PMF Resources

Questions to Ask a Prospective Employer During Your PMI Job Hunt

•  How does the PMI program fit into your agency's recruiting and hiring goals?

•  Is this the position where I can expect to be hired at the end of the two years?

•  What is the full performance level of the position? What is the highest grade I can expect to reach in this position?

•  When would be the earliest/latest that I could start work in this position?

•  Do you encourage rotations?

•  Outside of the organization?

•  How many rotations can I expect to fit into the two years?

•  What are some examples of rotations taken by other PMIs from your office?

•  What sort of training opportunities should I expect during my time as a PMI?

•  Are all of the PMIs from this organization expected to attend the OPM Shepherdstown session together?

•  Do you have a mechanism to ensure that each PMI fulfills their obligatory 80 hours of training per year?

•  Have any PMIs in your organization had particularly interesting or noteworthy training experiences?

•  Could you give examples of some of the training opportunities past PMIs have taken to fulfill the 80-hour per year requirement?

•  Does the position you are offering provide opportunities to travel?

•  Inside the United States or overseas?

•  How often?

•  Does your organization have a dedicated PMI program coordinator?

•  How would you describe the role of your agency's PMI coordinator?

•  What percentage of their time do they spend on the PMI program?

•  Are they available during the rotation to help PMIs with the administrative details concerning training, rotations, promotions, leave, conversion, and other things?

•  What would you identify as the strengths of your agency's PMI program?

•  What would you describe as its weaknesses?

•  What proportion of PMIs hired by your organization complete the two years as PMIs and then covert to permanent status?

•  What proportion of PMIs who converted in your organization are still with your agency?

•  What would PMIs from your organization tell me about your PMI program if they were speaking candidly?

•  Could you give me the name and phone number of a current or former PMI who has served in your office who I could talk to about this position?

•  Could you describe the security clearance process for your agency?

•  How long can I expect the full clearance process to take?

•  Can I begin work with a partial or interim clearance?