How Project Management Really Works

I’ve been noticing that more and more interviewers are beginning to ask: How are your project management skills? On the surface, this question seems lofty and somewhat impenetrable.

One may even think that the question is simply answering, “Yes, I have great project management skills, ” or “I have absolutely no concept of project management skills – what’s that mean anyway?”

Exactly. What does that mean, anyway?

Project management is the super-sized job jargon equivalent to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Any sort of interpretation can be stuffed into its smorgasbord of definitions, but eventually, they end up gorging your brain with confusion.

When you are asked this, what is the interviewer really trying to find out? S/He isn’t particularly interested in how great of a calendar you keep, that you have an amazing memory or a penchant for calling weekly meetings.

They want to know your specific thought process; how do you translate your ideas into action? After all, the main crux of project management is not the actual management – but if the project ever manages to get created.

To repeat, project management can be anything – but so few people can appropriately apply it to themselves. Superficially, project management is about how well you organize a group of tasks (i.e. communicating, scheduling, follow-through, etc.) to get something done.

The heart of PM skills rely on the illusion of being able to multitask. But don’t worry, there really is no such thing as multitasking, it’s actually about doing one thing really well one step at a time.

When you run into the fearsome language of PM speak – be wary of buzz words. Calendar management, event coordination – even the actual word project management can make even the most steadfast interviewer glaze her eyes over in boredom. Avoid using them – be creative and demonstrate the project in question. What do I mean? See below:

As a new intern, you got stuck doing work for various co-workers that had little to do with your field of [insert study here]. Over time, you are left never knowing what your true job responsibilities or learning more about [insert study here].

It got so frustratingly annoying that you organized coffee and doughnut mixers amongst the department and company staff with the ulterior motive of finding out what jobs were available so you could switch seamlessly without necessarily having to leave the company.

No potential employer has to know that version of the story, but instead, they can become acquainted with the reality that you:

Created monthly company wide networking mixers for approximately 100 employees

Or, something like this:

You were hired to perform the tedious and very boring task of reorganizing program files for the [insert name] department. The person who held the position before you lazily (and haphazardly) threw papers into a manila folder figuring they would never see the light of day again.

Unfortunately, now your department is getting audited and needs someone (YOU) to organize over 7 years worth of contracts, tax documents, correspondence and marketing material - pronto.

Created customized records management system for [insert department name here] using Microsoft Excel and Smead Color Labeling System

Great PM skills are equal opportunity factors that take your professional background from very, very boring to unabashedly interesting. And, if you feel emboldened to do so, throw in a “quantifiable” measure such as “caused reduction in internal auditing by 15%.”

But,  be careful not to take your newfound discovery of past project management skills into the Land of the Ridiculous and shamelessly lie instead.