Presentation at Interview

[Ray Singh]

Morning All,

I have been asked to produce and present for 15 minutes at my next interview. I am normally confident and can express myself, but this time the subject matter is a something that I dont have much experience in.

Is there anyone out there who could help with guidance?

The title is:

“Consultant Project Managers employed on client projects are responsible for 2 budgets; the client project budget and the consultancy (Insert company name here) resource budget. Discuss the approach(es) you would take to managing the risks associated with these different budgets”

Would anyone be willing to help with a few guide points on the subject above?

Many thanks.

[Du1point8]

You have done the following very simple checks?

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=+consultancy+resource+...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?noj=1&q=projec...

Thus actually looked at both rather than simply ask on here?

Not wanting to jump to conclusions or sound harsh, but if you havent even done the above, before asking about approaches and risk (which can be easily identified by a little research) are you sure you are cut out for a job where you are needed to understand and do them as part of your job?

[Ray Singh]

Thank you for the response. I already have a presentation, but it seems a little bit ladybird bearing in mind the subject matter. I want my presentation to stand out, but didn't want to cut and paste 14 powerpoint slides into PH.

Thanks for your assistance though.

[ChasW]

Take a risk be different. Dump powerpoint and deliver a 15 minute presentation by talking to them and reinforcing a couple of key points you want them to remember. I took a big risk once in the old days when ppt came in and OHPs were being phased out. It was a tense situation and I was last on at the end of the day. I was the only one to use the OHP and used silhouettes during my talk to get one simple message across. It worked. Sometimes the only way to stand out is to dare to be different.

[mikees]

Talk about engagement model

Fixed price, t&m, shared risk reward etc fire the client budget plus cons risk

Discuss scope definition, sign off and change control process

Talk about a costed RAID log

Describe getting defined deliverables, milestones (delivery and payment ) plus use of EVA (earned value) to measure schedule and cost progress against deliverables

Finally ensure you cover acceptance criteria and client sign off

1slide for each, one key bullet plus what you would put in place for each slide

5 slides 3 mins each

Done

Also mention standards company and public (prince 2 etc)

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Might I discuss a slightly different angle, as someone who has recruited for executive positions in the past?

I *think* you might be getting a wee bit caught up in the details, and might be missing the bigger picture. Not seeing the wood for the trees kinda thing?


I have a feeling that the content, micro-accuracy, and data of the presentation is probably a secondary and rather more insignificant part of the whole deal.

You cannot possibly be expected to deliver a perfectly accurate and relevent presentation to a company that you've never worked for and don't know too much about.

I am sure that the things that the interviewers will be REALLY looking for is just the attitude, calmness, manner and atmosphere of your presentation - i.e. the way you conduct yourself, and the fact that you can keep calm and relevent, deliver an effective forum, and not look too terrified / babble on nervously about a million irrelevent details.

The content will be, I am sure, secondary to their recruiting decisions.

Good luck anyway, and let us know how you get on

[CooperS]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

Might I discuss a slightly different angle, as someone who has recruited for executive positions in the past?

I *think* you might be getting a wee bit caught up in the details, and might be missing the bigger picture. Not seeing the wood for the trees kinda thing?


I have a feeling that the content, micro-accuracy, and data of the presentation is probably a secondary and rather more insignificant part of the whole deal.

You cannot possibly be expected to deliver a perfectly accurate and relevent presentation to a company that you've never worked for and don't know too much about.

I am sure that the things that the interviewers will be REALLY looking for is just the attitude, calmness, manner and atmosphere of your presentation - i.e. the way you conduct yourself, and the fact that you can keep calm and relevent, deliver an effective forum, and not look too terrified / babble on nervously about a million irrelevent details.

The content will be, I am sure, secondary to their recruiting decisions.

Good luck anyway, and let us know how you get on

+ 1 ( saved me a job of typing it)

[Ray Singh]

Many thanks to all of you who took time to respond.

I attended the interview today. It went as well as I thought it would to be honest.

The interview panel were not friendly at all and really pushed for answers from the moment I got there. One of the questions was to recite verbatim from Prince2 - which I couldn’t. To be honest, Prince is good, but it is commons sense when you have been project managing for ten years.

The best part of the interview was the presentation. For this I have to thank Mikees. The interview panel positively commented on the delivery and content of the presentation.

I do not think that I will be invited back for the second interview as they want someone who is pure project manager and not a project manager who likes to get his hands dirty once in a while.

However, all is not lost, I will take the interview experience from this as well as some sightseeing around the Montpellier region of Cheltenham.

On reflection, I guess at heart I am an Engineer who is involved in PM and not a PM who is involved in Engineering.

Thank you to you all and to PH.

[craigjm]

Ray Singh said:

Thank you for the response. I already have a presentation, but it seems a little bit ladybird bearing in mind the subject matter. I want my presentation to stand out, but didn't want to cut and paste 14 powerpoint slides into PH.

Thanks for your assistance though.

14 powerpoint slides for a 15 minute presentation? thats your first mistake! YOU are the presentation not the visual aids and it is you they are interested in. I wouldn't even use 14 slides in a half day of training delivery. Go back to your slides and cut them down to the key points that you can elaborate on as you go along. In 15 minutes barring a title slide and an end "thank you, any questions?" slide I would recommend you have no more than 4 slides.

[Ray Singh]

Sorry some misunderstanding. With the help of previous posters ^ above I shortened it down to 7 pages. One was a "Any questions?" sheet and one was a title page.