Interview questions for PMO

A Capgemini PMO job will give you a high salary along with an opportunity to learn at every step of your career path. You will get a chance to develop new skills as well as improve on the existing ones. The Capgemini PMO job interview questions and answers will help you to get permanent placement in the organization. Many PMOs are created from internal team members who want to move across from project management into a PMO role. Or you may find bright and enthusiastic people from other divisions who would be a good fit for the PMO. However, it may also be necessary to look outside the organization to bring in some PMO expertise.

1. What Major Challenges Did You Face During Your Last PMO Manager Role? How Did You Handle It?

By what you answer, the interviewer will try to assess your problem-solving ability and know-how professionally you can tackle unforeseen events

“During my last role as a PMO manager, I faced a project, where risks and issues were not properly identified. So it could bring a potential delay on the deployment of the project. To overcome the roadblock, I evaluated the entire team to assess how equipped they are to adopt the new changes. I used various tools like Lean Six Sigma to undertake the task.”

2. How Valued Do You Feel By Capgemini?

The management within Capgemini is second to none, there appears to be no separation between junior and senior members of the company and everyone is out to help. Since being at Capgemini a year I have received 2 recognition awards for delivery excellence (£50 gift card), but they also offer many rewards for boxes of chocolates/wine etc. This is all to show that you are a valued employee of Capgemini and they do recognise your efforts and hard work.

3. How Would You Go About Setting Up A PMO?

From what you answer, the interviewer will try to assess if you have the required skill-set to create and manage a PMO. Here, they will also evaluate your managerial qualities.
Tip 1: List down the steps that you are going to talk about.
Tip 2: Demonstrate that you have undertaken the task of setting up a PMO before.
The first step to setting up a PMO is defining the objectives of the PMO. Answering the whys will help align the PMO with the organization. After defining the objectives, one has to acquire the mandates from the seniors to set up the PMO. The next step is to define what tools PMO will use and the process it will follow. After this, it is essential to outline what skills the resources should possess. The next step is to set up a communication channel to ensure the task is going as per the plan.

4. How Well Organised/structured Is Your Programme?

The excellent structure of the Advanced Apprentice Programme is apparent throughout the scheme. From the programme stages themselves being clearly identified via roadmap, to the detailed ideas gone into the Induction – They are all flawlessly executed. Training schedules vary depending on the type of role assigned, however, I would like to commend the support and training put in place in order for every individual to succeed within their programmes.

5. How Do You Share Best Practices Within A Team?

It is the responsibility of a PMO manager to supervise the entire team while ensuring everyone follows best practices. The Interviewer will try to assess if you are well aware of these standard practices or not.
Tip 1: First, state the importance of following the best practices in project management.
Tip 2: Your answer should reflect that you have experience in managing a PMO.
Adhering to standard practices in project management is paramount to achieve success and deliver a quality project. As a PMO manager, I will first form a case to why there is a need to implement best practices in the PMO. After this, I will develop the best practices by collaborating with other managers and then run a test.

6. How Much Support Do You Receive From Your Employer?

Not only do you receive support from the training providers, but also Line Managers, the HR Team, Mentors, Buddies, a wide range of people within the organisation. Everyone’s view is that Apprentices are the future and will spend every effort trying to gain new ideas from you and coach you so that you do not make the same mistakes as them.

7. Are There Many Opportunities Outside Of Work?

There are vast opportunities to get involved with outside of work which the company will support you with. For example, in February 2013 I decided to walk the length of Hadrians Wall for Cancer Research UK and Capgemini helped me raise money for this by including a post on the UK wide portal which every Capgemini employee has access to. This helped me raise over £1000 for Cancer Research; a number which I definitely would not have hit without them. As well as supporting your decisions outside of work Capgemini will also offer you social events to attend in order to widen the network of people you know.

8. Is PMO a good role?

Joining a large, program-level PMO is an excellent opportunity to further develop project management skills. Large programs, especially global programs, have many projects and work streams that require issue management, risk management, and change management across multiple teams.

9. What do you think a successful PMO would look like for us?

If the candidate struggles to answer this question, ask them to describe what success looks like in the PMO where they currently work.
They should talk about setting objectives and tracking progress against those. It doesn’t actually matter what the objectives are, as long as they are agreed by everyone.
Ideally, the interviewee should also make reference to the PMO supporting the strategic goals of the business. They should fit in so well to the organization that everyone wonders how you got by without them.

10. What are the roles and responsibilities of PMO?

Provide Expert Advice.
Project Support.
Project Management Standards and Methodology.
Training.
Maintain Lessons Learned.
Support Project Management Tools and Software.
Project Control.
Inter-project Communication.

11. Is a PMO role in demand?

It should allow you to grow your skills, gain a better understanding of your organisation and gain exposure to senior management. This will mean that you will become a more valuable resource to your organisation. Working in the PMO career path can be more rewarding than the project and portfolio roles.