Demonstrating your knowledge of project management tools


 

Demonstrating your knowledge of project management tools




During an interview for a project manager position, the interviewer may ask you to discuss the project management tools you are familiar with or have used in the past. There are many types of project management tools that you will come across during your career. These tools will continue to grow and change as technology improves. Being able to talk about these tools, and how you use them, will be crucial to landing the role.

In addition to the interviewer asking general questions about tools, they may ask more specific questions, like “How do you know if a project is off track?” It’s important to tie this answer back to the types of scheduling tools you have learned about in this course. If you haven’t had experience working with certain scheduling tools, like Smartsheet or digital spreadsheets—try to leverage real-life experience. 

For example, have you ever planned for a move? If so, you can discuss how you planned your timeline and scheduled vendors so that you could meet your move date. Did you use a spreadsheet to keep track of your budget, schedule, and belongings? This experience demonstrates you understand how to use tools. It also demonstrates that you know the importance of creating, monitoring, and managing the project schedule to deliver results at project completion. 

Another related question the interviewer may ask could be, “How do you execute tasks within your timeline?” This is a great opportunity to demonstrate your ability to be productive by sharing your experience with tools, such as digital documents or spreadsheets. These tools help you create project artifacts, track tasks, and store project details in one place! You can also use them as a collaboration tool because they are easily shareable with teammates and stakeholders and allow for real-time updates. 

Finally, there are special project management tools, also called work management tools, that put all the benefits discussed above into one place. Project management tools such as Asana, Monday.com, Basecamp, and Trello are among some of the top ranked tools for managing projects.  These tools help you plan, track, and complete work across many project phases. They often have visually appealing layouts and automated features that save time and create efficiency in a project manager’s day-to-day tasks.  Explaining your knowledge of these tools—and how they benefit the project manager, team, and company—in an interview is a great way to demonstrate that you are qualified for the role.

Pro tip: Learn more by trying free tutorials or trial versions of popular project management tools. By navigating project management software, you will be able to explain the uses and functionality of these types of tools firsthand. Here are some examples to get started:

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