Project control and co-ordination

Former Member · February 2009

Hey.

I'm soon to graduate from University of Leeds with a degree in computing and e-health. I'm going for a project co-ordinator role in an American company. I am soon to have an interview and the following hints were given

"You are going to be in contact with directors, internal/external IT departments, medical staff, marketing staff, etc. You have to be politically correct and very firm"

I am going to be given scenario questions and asked about my past experience.

Does anyone have any advice? It would be much appreciated, even pointing to a resource! I've gone over a few scenarios in my head, for example what if I am pressured into delaying the project for a day, or trying to push staff on the project but not burn them out, etc.

Thanks, Steve

vero · February 2009

Hi Steve,

this sounds like an interesting opportunity and you seem very excited about your interview. I have been working in project managing and co-ordinating roles for many years and here’s a brief summary of what I found helpful …

- You could think of situations you experienced where you had to convince your professor/authority of a plan/project, knowing that he couldn’t see the need for it/was possibly against it; think of how you accomplished this task/could have accomplished; think of how you interact with people when you have to accomplish a task like that; think of what you did when you couldn’t convince this person/group (‘plan B’ and escalation scenario); think of how to keep everybody ‘on board’ …
- It seems they are looking for someone who is able to ‘juggle’ all stakeholders whilst keeping the project going. They will probably want to find out if you are capable of talking to the point, procure everybody’s respect and maintain a positive working atmosphere.
- Resources: If you put ‘project management’ or ‘questions for job interview’ into a search engine it will come up with thousands of good links and resources. It’s so much that I find it quite overwhelming, however, I always enjoy sponging up as much as I can and then letting it completely go … It did help me coming up with the key answers when needed and gave me a deeper understanding of vocabulary and connections.
- Also, have a look at these articles on TheSite ‘Blitzing job interview’ and ‘Body language for interviews’

Generally, I found it most helpful to focus on the following before an interview:
- Forget everything I had read or rehearsed, listen exactly to the question asked, take a minute to breathe and think and then answer.
- Ask questions – this shows interest
- Be true to myself

Fingers crossed!
vero

Former Member · February 2009

I'll bear some of that in mind.

Thanks for your input.

Former Member · February 2009

do you have any experience of project management methodologies, such as PRINCE2, SSADM, RAD etc?

Former Member · February 2009

i was a project co-ordinator for a smallish UK manufacturing company for a good few years and its fucking hard work, lots of stress, hard to switch off, constantly getting/making phone calls even outside work hours. however if you put the effort in there were some good rewards.

i dont have any "official" project management quals like PRINCE or anything and learnt it on the job, i found using a diary, both outlook diary and day book diary alongside MS project helped a lot.

when things are going good its ace fun, when its bad its bad.

i've since moved onto pastures new but it certainly set me up in the right direction for what i do now, as a Contracts manager.

god knows how the yanks do it tho!

:thumb:

Project control and co-ordination

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