works at SoftServe.
What is a technical interview for a Project Manager?
Technical interview is conducted by experts: Senior Project Managers and Delivery Leaders. During the interview, we try to understand the candidate's technical background, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and find out where they can best realize themselves in the company. The meeting usually lasts up to two hours.
SoftServe focuses mainly on a person's practical experience
Of course, this experience is discussed at the technical interview within the framework of standard competencies (communication, stakeholder management, people management, finance, procurement, risk management, etc.):
- Real situations on projects
- Approaches they have used
- Processes they established or emulated, etc.
You do not need to know everything, quote PMBOK, or have other PM kung fu techniques. After all, to be a good manager you need to "live" your projects. Of course, knowledge is important. A structured theoretical base is always a plus. But this is not the main thing. The most important thing is experience.
At the beginning of the interview, there is always an introduction, and then the expert tells you how the interview itself is going to take place. And instead of theoretical questions like "Imagine the situation...", you will be asked practical questions where you can show your experience and skills.
Here are examples of questions that you will hear at a technical interview:
After the interview, any candidate will receive valuable feedback. If you successfully pass the interview, this feedback will help you advance in the company or will be useful in order to improve your skills. In particular, you will get:
- Level of knowledge according to SoftServe level-gradation
- Profile for further vertical growth
- Detailed list of the candidate's strengths
- List of skills that need to be improved in order for the Project Manager to be able to develop from the first day in the company
All questions for Project Managers are extremely practical and correlate with the internal standards of project management in the company. In fact, internal Project Managers and potential candidates are evaluated by PMO on the same scale. As a result, the candidate has the opportunity not only to assess their level of knowledge, but also to understand their profile.
What are Project Manager profiles?
Each person's experience is unique. But some projects have similar characteristics: size, type of contract, distribution of responsibilities. Therefore, having experience with similar projects is a certain guarantee that the PM has more chances to succeed in each of the following projects of this type.
This principle is inherent in the very idea of profiling. Project Manager profile is a carefully thought out set of works, skills and knowledge, using which PM can achieve success on a specific type of project. Multiplying this by the experience and scale of the work performed, the Project Manager is guaranteed vertical growth in each of the four main profiles:
The profiles are based on the specifics of SoftServe projects, namely the difference between how the roles in the project decision-making process are distributed between the team and the client, as well as the extent to which the client is technical and the project is high-tech. Thus, we have four combinations of such distribution.
Each of them has its own "ideal" PM, who will most naturally and easily lead such a project to success. For example, for high-tech projects for technical customers, it is desirable for the Project Manager to have technical background, and for less technological projects, where most decisions are made on the client's side, organizational and communication skills come to the fore.
Project Manager at SoftServe can have an unlimited number of profiles. For example, if a person works with one type of project, but would also like to develop their skills and improve in another profile, then they can get an additional profile.
Currently, it is difficult for me to separate my two profiles: Project Manager and Team Manager. I would say that there is a certain amount of conventionality here. When you know the principles of how everything should work, when you understand what exactly is happening and what knowledge or skills you need to apply, you begin to " strengthen deep muscles" and build expertise.
PMO makes sure that each profile meets the needs of the community and the business. For example, a PM does the work of a Project Manager, but also has relevant experience for the Team Manager profile. Accordingly, their main profile will be Project Manager, and Team Manager will be an additional (secondary) profile. And there can be even several such secondary profiles, including the Agile Consultant profile.
What profiles and levels of knowledge are there?
Within each profile there are levels. Work in the PM function starts with the PM Trainee level. This is followed by Coordinator, Manager and Senior Manager levels. The difference between these levels is due to skills and scope, and where the skills are applied.
Trainee is a person with minimal experience who learns to lead projects and does so under the guidance of an experienced Project Manager. Profiling does not apply at this level, as the person is still gaining experience and determining the direction of further growth.
Coordinator is a manager of medium-sized projects, which are usually part of a medium-sized program or independent project in a developing unit. The main focuses are time, budget, scope and quality. From this level, profiling begins to take effect, as this manager independently leads a certain type of project.
Manager is a manager of medium-sized projects, which are usually part of a larger program or an independent stream in a developing unit. Main focuses are time, budget, scope and quality, plus project profitability and growth.
Senior Manager is a manager of a single large project. Main focuses, in addition to those mentioned above, are project management excellence, support for the development of other Project Managers, and the success of the project and the division.
Program Manager is a manager of a program of projects that is part of the unit's portfolio. Main focuses are alignment and synchronization of project management processes within the program, excellence of project management processes, development of Project Managers.
What are the benefits of profiles and the ecosystem in general?
Each PM is a unique person with special experience, so it is important to take into account ALL of it. Each profile (there can be several) has a "map", competence standards, with a transparent vision of the necessary steps for career and professional growth, to which there is constant access. In the first days of work, you get a full-fledged onboarding, and also the opportunity to get a soft-skill or hard-skill mentor. From the moment you become part of SoftServe, you have the opportunity to influence processes, PMO projects, become an expert, mentor, collect best practices and share knowledge with the community through a convenient platform.
Read also: how to build great relatioship in project management