All posts by Nicola Caswell-Thorp

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Job Applications, Job Hunting, LinkedIn, project management jobs, project management recruitment

Part time Project Management jobs

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More and more project professionals find themselves in a position where they need to work part time – this may be due to home commitments such as caring for dependents or even other interests such as writing books / working for charities etc. It may seem that employers will not be interested in part time employees as projects can be very time consuming, however there are a great deal of organisations out there who would benefit from experienced project professionals working on a part time basis due to budgetary constraints.balancing home and work

These types of roles are rarely advertised as the hiring managers have not yet thought about taking on additional support in this capacity but it does make sense. Therefore it is important to really think about how you can add value to a project or business and make contact with heads of projects etc. A first port of call would be your existing contacts base – update your CV and drop them a line explaining your desire to work on a part time basis and don’t forget to add in the benefits of a cheaper resource with a great skill-set. Once you have made contact with previous employers, colleagues, and contacts then you are on their radar – hopefully they will keep their ear to the ground and suggest you for additional resource with their contacts too. Then you should look to research organisations who have project management functions to see what is new with them – the best starting point would be to look at their news articles to see if they have anything new in the pipeline which could potentially yield new roles, such as new products / mergers / overhauling legacy systems etc. Before making contact – look to see if any of your contacts have any connection to the organisation, LinkedIn is perfect for this. If you find they do – ask for an introduction to HR or ideally heads of projects. The next part is really important: write a speculative covering letter which includes detail about their changes then talk through your relevant experience and exposure to this, do not be afraid to blow your own trumpet – but simply stating you are brilliant isn’t the way to do it, talk about your actual accomplishments which are relevant to the project and how you add value. Then talk through your desire for a part time position and spell out how this can be a cost effective resource for the project. Some flexibility to your working hours is always a bonus, so if you can be flexible – tell them so!

There is a fair bit of work required on your side with this approach to finding a new role but with competition high for the few part time roles advertised, it is this proactive behaviour which will yield results.

Careers Advice, Project Management Training, Software

5 less known development & analytical software skills which will slingshot your hireability

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Individuality is important. With that in mind, it is understandable why you wouldn’t want to make a habit of following trends, but if you want to be popular in the world of software development and analytics, you have to be able to supply what’s in demand.  When I say popular I really mean, ‘employable’ and, although experience counts for a lot in the IT industry, when it comes to new fields of technology having the right skills will put you right in the frame.

If you are considering which new skills you may need to add to your portfolio, it is worthwhile spending some time considering the technological driving forces that are likely to define the IT world over the next few years.  These trends will be instrumental in shaping your training plan and ensuring you’re able to fully utilise your new skills.

As a software professional in today’s world, your skills will have to be usable on both what the industry has inherited and, what it aspires to build.  Over the last few years, things like social media, cloud computing and big data have made a strong entry into industries which in turn, changes the game for people with a more ‘traditional’ skill set.  Generally, social media and cloud computing can be developed using broadly traditional tools such as PHP, PERL, Python, JAVA, C++ etc. so other than the paradigm shift in application interaction points and scale, they are created in using the old code type just in new places.

Big Data and Analytics

GlobalKnowledge Research report that Cloud Computing, Big Data and Data Analytics are amongst the biggest strategic targets for the technology sector and that this will undoubtedly create demand for jobs in these fields.  Unfortunately, ITBusinessEdge rather gloomily predict that although this may lead to as many as 4.4 million jobs in these fields by 2015, current training and employment trends suggest that only one third of them will be filled.

Pessimism aside, what are the jobs in Big Data & Analytics and what can you do about filing them?

EMC, Teradata & Hadoop

The major players in the emerging markets are using some new and proprietary products to provide the scalable environment that define the big data revolution.  EMC, Teradata and Hadoop are a few of the names establishing themselves as having a serious part to play in this emerging market and they are ideal for new implementations.

Traditionally, the providers of existing data platforms such as Oracle, SQL and DB/2 have been left wanting in these developments but take heart because these skills are still increasing in demand.

 SQL

SQL skills were still cited as required for 8 out of 10 of the top IT job categories by the E-Skills Council in their 2012 report.  In fact jobs requiring SQL and SQL Server skills have typically constituted around 20 % of IT jobs advertised in the UK each quarter since 2010.

Programming

And, as a nod in the direction towards these legacy skills, products such as Lingual by Concurrent Inc has been developed to allow native SQL queries to be used on the Hadoop platform.

SPSS

IBM, although not exactly hitting the mark with their DB/2 offering in the past, look determined to ensure they will have a hand to play with Netezza and their SPSS analytics application. IBM bought the SPSS application a few years back and after a time of looking lost in the wilderness, the application may be a key player in their ‘Smarter Planet’ initiative.

On its own, SPSS has had a 30 year pedigree in data analytics and has become a de facto standard for statistical analysis across social science and academic environments.  The social media data boom and big data analysis requirements will bring SPSS into a more commercial frame as correlation and statistical reporting becomes the next big thing.

Though there are no current formal certifications as yet for data analytics, EMC, Datameer, IBM and CISCO are all setting up programmes help customers and developers alike.

So it looks like the old dogs will indeed be learning new tricks and the legacy skills in SQL and analytical tools like SPSS, will have an important part to play throughout the Big Data revolution.  Don’t neglect them.  They will serve you well through the coming years.

After brushing up on these skills or perhaps enrolling in a SQL or SPSS training course, maybe take some time to look at the Hadoop platform in conjunction with EMC’s Greenplumb and IBM’s Netezza and you will be well on your way to becoming indispensable through the Big Data and Analytics revolution.

This article was brought to you by Acuity Training. Acuity is an instructor led, hands-on training company based in Surrey. Acuity offer crystal reports, autocad training and much more.

CV Tips, CV Writing, PMO, PMO CV, Project management CV

When a PMO CV can be too good

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I have been working with a new client who is a PMO guru – she has an impressive portfolio of contract positions in a variety of industries and is highly regarded in her field. When I was first presented with her CV for a review I was pleased to tell her that her CV says all the right things although it was missing some key facts, and as a recruiter I would be delighted to receive her CV. However I also stated that her CV was a little too good, as a recruiter passing on CVs to potential clients my fear was that it is just too good. Now at this point you may ask how can a CV be too good – well you need to think about who will be screening CVs when you apply for roles, as a project management specialist I can understand the terminology, but a great deal of clients would struggle to get their heads around it. Also when you apply for roles you may not be sending your CV to a PMO specialist – there are a great deal of recruiters with no specialist knowledge in the project management field and also HR representatives alike.

My suggestion was to add in the key areas missing in the CV and break down the information supplied into a more reader friendly piece of information. Not dumb it down but use plain English with a good level of keywords put into context within the CV.

Don't make it too complex

Assuming the reader will know what it is you are trying to say is one of the biggest mistakes professionals can make when writing CVs – by sitting on the other side of the table you can start to think about how you communicate with non-project personnel, perhaps in a work environment. Therefore you are demonstrating on your CV an ability to be able to turn complex pieces of work into easy to digest information.

Working with my client has been very interesting – we agreed a plan of action and worked together to clearly promote her experience and skill-set so she has a balance of what is expected recruitment wise and what she wants to say.

This is a clear example of a client recognising she needs to do something right with her CV and accepting that change is the order of the day – that’s a great project person, taking a pragmatic approach to ensuring she comes across in the right light.

CV Tips, CV Writing, PMO, Project Management, Project management CV, The CV Righter, The Lazy Project Manager

Your CV resembles a Jenga game

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I really enjoyed reading Peter Taylor’s (The Lazy Project Manager) blog about our services and particularly like his reference to CVs being like a game of Jenga towards the end of the game. This is a fantastic analogy and is so true of CVs being sent to me for review.

For those unaware of the game, basically it starts off as a tower of wooden bricks each layer placed across the next in opposite directions – the aim of the game is to take bricks out from the lower layers and add to the top of the pile without knocking the tower over. So as the game progresses the tower becomes unstable on the lower levels as gaps appear, the higher levels become top heavy with bricks which leads to eventual demise of the tower.

Jenga

How very perceptive of Peter to describe a CV like this – as we work through assignments and change jobs we often add in detail to the CV but begin to lose consistency, we leave gaps further down the page, add in more and more detail working towards the top leaving the CV unbalanced and often lacking relevant information.

It is always good practice to revisit your CV on occasion regardless of whether you are thinking of making a career move or not – as it only became too apparent for a recent client of mine who had treated his CV like a game of Jenga then found himself made redundant. When I reviewed his CV it looked disjointed and in need of a great deal of work, he had made attempts to rework it but in doing so had managed to make it look very disjointed. When we talked through his feedback I teased out a number of interesting areas of work which he had failed to address in the CV and it quickly became apparent that he needed a sounding board to talk through his experiences enabling him to really draw out the kind of content which would see his CV placed on the top of the pile with recruiters.

As he had left it so long before working on the CV, he had forgotten a great deal of information and regretted not keeping on top of it. Also he now had an immediate requirement to get his CV out to recruiters and apply for roles as he was out of work – adding significant pressure to his already stressful circumstances.

After offering up key advice to him, he decided to have a go at rewriting his CV himself due to financial constraints, however after attempting to do this over the weekend he came back to me on the Monday asking if I could provide the CV writing service proposed.

Although it was not an ideal situation for him financially he had concluded that an investment in his CV would yield a much greater response from employers than he was currently receiving. So we worked together to really get to the crux of his core skill base and draw out achievements which demonstrate his ability to go above and beyond the call of duty – really emphasising his value to organisations.

The lesson to be learned here is that you should always have an up to date CV – don’t leave it until you are pushed to have to do something!

photo credit: Herman Rhoids via photopin cc