All posts by Nicola Caswell-Thorp

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Careers Advice, PMO, Project Management, Project Management Careers Advice, Starting out in Project Management

Project Management versus Project Support careers

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An interesting question came about from a client I was coaching the other week, he has gained some really good experience in project support and is looking to progress into the delivery aspect of PM. When I asked him what he enjoyed most about his career so far he became very animated and passionate about the work he had put in to creating financial monitoring and resource management tools. It quickly became apparent that he has a clear skill-set much sought after within PMO environments and his knowledge of promoting best practice through traditional means such as workshops and one to one coaching he also took more innovative approaches which met the constraints of the business managers and project managers. When we discussed his desire to change over to delivery from support he said it is because he wishes to progress his career, I pointed out that there is a career path within the project support element and that salaries are certainly commensurate to delivery staff once you move up the ladder. He said he felt that the general consensus is that delivery staff command more respect – naturally I had to push back on this as PMOs have evolved significantly over the past few years and that organisations are quite rightly using them as an interface between the business and the project delivery staff. Not nearly the “admin pool” it was once perceived as, maybe looking into businesses which value the support element as much as (if not more) than the project management functions are certainly the right route to take if you are looking to gain some gritty and challenging experience and forge a career.

Career crossroadOf course if you have always had it in your mindset that you want to be a project manager then you should follow this course but I would recommend working more closely with the project managers in roles such as Project Assistant, Project Coordinator, Junior PM etc where you are more likely to gain some exposure and experience in delivering the projects. The PMO is generally there to support as opposed to deliver, although I have seen some PMOs evolving to incorporate both.

Some are not cut out for delivery, the pressures in both environments are high but the delivery does have the “buck stops here” element so not for the feint hearted.

Careers Advice, Interviews, Project Management Interview Questions, Project Management Interviews

Questions you should ask the interviewer

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Interviews can be stressful for some and even enjoyable to others – it just depends on your perception of what you hope to achieve from them. Clearly you are hoping to be offered a job but that is not always the case; the interview should be a two way setting and often the candidate loses sight of this. I have been in interviews where I have known quite quickly that it is not the role for me, and walked away from interviews wondering if I actually would welcome an offer – therefore it is important to make sure you know if this is the one for you.

Notes

Most formal interviews will consist of an introduction from the interviewer followed by a series of questions presented to the candidate to understand how you work and react in situations, towards the end of the interview you will be presented with the opportunity to ask questions back. This is where some good planning comes into play; you need to think outside the box as the interviewer should answer a lot of questions in their introduction. A trap, a lot of candidates fall into is to respond with “I think you have answered everything I was going to ask” – this can come across as a lack of real interest in the business / role and can put interviewers off you.

Here are a few questions you may find useful to note down for future interviews:

  • What does the actual day to day work involve? (bearing in mind Project Management makes for constant change, there will still be core duties required of you)
  • What do you enjoy most about working here?
  • What are the main challenges the team / projects face at the moment?
  • Have you identified any weaknesses in the team; are these something you would like me to address from the start?
  • What do you think it might take to be really successful in this role?
  • Could you talk me through the management style here?
  • Do you have any specific projects in mind that the successful candidate will be working on?
  • Is it likely I will be working as part of a team and are the staff involved in different projects at any one time?
  • Does the business encourage employees to study and gain professional qualifications? What kind of support is in place?
  • What kind of backgrounds personally and professionally do the existing team have?

And to round up:

  • When can I expect to hear from you with a decision and do you usually call or write to let candidates know the outcome?
  • Would it be possible to gain some feedback from you regardless of the outcome?
  • Have I answered everything thoroughly enough for you or is there anything else you would like to ask me?

I recommend writing a list of questions to ask – always write down more than you need in case some are already covered by the interviewer (some interviewers are more thorough than others). Avoid any questions about pay, holidays, benefits, sick leave, hours of work etc as this can give a bad impression – these questions will be answered at the offer stage (if you get that far). Once you have a list of questions, place them in a folder and when you are asked for questions do remember your manners and ask if it is OK to refer to the list you prepared prior to the interview.

Careers Advice, CV Tips, CV Writing

Writing a CV from scratch

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One thing we’ve all been guilty of doing is putting off writing a CV – sometimes it makes sense to start from scratch and build it up, this sounds even more daunting than reworking what you already have, even though it is very dated and surely only needs a little more work. But I beg to differ; taking a fresh look at what you should include in the CV is a great way to really get down the right kind of detail to attract employers.

Getting started:

  • Write a list of all your jobs, note dates, company names and job titles – then place them in chronological order with most recent at the top.
  • Source a professional looking template from online to help you get started and add in the jobs as above.
  • Include some information about what your main tasks were – think about why you were brought into the business and what you set about to achieve.
  • Make notesThen start to list what you actually did, how did you achieve getting from A to B. Include areas specific to your role and make sure you talk through things that set you apart from others such as working globally you may have dealt with cultural differences etc.
  • Read back through the role and make sure it is clear and concise – look at roles you may be looking to apply for which are asking for your skill-set, are you speaking the same language (terminology) and covering what they ask for?
  • Move down each role taking the above structured approach to adding in detail as you move further down the CV to older roles you should reduce the detail. Anything over 10 years old should be a line stating dates, company name, and role title as a list.
  • Add in your education and any additional training towards the end of the CV (unless you are a recent graduate, in which case this should be included at the top of the CV).
  • State some hobbies – think about what you really enjoy doing, group activities, sports, etc.
  • Now it is time to go back to the top of the CV and write a short profile about yourself; make sure it gives an overview of your skills and experience. This should be much easier to write now you have run through all your skills and experience in the role remit, all you are doing is summarising the information.
  • Place some key achievements beneath the profile and above the employment history, consider adding in where you have really added value. Employers like to see where you have gone beyond the specified role and actively reaped results.

Now you have a CV – wasn’t so hard was it? However, this new CV needs to be checked by someone else for some honest feedback. Ask them to read it and then ask them, what is it I do? If they can tell you and are correct then you are on the right track – remember when you apply for a job you will have your CV reviewed by people who may have no exposure to your job so it is imperative that you are communicating to all levels. So we’ve covered the basics, now is time to really work on terminology, target audiences, and tweaking to ensure you are keeping the emphasis on the right skills for that job (remember priorities are different for each hiring manager).

Job Applications, Job Hunting, project management recruitment

Project Management Recruitment Agencies

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In previous blog posts I have talked about being proactive with job applications direct to employers as often you can cut out the middle man and harvest greater results from your applications if you put the work in and tailor your applications. However recruitment agencies can also yield results if you use the right agencies and display the right kind of behaviours.

Project Management recruitment agencies can be very useful to you in your search for a new job – so it is important to make sure you work with them to get them working for you.

I know through years of working in specialist PM recruitment that some clients do not advertise their roles other than through a handful of agencies, others will advertise and use every agency available. However the ones who have struck up a good relationship with their clients and have repeat business built up over the years can be a real asset to candidates serious about getting a new role. These types of recruitment agencies tend to work hard at client retention and as such will be keen to make sure that every candidate they submit to their client is a very close match to the client’s needs. Common sense you say, well yes but a great deal of recruiters out there work on volume and have a necessity to submit as many candidates as possible in the hope of hitting the nail on the head so to speak. The specialist recruiters are different in that volume isn’t necessarily the right route.

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Working with specialist agencies by making contact and actually speaking with the recruiters is very important, if you can arrange a discussion to talk through your experience and your aspirations to really gain some buy-in from them could be the difference between being called as soon as a new role which meets your needs and skill-set and being left in the database of thousands of candidates. Listen to what the recruiters are saying to you – ask for feedback on your CV and applications, learn to understand their perspective and you will soon be placed in their favourite’s folder awaiting new roles as they hit the recruiters’ desk.

Don’t be afraid to call when you see new roles advertised, talk through expectations of their clients and ask if you need to make any tweaks to your CV. Once you have submitted your application you should look to track its progress – do not hound the recruiter, strike a balance of keeping in touch and if necessary, agree a communications plan.

All good project management professionals follow up actions and by demonstrating your keenness and being professional in your approach you will soon be remembered for all the right reasons. At a time when agencies have reduced portfolios of work and large databases of candidates you need to make sure you stand out above the rest.