How to assess the project management experience of a PM?

Question

What is the best way to assess the project management experience of a project manager? I'm currently interviewing project managers for a job opening and I want to know how can I do that without asking candidates direct questions and asking them to assess their PM experience themselves.

Answer 1

There are probably many good ways to do this.  I used to use an interviewing system called "Choosing Winners" which was suitably for hiring any individuals.  It contained nothing industry specific and I recently ran into the following list which pretty well parallels the "Choosing Winners" system: http://www.pmconversations.com/career-and-professional-development-csd/assessing-project-management-capabilities/.

Another great resource is the book "Alpha Project Managers" by Andy Crowe. Alpha Project Managers, for example, spend more time in planning than 98% of project managers (and attribute this to what makes them be a part of the top 2%). You can find more information about this book at http://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Project-Managers-What-Everyone/dp/0972967338/sr=8-1/qid=1171931958/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4465609-3006445?ie=UTF8&s=books.