Recently, I had the opportunity to apply for the role of Project Manager/Executive Assistant via a referral. The following was the assignment given to me:

 Position Information

Job Title: Project Manager

Department: Admin

Reports To: Mr. X

Employment Type: Full Time at Client Location (No WFH)

Location: Anywhere

Technical Task

Background

You are the Project Manager and Executive Assistant to the Managing Director (MD) of a diversified holding company with interests in:

Real Estate: Ongoing redevelopment of a commercial complex

Trading: High-stakes commodity deals involving multiple international time zones

CSR: Weekly strategic review of ongoing water sanitation projects in rural South India

The director travels extensively, takes 15-20 meetings a week, and signs off on deals worth ₹10–50 Cr regularly. Your job is to keep his calendar clean, focused, and strategic — with no time or opportunity cost left on the table.

You are given the following inputs for a particular week. Your task is to:

Part A: Create a Weekly Calendar

Draft a realistic and optimized calendar for the MD, Monday to Friday.

Account for: (You can assume everything regarding travel schedules, meetings, and others for PART-A)

- Travel time (domestic and international)

- Time zone differences (e.g., Singapore, Dubai, London)

- Mandatory meetings

- Buffer/Deep work slots

- 1:1s with direct reports

- Unforeseen urgent deal closures (allow for some flexibility)

Deliverable: A formatted weekly calendar (can be table or visual), including labels for meeting type, duration, and priority.

Part B: Create a priority matrix using the Eisenhower Method

(Urgent/Important framework) for the MD's calendar you've designed.  

Write a brief memo (200-300 words) explaining:

- Deliverable: A 2x2 matrix categorizing all meetings/activities as Urgent/Important, Not Urgent/Important, Urgent/Not Important, or Not Urgent/Not Important

- A brief explanation (200-300 words) justifying your categorizations and explaining how this framework informed your calendar design.

- Specific examples of how you handled competing priorities and what strategies you employed to protect the MD's most valuable time

You can definitely add additional type of meetings that you have not mentioned in Part-A of this assessment.

(This task is to judge your time management and scheduling skills)

Part C: Communication Drafts

Prepare email drafts (max 150 words each) for the following situations:

1.Rescheduling a client meeting due to an unexpected board meeting.

2.Following up with a CSR NGO partner for overdue status updates while maintaining empathy and professionalism.

3.Needing to delegate a angry traders communication to the Head of Operations while keeping the all parties aligned to the ongoing .communication

(This task is to judge your written communication skill in English)