In this very competitive world, hiring managers are in a situation to receive more than 1000 applications for a single opening. In order to showcase yourself out from the crowd, you need to concentrate on a few things on your resume which highlights your unique talents. One such thing which would be unique in every resume is the project. Project explanation in interview is very important and it is a good way to secure the job.
How to Explain Project in Interview with Example?
“Describe an important project you’ve worked on” is one of the most common questions you can expect in an interview. The purpose of asking this question is to check your project management experience and project management skills.
The other traits that they would like to check are, how you manage or deal with tough situations at work, your approach towards challenges, skills in leading a project successfully. So, you should answer this question carefully.
The first thing you need to do is prepare for this question in advance. As this is one of the common questions, you should very well be prepared with an effective answer. For it, you need to prepare a list of all your projects and clearly mention all the goals and the roles you have played in completing those projects.
Next step is to prepare an answer to the question and then answer it. Make use of the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach for creating the answer.
With the help of your answer, your interviewer should get to know about your priority setting, decision making, meeting deadlines, and assigning tasks etc.
Some of the points while preparing the answer are
1. Provide the best suitable example
2. Be clear and specific
3. Your role should be explained clearly
4. Brief them the mistakes to avoid
Project Explanation in Interview for Freshers and Experienced:
There are few things that any interviewer would expect from a project you have done previously irrespective of being a fresher or experienced. They are,
1. The way you solved a problem in the project.
2. Your role in the project.
3. Your imagination or creativeness in the concept of the project.
These are the main things any interviewer would expect from your project. Try to categorize your project into various steps and explain in a very crisp way to make them feel one with your project to win the interview. The various steps to explain a project are,
1. Project Introduction:
This is very important in explaining a project as it overall sets the mood of the interviewer about the project. So try to impress the interviewer with a good heading or you can start by telling the application of your project in the market. Also, try to tell your motivation behind choosing this as your project.
2. Modules description:
There might be various modules for a project. It differs according to the project you choose. Try to break your project into various modules and explain. This will bring clarity to the interviewer about your project.
3. Advantages and the main functionality of your application:
Next comes the advantages and main functionality of your project. Try to speak about the functionality of your application in a few words and also include their advantages. Sometimes pictorial representations will help for a better understanding.
So explain your project with a flowchart, chart diagrams, or any graphs. This will add extra scores to your explanation about your project.
4. Tools, Technologies, and Platform used:
This is also a very important aspect when explaining a project. Tools, Technologies, and platforms used will help the interviewer understand better about the working of the project. As well as it will create an impact on how new is your project. Try to explain it very short and be to the point.
5. Personal contribution and your role in the project:
Any interviewer would only focus on how well you have contributed to the project. Try to show your individuality in the project while explaining. It might be small or big, it is how you portray yourself for the project.
Don’t try to be too modest by telling it is teamwork because this is an interview for an individual and not for the team.
6. Challenges in the project:
You might have some difficulties and challenges during your project. Explain to the interviewer how you had overcome the challenge and also explain the thought process of yourself to overcome the difficulties.
7. The number of people in the project:
Even though individuality in the project is expected, an interviewer might also check the teamwork and your compatibility during the project with a team. So try to highlight the teamwork skills when explaining the project.
8. Amount of time it took for the project:
The amount of time involved in the project will be expected from the interviewer’s side to know how you manage the time limit when given to you. So explain it in two to three lines about the time limit of your project.
9. Improvements in the future for the present system:
Try to show your involvement in the project. You can also explain the future improvements for the present project. Also, talk about the expectations of you towards the project in the future. This, in turn, will showcase your confidence, and positivity towards the work.
10. Drawbacks:
This has to be handled carefully, as never explain too many drawbacks of your project. And use correct words to explain the drawbacks. Show your positive mental attitude when explaining the negatives of the project. All they want is how much you are capable of handling negatives in the work.
Interview Tips For Experienced Candidates:
There is a lot of difference between a fresher’s experience in explaining a project in their graduation and an experienced person explaining the project. Both are equally important, but expectations differ for both.
For example, from an experienced candidate during the interview, project explanation will decide how capable he is for the job. There are a few things which have to be remembered while explaining about the project during the interview. They are,
1. Explain your overall project:
This explanation totally differs from the fresher’s explanation about the project. Give a brief explanation about the project title and also its impact on your previous company. Talk briefly about its importance in your previous organization.
2. Talk about the technology, working, and tools used in the previous company:
Try to explain the overall technology used, working on the project and also explain the importance of the project in the company. This will help the interviewer gain confidence in your skillset.
3. Overall months or years you worked:
Tell about the time period you worked on the project as it will talk about your commitment towards the project, and also experience, you gained throughout the project.
Few points to emphasize:
As mentioned above, this type of question to ask in an interview is to test your capability and your past work experience.
Some of the points to focus while answering are
- Specify about the skills and features needed to complete the project
- Have a positive mindset
- Discuss the goals of the project
- How interesting the project was
- What made you accept this project
Mistakes You Should Avoid
Some of the mistakes to prevent are,
- Be a little careful
- Do not get in the detailed project information
- Never criticize your previous employers
- Do not drag your answer
Sample Answers:
“I have worked on many important projects throughout my career. What’s really crucial for me when starting one is to get very clear on the goals right at the start and then create a plan with milestones. I also like dealing with the most difficult parts of the projects early on—that way in case there are any significant issues, I’ll still have a nice amount of time to complete before the deadline. I also typically break down large tasks into smaller chunks, so that it is easier to know where to start. Detailed planning is very important to ensure an important project goes smoothly. For example, last year I was in charge of . . . .”
“In order to get project “X” completed in my previous job, I found out who the key stakeholders were and got their input on the project’s different parts. Then, I outlined the major milestones that would be involved in completing the project and worked backward to break down the work that would need to be done at each stage.
I created a list of all possible risks that might stop us from reaching those milestones, and I then added some extra time to the schedule in case anything unexpected came up. I also made sure that my role and responsibilities in the project were as clear as possible so I knew exactly what I had to do. The project was completed on time, but looking back, I realize there were some problems that could have been avoided. For example, I would have changed “Z” in order to avoid some of the minor scheduling problems we ran into. Having said that, it’s always easier to see what the learnings are after a project has been completed, and I now know what I’d do differently the next time.”
Source: livecareer
Conclusion:
A project is something that will showcase all aspects of your talent. Any company or organization will expect only to see your performance in the project and not how good is the project. Right from the title, you will be analyzed how creative you are, commitment towards the project, dedication towards the work and many more.
Be it a fresher or an experienced, project, the experience will gain you more attention and uniqueness towards you. Try to remember the above points, and win the interview easily.
