Hiring a Project Manager

Project Management is all about taking right decisions. Let us start by hiring a good experienced PM.

So how do you hire an experienced Project Manager?

1. Look for sound education
2. Look for PMP or equivalent certification
3. Look for experience with large companies
4. Look for relevant domain experience
5. Look at the quantum of projects managed by candidate

Nay!

None of these will tell you if you are hiring the right PM. Consider above things only after you have asked the right questions.

What are deterministic questions for finding the right candidate? Call the prospective candidate for a face to face discussion and ask the following:

What kind of tough situations have you faced and what did you do to overcome them?
A candidate who has never faced a tough situation in professional career is clearly not an experienced candidate.
Remember application of heavy duty overtime to overcome a situation that was created by the PM herself is no indication of worthiness of candidate. The situation would have been created by wrong or untimely decisions or by insufficient planning and control.

How many projects did you manage successfully?
Various organizations have conducted many studies and surveys to determine the success or failure rate of projects. Invariably it has been found out that bulk of the projects fail. Some are shelved immediately after initiation while others are challenged (there are huge cost or time over-runs or they fail to meet the original scope). Refer to following link for one such study


http://www.standishgroup.com/outline

If a candidate says that most of the projects failed then she either does not know what is a project or she is exaggerating.

Happy hunting…