In this professional world, the competition is always fierce among applicants. The challenges of getting a job depend on the way you answer job interviews. Since our concern is offering you the best guidelines to win a job, today’s article is about explaining a project in an interview for both freshers and experienced candidates. Let’s get started!

Why This Interview Question?

Many job seekers describe their skills in CVs or resumes, as being able to manage time, a team, or a task or CV. Now, the big day has come! It’s time to prove what you have said! How would you manage a project? You can expect this interview question if you have applied for a job related to project management in technical fields or engineering.

To get selected, you need to concentrate on your strengths and talents to explain a project. Although every job interview answer should be unique, preparing the solutions of the most expected questions can uplift you from the crowd. You can also expect some embarrassing question, like this one, Tell me About a Time You Failed Interview Question.

How to Describe a Project for an Experienced Candidate,

As an experienced applicant, you have probably dealt with collective work and projects. For example, a hiring manager will ask you about the projects you have worked on. This question inquires about two things:

Your project management skills and your project management experience

Describing Experience:

Your work experience is already mentioned in your CV. As you are answering a behavioral job interview, you need to give these details:

• Define the project you were responsible for
• Describe the tasks you have done.
• Show them the project before and after your management.

For this reason, you need to prepare a list of all the projects you have dealt with. Mention your role, the circumstances of your work, and the workplace. Some experts employ the term STAR ( which refers to Situation, Task, Action, and Result) as a strategy to answer this question.

Situation: define briefly what was the situation in your previous work experience

Task: describe your job position and the major tasks you were doing

Action: tell them a brief overview of the project and what it requires

Result: the final stage of your project. You can briefly tell them the before and after effect.

Describing Your Skills:

Your skills play an essential role in your professional life. For example; the way you approach the project challenges can show:

Problem-solving skills: to show that you have this feature, you can tell them, for example, the limits you have faced while managing the project. They can be technical limits, lack of sources, or it can be a problem with the team members, misunderstanding. It’s up to you to reveal how you have operated your problem-solving skills.

Leadership skills: you can tell employers how you assign tasks to your team.

Decision making: making a decision is not an easy task. You need to show interviewers that you take the right choice through these steps:

• Think about the consequences and counting the risks
• Taking the opinion of my team members because a successful project requires balanced collaboration
• Consult experts before making a final decision: show your interview that your role as a project manager is to consult an expert before taking the final step.

Time management: tell employers how you managed a project and completed your tasks by meeting the deadlines.

How to Describe a Project for a Fresh graduate?

Here is a challenge for fresh candidates. How to describe a project when you didn’t get the change to manage any yet? You should not panic for lacking this practical side from your life. You can instead logically explain a project.

Before your job application, here is How to Write a CV for Freshers.

1.Tell Them About the Ways to Manage a Project Relying on Your Academic Knowledge:

As a fresh graduate, you have probably managed academic projects and researched a specific field. You need to select academic projects that require a set of skills, such as:

• Critical thinking
• Creativity
• Organization
• Time-management
• Leadership

2. Draw the Connection Between your Assumptions and Real Situations:

In this case, you should persuade your interviewer about the efficiency of specific skills (soft skills, hard skills, and transferable skills), including the knowledge you have obtained in your academic fulfillment. 

3. Guarantee Expected Results:

Since your explanation is based on the theoretical assumption, it will be hard for you to make interviewers believe you. Therefore all you need to do is:

-Talk about the rewards and the advantages of your method in managing a project: you can explain the technologies that you have dealt with during your studies.

-Give examples: mention the success stories of specific industries that managed to succeed by following the tips you have theoretically listed for managing a project.

-Try to provide what the interviewer expects: in general terms, interviewers want positive outcomes with fewer risks and expenses. Try to guarantee them that your method in managing a project is effective and less expensive.

Now, after exploring the purposes and the extends of this interview question, it is time to craft sample answers.

During my college days, I was working on an ecological project. It aims at turning organic garbage into plant fertilizer. The first step for this project is to share awareness among people to classify garbage and wastes into organic and non-organic wastes. So as chemical students, we made a specific can for organic garbage that directly turns wastes into fertilizers. As a passionate person for computers and designs, my role was to produce leaflets and announcements on the internet to persuade people to collaborate in this project. I also conducted an internet survey to see how people would react to the project. After that, with the help of some environmental organizations and locals, we managed to provide a specific can for turning organic wastes into fertilizers. Then, this project took action for two months. The results were surprising in terms of curbing pollution and protecting the environment. My project obtained the appreciation of my college dean, and an environmental organization later financed it.

Taking this example:

The applicant has briefly introduced the project and what was their aim. Then, he/ she described his/her skills and roles in the project. Then, after a specific duration, the applicant described the results and the benefits of this project. You can also follow 9 Tips for a Successful Interview.

This was all about describing a project in a job interview. Try to follow these procedures. Highlight your skills and experience for better convincing answers. You can join Fratres for more professional tips and updates.