Starting your career in project management
Posted by Simon Buehring
on
in Project management careers
Simon Buehring
Please view my Google Plus profile
User is currently offline
This is the second in a series of posts produced after a discussion with Nicola Thorp, a Project Management Consultant at specialist project management recruitment organisation Arras People, and following on from the first article about project management careers advice.
As Nicola observes, the current economic downturn is to a great extent ‘dictating’ the decisions businesses make about whether or not to undertake projects, especially given their attendant risks and financial commitments. Consequently, employment opportunities in the field of project management are highly competitive. It is vital for an individual hoping to succeed in this challenging industry to demonstrate a firm grasp of the ways projects can be efficiently managed. Begin by contributing to small projects and encouraging new initiatives at work, with a view to fostering solid interpersonal and organisation skills: the need to ‘get some of those core skills and experiences in place’ is arguably more pressing than ever.
When embarking on a project management career, think carefully about your strengths and achievements in both personal and professional life - any relevant experience can be made to work in your favour (a careers advice service will show you how). Nicola emphasises that there are many ‘aspects of everyday life you can draw on for project management’. It is ‘clichéd but true’ that excellent communication skills and the ability to lead others are the foundations on which a career as a project manager can be built. Remember that report your manager has asked you to research and write? Its completion is evidence of some of these kinds of skills. If you have coped well in situations in which you assumed considerable responsibility or co-ordinated a series of complex activities, this can also prove advantageous. In addition, you should give careful consideration to the possibility of attending ‘training to help complement experience’ gained in the workplace. While project management training courses are not intended to be alternatives to first-hand experience, they consolidate your knowledge and equip you with a structured way of working, boosting your confidence and helping you to avoid a ‘skills gap further on down the line’ as your career progresses.
Familiarising delegates with one of the leading methods of managing projects both in the UK and internationally, PRINCE2® Foundation training and PRINCE2® Practitioner training is ‘commonly called for out in the project management arena’. Well recognised in both the public and private sectors, PRINCE2® certification provides evidence of an individual’s thorough understanding of a highly adaptable, fully scalable project management framework. If you are unfamiliar with the project management environment, however, Nicola believes that you should ‘ideally go into an introductory course first’, before studying PRINCE2®. Knowledge Train offers three such courses, namely Introduction to Project Management, Fundamentals of Project Management, and IT Project Management, each of which is designed to aid individuals with little or no experience of projects develop practical skills to help them in the workplace.
There are ‘so many roles that fall under the project management umbrella’, besides working as a project manager. Nicola advises relatively inexperienced individuals to cut their teeth on projects, without shouldering the burden of managing them, by working in project support positions. Experienced gained as Project Administrator, Project Co-ordinator, or Project Support Officer, for example, ‘sets the foundations’ for a future role as Project Manager. Specialising in Project Management Office positions, Nicola also knows that ‘a support role can be a career in its own right’, with its unique rewards and challenges.
As Nicola observes, the current economic downturn is to a great extent ‘dictating’ the decisions businesses make about whether or not to undertake projects, especially given their attendant risks and financial commitments. Consequently, employment opportunities in the field of project management are highly competitive. It is vital for an individual hoping to succeed in this challenging industry to demonstrate a firm grasp of the ways projects can be efficiently managed. Begin by contributing to small projects and encouraging new initiatives at work, with a view to fostering solid interpersonal and organisation skills: the need to ‘get some of those core skills and experiences in place’ is arguably more pressing than ever.
When embarking on a project management career, think carefully about your strengths and achievements in both personal and professional life - any relevant experience can be made to work in your favour (a careers advice service will show you how). Nicola emphasises that there are many ‘aspects of everyday life you can draw on for project management’. It is ‘clichéd but true’ that excellent communication skills and the ability to lead others are the foundations on which a career as a project manager can be built. Remember that report your manager has asked you to research and write? Its completion is evidence of some of these kinds of skills. If you have coped well in situations in which you assumed considerable responsibility or co-ordinated a series of complex activities, this can also prove advantageous. In addition, you should give careful consideration to the possibility of attending ‘training to help complement experience’ gained in the workplace. While project management training courses are not intended to be alternatives to first-hand experience, they consolidate your knowledge and equip you with a structured way of working, boosting your confidence and helping you to avoid a ‘skills gap further on down the line’ as your career progresses.
The value of formal training and professional qualifications
Familiarising delegates with one of the leading methods of managing projects both in the UK and internationally, PRINCE2® Foundation training and PRINCE2® Practitioner training is ‘commonly called for out in the project management arena’. Well recognised in both the public and private sectors, PRINCE2® certification provides evidence of an individual’s thorough understanding of a highly adaptable, fully scalable project management framework. If you are unfamiliar with the project management environment, however, Nicola believes that you should ‘ideally go into an introductory course first’, before studying PRINCE2®. Knowledge Train offers three such courses, namely Introduction to Project Management, Fundamentals of Project Management, and IT Project Management, each of which is designed to aid individuals with little or no experience of projects develop practical skills to help them in the workplace.
There are ‘so many roles that fall under the project management umbrella’, besides working as a project manager. Nicola advises relatively inexperienced individuals to cut their teeth on projects, without shouldering the burden of managing them, by working in project support positions. Experienced gained as Project Administrator, Project Co-ordinator, or Project Support Officer, for example, ‘sets the foundations’ for a future role as Project Manager. Specialising in Project Management Office positions, Nicola also knows that ‘a support role can be a career in its own right’, with its unique rewards and challenges.
