Project Management

Project management skills are important to assess during the pre-employment stages of hiring. Use this test to assess a candidate's project management abilities.

  • What is a project management test?

    The ability to manage a project to reach its intended outcome on time and within budget is an essential skill for those working in many different industries.

    The project management skills test provides recruiters with a way of assessing the vital skills for effective project management. This test assesses an individual's skills in being able to draft and initiate a project, work according to the project plan, track the progress of the project and deliver work according to the project requirements.

    The project management test is a timed test; typical topics covered include questions around planning and prioritising project tasks, monitoring the progress of the project and communicating with project stakeholders.

Jump to a section on this page:

  1. What is a project management test?
  2. Why is a project management test so important when hiring?
  3. How to assess project management skills using our test
  4. Project Management FAQs

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    Select the assessments that match the skills or behaviours for the position. You can test for software or coding competency, soft skills like teamwork, or personality traits, to be sure those who pass have high potential.

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  • Why is a project management test so important when hiring?

    To be an effective project manager, individuals need to draw on a wide range of skills. These include communicating with others, dealing with conflict situations, understanding budgetary requirements, managing one's own time and the time of others, and adapting to and dealing with changing circumstances.

    When recruiting project managers, you want to ensure that candidates in your application pool have the required proficiency in the skills you need for your project management roles.

    These skills are often difficult to evaluate through a resume, application review, or interview alone. The project management skills test enables you to objectively assess these skills so you can be sure that those you hire will excel in their role as project managers.

    The test uses scenario-based questions to determine individuals' skill levels in each of the abilities and skills required to be a successful project manager. The results from the test can be used to shortlist only those candidates who are proficient in project management, meaning you focus your later recruitment efforts on the best candidates.

    In addition to determining a candidate's project management skills, this test also enables you to understand better how a candidate works under pressure.

    Given the wide range of skills this test provides insight into, the test is beneficial for many roles where organisation, time management, and interpersonal skills are needed.

    Examples of such roles include:

    • Business Manager
    • Administration Manager
    • PA
    • HR Manager
    • Retail Managers
    • Hospitality Management

More Soft Skills Tests

Sample Project Management question

You currently lead a team of five people, working on an important project. Three of your team members are working full-time on the project, but two of them are currently working on other projects as well. Due to their commitments, they sometimes are having difficulty attending team meetings. How would you deal with this situation?

  • Approach the other team leaders and suggest they should be more conscious of members being needed for other meetings.

  • Request that all your team members forward you their schedules so you can set up meetings that are suitable to everyone.

  • Ask the team members when their meetings are usually scheduled and estimate when would be a good time to meet up.

  • Ask the head of department to replace the two team members with people that can dedicate all of their time to the project.

How to assess project management skills using our test

Our project management skills test asks a variety of questions that vary in difficulty level. Candidates who demonstrate strong project management skills should be able to answer most of the questions correctly.

The project management skills test provides valuable insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your applicants when it comes to project management. The test is structured using multiple-choice questions: a familiar format for most test-takers, that allows for instant and objective scoring.

As well as the correct answer, there are typically 2–3 distractors, representing common misconceptions and mistakes. This helps make the test more challenging, so a candidate's ability can be measured more accurately.

Test scores are provided to the user and can be compared to other test-takers in your talent pool, to see how they perform relative to each other.

Each test has been thoroughly reviewed to ensure accuracy and validity in line with industry standards. It has been written, examined and edited by I/O psychologists and psychometric professionals. It has also been reviewed by a diverse sample of job seekers to check for any issues including sensitivity, face validity, fairness and accessibility.

This test is continually monitored so our team can optimize performance and regularly assess fairness issues.

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“The platform is so simple to use. I had used competitor providers for over six years and will never go back. Fast, efficient and friendly!”
Greg Chambers, HR Business Partner, Littlefish Ltd
Greg Chambers, HR Business Partner, Littlefish Ltd

Project Management FAQs

How can you test for project management skills?

Using a specific project management test is the best and most cost-effective way of assessing an individual's project management skills. Using such a test enables you to evaluate an individual's planning, organisational and numerical skills, all essential skills needed if a project manager is to initiate, monitor, and deliver a project on time and within budget.

Are project management tests difficult?

Project management skills tests are designed to evaluate an individual's skills in all areas required to be a successful project manager. These include their ability to deal with financial information, work with others, adapt to challenging circumstances, and deliver work according to project objectives.

Who should be given a project management test?

The project management test can be given to individuals applying for roles where it is essential to effectively manage projects, meet their deliverables on a budget and within the specified timeframe.

Examples of roles could include project managers in any industry or those who work on projects in addition to their core roles, such as PAs, business managers, or those that work in HR.

How do you assess project management skills?

The skills required to be an effective project manager are varied. Tests cover assessing skills such as progress monitoring, planning, delegation and interpersonal skills. Project management tests generally include scenario-based questions that determine how an individual would react in a given situation.

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Laurence Fishman, Partner, NLPCA
Laurence Fishman, Partner, NLPCA

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