
In this lecture you work through the five ways a project manager answer loses points and the move that replaces each one, then.
This course is built from six disciplines: project management, hiring scorecards, competency interviewing, interviewer training, interview preparation and job search.
The map of the course
A dictionary for reading lectures filmed for the hiring side as preparation for your own interview
Three questions to ask after every lecture
A short self-diagnostic that shows which sections to watch first
Download the Interview Answer Rebuild worksheet and fill it in for one project you can describe.
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (1)
What a project is, and the four stages every one of them goes through
The role of the project manager, and the main challenges in the job
The PMBOK 7 principles and performance domains
How to apply the principles rather than quote them
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (3)
Models and methods explained (3)
Collecting ideas and building the business case
Developing the project charter
Cost-benefit analysis, and choosing which project to run
Stewardship, ethics and stakeholder interests at the start
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (3)
Who your stakeholders are, and compiling the list
Prioritising them
Assessing influence against interest
Planning engagement using the Stakeholders domain
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (3)
Establishing the need for the project
Defining start and end points
Setting boundaries, and documenting assumptions
The development approach and life cycle domain
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (6)
Breaking the project into parts and labelling them
Describing the plan as a diagram
Identifying risks, and planning time
The network diagram, and planning for adaptability
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (3)
Time planning methods and estimating activity durations
Displaying the schedule, and the Gantt chart
Identifying participants and using a human resources matrix
The Team performance domain in planning
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (8)
Models and methods explained (3)
Project cost, and the different types of it
The three stages of a project budget
Identifying risk factors and assessing them
Managing risk under the Measurement and Uncertainty domains
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Models and methods explained (2)
Building the structure for the project
Working inside a matrix organisation
Defining roles and responsibilities, and allocating tasks
Kicking off and running the team
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (8)
What project control actually means
Reporting progress and monitoring expenses
Handling deviations
The communications plan, and running project meetings
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (10)
Models and methods explained (4)
Planning the closure
Administrative matters
Surveying the results
Bringing the principles and domains together at the end
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (8)
What a scorecard is, and how it differs from a checklist
Why 78% of hiring decisions are made within ten minutes
The halo effect, cloning, and deciding by gut feeling
The formula for the cost of a bad hire
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (3)
The three tabs of a scorecard and how they connect
The thirty-minute intake meeting that sets your requirements
Must-have against nice-to-have, across hard skills, soft skills and culture fit
Behavioural indicators, and the five-point anchored rating scale
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Models and methods explained (1)
Where the card sits between the job description, the tracking system and onboarding
RACI: who creates it, who evaluates, who decides
How it is adapted for technical roles and executive search
Quality of Hire and the Interviewer Calibration Score
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (1)
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Where the language of competencies came from
What separates a hard skill from a soft one
Why interviewers use this language at all
The ready-made libraries: Lominger, TMA, Deloitte
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Models and methods explained (3)
The basics of scorecard development
How competencies are profiled from the company's top performers
The list of competencies and behavioural indicators
How the question list is generated from that profile
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (1)
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (1)
What competency-based interviewing actually is
The behavioural and the situational interview
The panel interview and the stress interview
Interview structure, and the skills a good interviewer brings
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (10)
What the CARE and STAR techniques are
Achievement-based interviewing after Lou Adler
How interviewers take notes while you speak
How an interviewer works out whether a candidate is inventing
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
The competency assessment scale
How behavioural indicators are analysed
Other assessment methods, and how valid each one is
Role plays and assessment centre exercises
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Models and methods explained (9)
The methods used to assess a candidate's motivation
Negotiating salary
Personality assessment and off-the-shelf tests
Gathering references, and how the hiring decision is made
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (2)
Models and methods explained (1)
The aims and objectives of the interview
Structured, semi-structured and unstructured formats
Building a job profile and developing questions
Whether a stress interview is worth running at all
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (14)
Assessment methods: STAR, and behavioural questions
The competency map, and where interviewers source questions
Active listening, clarifying questions, and interpreting answers
Reading non-verbal behaviour, and building rapport
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (1)
Criteria for measuring soft skills against hard skills
How a test task is designed and evaluated
Bias and stereotypes in evaluation
Comparing and weighing candidates against each other
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Models and methods explained (6)
How results and observations are documented
The competency matrix used to compare candidates
How constructive feedback is given to a candidate
Confidentiality and the legal side
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
While you are answering, the interviewer is ticking boxes on a form you have never seen. Most preparation ignores that form entirely. Here are 321 tools to prepare for it: 212 ready-to-use templates, question lists, procedures and AI prompts, 77 models and methods, 17 services shown on screen and 15 working files.
Open a lecture, take the answer template, and prepare your first three stories.
Why strong project managers fail interviews
Candidates prepare by rereading PMBOK and hoping for the right question. They answer at length, skip results, and do not know which competencies are being scored. Difficult questions about salary or conflict are improvised, and the CV never reaches the interviewer.
What changes after this course
You know the scorecard, the competencies and the cases interviewers use. Your answers are structured, short and backed by results, difficult questions are prepared, your CV passes screening, and you negotiate the offer.
What is inside: 321 tools, counted lecture by lecture
You do not have to take this number on trust. Open any lecture and read its description: every tool inside is listed there by name.
Where the tools are
Project management knowledge (4 sections, 98 tools). The role, PMBOK 7, scope, plan, budget, risk, team, control and closure.
How you are assessed (3 sections, 85 tools). Scorecards, competency interviews, STAR, CARE and assessment centres.
The interviewer's side (2 sections, 48 tools). Preparation, question design, scoring and ranking.
Your answers (2 sections, 88 tools). Experience, cases and difficult questions on salary and conflict.
CV and job search (2 sections, 37 tools). Recruiter screening, resilience and salary negotiation.
Who is teaching
I am Mike, the #1 HR instructor on Udemy, with 1,800,000+ course enrollments from 170,000 students, and the author of about 200 books on Amazon. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn and worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank across 20 years in HR. I hold PHRi, SHRM-CP and HCI sHRBP certifications and represent HRCI in Eastern Europe.
When I was hired at Wargaming, I was interviewed by two future subordinates, ten direct managers and about five heads of other departments my role would work with. The approval process took two or three weeks, and only the fact that they kept me informed kept my motivation for the company.
How to use the course
Start with how you are assessed, then refresh the project knowledge and prepare your answers. Section and lecture titles show how many tools are inside, and each lecture description lists them by name.
What is included
Where to start
Write down three projects you led with a result in numbers for each, then open the STAR lecture. Enrol now and start your first lesson today.