All posts by Nicola Caswell-Thorp

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Careers Advice, Change, Project Management Achievements, project management recruitment

Never Let Me Go – is your employers’ inability to let you leave healthy?

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Always an interesting topic of conversation, when people tell me their employers will do almost anything to keep them. A compliment yes, obviously you are doing something right but how healthy is it to keep going at the same place beyond a few years? The problem with most organisations is that the projects can tend to become a little BAU (business as usual) and as much as a success you are at delivering, is this actually assisting you in moving forward in your career – probably not! Yes you may well be nicely compensated on your annual salary review and bonuses are always great but is the work actually stretching you?

As a progressive PPM professional you should always be looking for the next challenge and for pieces of work which will expand your skill set and portfolio of success, additional training when offered should always be embraced and taking on new teams, especially those which need strong leadership. Contractors are a great example of those who relish taking on difficult or failing pieces of work; the challenges make for an interesting work life and also enhance their capabilities moving forward. Contracting isn’t for the feint hearted though and those who prefer the security of a salary rather than day rates should really look at new internal challenges but also at moving on after a while to new businesses which offer something fresh and exciting to add to your experience portfolio. It can be daunting when you have worked within the same environment for a number of years to move on into the unknown. This is a common concern but as the PPM job market has been up and down, the roles are always there and sometimes it is about taking a leap of faith – in reality, just how stable is your current business? I was talking with a Project Director last week who works for a large blue chip, she told me that the headcount across the business was being rapidly reduced and that she has advised her project teams to update their CVs despite no actual decision to make cuts within the team as of yet. She told me she was met with resistance as there was a distinct “head burying” culture which she is trying to break through.

Change

It is also common for counter offers to be made by employers to keep talent on board when external job offers are made – however is this not too little, too late? If you were truly valued then why does it take a threat of leaving to receive a salary you feel is more commensurate to your skill set. Take positive steps forward to ensure you keep on enjoying your work, be happy and learn to let go. Resistant to change? Come on, we’re all project people and projects are change.

CV Tips, CV Writing, Motivation, Project management CV

New Year shape up – PM CV Tips

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Last year seemed to fly by and the holidays often spring thoughts of change – whether the break sparks a need to move on from the old routine at work or for a completely new start, now is a good time to start updating your CV. At an event the other week I was having a discussion with a Project Director who told me he often puts his experiences to the back of his mind, well once it is done and dusted there’s little point procrastinating right!? True to a point however it is good practice to keep adding detail to your CV even if you haven’t time to shape it up. That way you are keeping a record of interesting pieces of work which will refresh your mind when you do have time to update the document properly. Another project professional I was speaking to told me that at the project close down meeting he rounded up by telling his team to update their CVs, ensuring they are keeping a record of achievements. This is fantastic practice and something I believe is quite rare for project leaders to promote. He is clearly demonstrating great leadership skills, not only encouraging celebration of success but also caring enough to have his team think about their own personal development.

Get your CV into shape

Of course it isn’t always possible to keep updating your CV as work and personal commitments take priority and before you know it the thought has slipped your mind. If this is the case then now is the time to set some time aside to really work that CV and make it work for you. As the new year prompts a health kick and resolutions to give up bad habits, you can also take control of your career (which is less excruciating than giving up chocolate etc) – make a list to start, think about you as a professional and what you would have others read from your CV. If you have a proficiency in a particular area which yields you results then now is the time to start thinking about good examples of this skill so you can really back up what you say you are. Flex out those pinkies and get writing about what you enjoy in the PPM domain – you’ll find that it will come across as far more interesting than just stating XYZ like a job description and it will actually help hiring managers understand more about you.

CV Tips, Project Management Careers Advice, Project management CV, project management resume, Transferable Skills

Switching Industry – Project Manager CV Tips

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There are many reasons you may be looking to swap into another industry and sector, such as growth areas in other industries like Financial Services, limited growth in your current field or you may just fancy a change. The job market is constantly evolving and competition is high with a great deal of project professionals looking to take on new assignments. Most advice tends to be that it is incredibly difficult to make the shift over but it isn’t an impossible task, just because there’s reported competition and hiring managers are deemed keen to employ what they know doesn’t mean you cannot do it. Establishing some diversity in your career achievements can really assist you in your career goals moving forward, demonstrating your ability to manage or support projects in a variety of industries and programmes / projects will really boost your perceived flexibility and validates you project management skills.

It is important to make sure you pull away from industry specific terminology in your CV and take a look at the bigger picture, in the Change routefirst instance if you have a great deal of experience in one area such as engineering or public sector – look at the projects which may be transferable into other sectors such as IT/technology or business change pieces of work.  Talk about the actual change and how you were instrumental in implementing; put yourself in the hiring managers’ shoes – what would they like to see? If they have a project which needs delivering, what areas are relevant to them? Think about the project lifecycle – how you deliver, and the type of projects, complexity, team sizes, budgets, technologies, tools used etc. By writing a more generic CV which addresses the users, impact and cultural changes you are starting to build a good picture of what your experience is, set aside from the industry itself. By coming from a different background you can add so much more to a business – asking questions which might be overlooked and bringing a fresh approach to “how we normally do things” whilst offering assurance with your stellar delivery track record.

Working to regulatory compliance is also a great skill that can be transferred into other industries, a great deal of industries have these types of projects and by demonstrating an ability to decipher conformity needs and work to them is valuable. Such as FSA regulations which are applied to new systems in industries across the board – fantastic if you are keen to get into Financial Services.

Don’t go too generic with the CV so the reviewer cannot understand what you have done but take back the terminology and focus on key deliverables combined with your competencies – produce a balanced CV which demonstrates your management style, highlights key achievements and sells you as a PM professional not necessarily an “Engineering PM” or “Public Sector PM”. Be defined by your delivery not the environment.

CV Tips, CV Writing, Project Management Careers Advice, Project management CV, project management resume

A Life Less Ordinary – PM CV Tips

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Having reviewed thousands of CVs in both my recruitment and CV writing capacity I have seen all sorts of techniques used by candidates hoping to gain interviews. Some work and some really don’t, formatting although it is important is not going to get you on the shortlist – bright and creative CVs only tend to work in the creative industries but not necessarily for the management roles. Focus tends to be placed on aesthetics and not content, at the end of the day it is the content which will get you the ticks in the box of the requirements list. Therefore it is important that you concentrate on making the information you provide interesting, put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter/hiring manager – if they haven’t worked at your business in your exact role then they cannot read between the lines and guess at how you work or what the projects actually entailed. Simply stating you delivered XYZ project to time and budget doesn’t cut it, think about what the project involved and what the benefits are for starters. Address “how” you got from A to B and core competencies involved, who were your stakeholders, what were your major challenges and how did you overcome them. A seemingly bland project will come to life as you add context and paint a clear picture of what it is you can do, jazzing up your CV in the right way!

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Look at the information you provide objectively, does it make sense to others? It is easy to become embroiled in internal terminology and confuse reviewers who will simply discard the CV for one which is clear and interesting. Most of you will be passionate and proud of what you achieve in your professional capacity, this needs to come across as it can be the difference between being shortlisted or put in the recycle bin.

Statements such as “Delivered new project capability where others had previously failed, the teams were de-motivated and sceptical about another attempt at change…” are great with some further context – suddenly what can seem a fairly generic skill set for PM professionals is sounding gritty and makes you want to read on, now I want to know what you did and what the outcome was. This is the start of clearly demonstrating how you add value and problem solve coupled with your PM capability/understanding, and management style.

So what are you waiting for? Do you have a Life Less Ordinary or are you another Lifeless Ordinary? Put the work in and harvest the results from your job applications.