I recently interviewed for a Project Manager role and wanted to share my experience to help future candidates.
I successfully cleared the first round with a Project Manager, which was fairly comprehensive and aligned with my experience. The second round was scheduled with a Program Manager, but unfortunately, the experience was quite disappointing.
The second interview lasted only about 10–12 minutes and covered a very limited set of questions:
• Introduction
• Reason for leaving current organization
• Agile practices
• Choice of AI tools (ChatGPT vs Claude)
• How project revenue was calculated
While I answered all questions based on my 5+ years of experience in project management, I was later informed that I lacked flexibility, domain knowledge, Agile expertise, and stakeholder management skills.
What I found concerning was that none of these areas were meaningfully assessed during the interview. It is difficult to evaluate such critical competencies in a very brief interaction without asking scenario-based or experience-driven questions.
Additionally, I came across a similar experience shared by another candidate, which suggests this may not be an isolated case.
I did request an additional round with a different panel member for a fair assessment, but that was declined.
Constructive feedback for the organization:
• For senior roles like Project Manager, interviews should include deeper discussions around real project scenarios, stakeholder handling, risk management, and delivery challenges.
• Evaluation should align with the areas being assessed.
Overall, the process felt rushed and did not reflect a thorough evaluation of candidate capabilities. I hope this feedback helps improve the interview experience for future candidates.