All posts by Nicola Caswell-Thorp

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Careers Advice, Negotiation, Project management career progression

Negotiating your job offer package

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You receive a job offer and want to ensure you are getting the best proposition – here are some tips to assist you in doing just that. Firstly you need to take a look at the role being offered, is it a step in the right direction? Often we look for a new role for a number of reasons such as; the current role no longer offers challenges, you feel you are not being paid your worth, the boss gets under your skin, you want to progress your career, the business is not going in the direction you want to go in, your project portfolio is not interesting you any more etc. So taking a look at the role in greater detail is essential – no point jumping from one disappointing role to another and being trapped for another couple of years so you do not ruin your employment track record. Once you have identified that this is the role for you, you should address the following:

  1. Salary – is this an improvement and commensurate with the task you are being asked to execute? Although salary is important if you have other reasons for moving on from your current employer, you should take a pragmatic view of what the new employer has to offer. Do not expect to jump up £10k from your current role unless you have been massively underpaid previously and can justify your reasoning for such a big jump in pay. By presenting a business case on why you feel you should be commanding £XX more than the offer you have been made you are more likely to make an employer sit up and listen rather than flatly refusing the offer and demanding more.
  2. Benefits – an interesting area, pensions, healthcare, season ticket loans, child care vouchers, car / car allowance etc should all be taken into consideration but really; which of these actually interest you and of the ones that do and are offered – are they good enough? If you are currently paying into a good pension scheme and there is an option to transfer into a new scheme – what can the employer really offer you? By listing your current benefits and stating their value you can present these to the HR team with a preference for the parts you are actually interested in and state justification for why these are important to be maintained or improved upon.
  3. Bonus – how realistic is the bonus scheme, what have they previously paid out to others in similar roles. Are they based on personal /group performance or a combination? Taking a pragmatic approach to this is important – you may find that your bonus handsomely enhances your salary; however a lot of firms are reporting suspension of bonuses due to the global economic situation. Make sure you state your current bonuses and list actual payouts so a reasonable comparison can be made which will benefit your negotiations. When a bonus scheme has not been paying out at your potential employers’ business this can open up further negotiation on salary.
  4. Holidays – although these come under benefits it is important to make sure you address this benefit as you would your salary. Some organisations cannot present any negotiations on the holiday entitlements offered for a particular grade but it is worth investigating further as a sudden loss of a week’s holiday can impact your life significantly, especially when you have other commitments such as children. Some organisations can offer a compromise such as working from home for some days or flexi time which should be negotiated before you take on a new engagement.

Sometimes the recruitment process can take weeks if not months before an offer is made leaving you frustrated and when the pressure for you to make a decision within a couple of days is presented, it is easy to try and play the employer at their own game – don’t! There are often a good few reasons why it can take so long for decisions to be made and as such you should take an understanding approach to their offer and ask if you can take a little longer to decide. Of course once negotiations are underway the onus is on HR staff to swiftly take action and mediate between the hiring manager and you to reach a compromise – this can take a while.

The lesson to be learnt from negotiating your offer package is to present your reasoning for wanting a change made to the offer – I have seen offers being retracted by employers when candidates come too hard with demands, but presenting your business case in a professional manner often reaps a good result. Do not make do with an offer through fear of losing it – be professional and see how the employer responds.

 

Careers Advice, Contractors, CV Tips, CV Writing, Job Applications, PMO, Project Management

Understanding your target audience – CV Tips

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Writing a CV can be daunting at the best of times – some struggle to write a page others write a 10 page document fearing that everything they do needs detailing. To a point it does but it is important to ensure you are getting to the point as I am yet to meet an employer who will gratefully receive a lengthy CV. Put yourself in their shoes – they will have a number of CVs to read and are already very busy.

Understanding your target audience is a good way to making a start with writing your CV – do some research, get a feel for what is attractive to the line manager for the roles you wish to apply for. Once you break down into a few categories, what it is you wish to do next, you will soon be able to start formulating a CV which will gain a greater buy-in from the reviewer.

For example – you may be in a permanent programme manager position and having had good exposure to realigning failing pieces of work, feel that you would like a change and want to go into contracting. OK great so the biggest challenge you will need to overcome is demonstrating that you can “hit the ground running” with your potential employer. Therefore starting to list the types of projects and programmes you have picked up in various states of health and detail what you needed to do to bring them back in-line. By talking through the ability to do this you are clearing the first hurdle in the transition from a permanent employee to a contractor. Next look at the types of work being offered in the contract world at present – a good deal of business transformation and IT systems integration are glowing areas particularly for the financial services. Take a look at your portfolio and pick a handful of relevant programmes and projects to talk about, If you do not have a financial services background you make look to place more emphasis on the IT systems you have integrated or the types of transformations – politics, stakeholders, any regulatory / compliance exposure you make have and document this in the CV.

You may have a good length of service within in the PPM domain so ensure the emphasis is kept to the more recent roles and anything over 10 years ago is kept to a line; stating dates, role title, company name and location. Draw out specific key achievements relevant to the types of change you are looking to continue with and take care to add the benefits.

Do not assume the first person to read your application will understand the role – HR staff are often given a list of competencies to work through when reviewing your CV so make sure you address the job description when writing the CV and any buzz words are also embraced, terminology can differ slightly from methodology to methodology so make sure you are consistent with the definitions used in the JD.

Careers Advice, Friday Snippet, News, Project Management

Dream job

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We’ve all daydreamed about our ideal job; personally I would love to be working with Kylie and living the highlife – one can but dream! But my more realistic dream is to help others, ever since I can remember I have had an inner need to help others achieve their goals. I have worked in a number of environments from large global blue chips to very small businesses and throughout my career one thing I wanted to do was help others.

When faced with an opportunity to be able to apply my skills and knowledge to doing so I grabbed it with both hands. Setting up this business was the best thing I have ever done career wise, it has taught me a lot about structuring, marketing and also opened my eyes wider to the needs of others. When I was a recruiter I was often asked to write candidates’ CVs and I was not in a position to be able to offer the service as it was required – these requests were from PPM professionals at varying levels, desperate to secure a new role. I note that now I am approached by mainly senior level project management professionals who aren’t necessarily looking to move on from their roles but are in a position where they need to shape up their CVs for future endeavours and plainly because they understand that in a volatile market they too could face major change within their organisations at any given time.

On the whole the CVs I receive are not a bad read, however they are not ideal in an employer’s market. Therefore the collaborative approach I employ to creating the best placed CV is a must.

 

Coming back to the dream job – having decided that being the next stunt man for Mission Impossible is perhaps a little dangerous now you have a family to consider; what is it you enjoy most? For some it is problem solving – perfect for contractor project managers parachuting into failing projects, others it is a need to work for the third sector to give something back, but volunteering is a huge drain on home life and you need to pay the mortgage so you could not give up your day job. But have you considered applying your PM skills to charities? There are an increasing amount of PM roles within this sector purely through a need to ensure benefits are realised. Some like their gadgets – have you considered getting into a technology development field, you don’t necessarily have to have a techie background.

 

Just a little food for thought on a Friday – imagine how different your life could be if you thought about what it is that makes you tick and applied that to your career. The beauty of project management is that can be embedded in any industry.

Careers Advice, CV Tips, Project Management, Project management career progression, project teams, Team building

Impressing the boss is one thing – carving a name for yourself is another

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I am not one for lateness; in fact I have an in-built program which won’t allow it. I can count on one hand the times I have been late for work – those times were completely unavoidable. But being late isn’t the only bug bearer in a successful team – there are those who consistently turn up “just in time” who are also noticed in a professional environment. I have always liked to get into the office a little early as it gives me time for reflection and also the opportunity to pick up any problems which may have manifested overnight. In turn it allows me the opportunity to get ahead with my workload allocating time for any further issues which may arise without having a huge impact on my daily schedule.

I am not an advocate for those who turn up to the office at 7am and leave at 7pm either – this if anything worries me that the individual cannot fit their work load into core office hours which means they have either got too much on their plate or they are bad time managers. Getting the balance right is key, we’ve all had to start really early or finish late on occasions and that is the nature of working in a project environment. Arriving half an hour before the office opens is good practice and allows a little quiet time before the phones start ringing off the hook.

Going the extra mile is also a good way to get noticed; this does not mean volunteering for everything available and will result in the 7-7 shift; but taking on additional pieces of work will not only highlight you as a team player – it will assist you in building up your skill-set. I have often advised those both working in a project environment and those looking to get into the PM field to take this approach as it is a fantastic was to really get involved in core areas which are of interest to you and prove your ability to pick up areas of work new to you. For those who are not currently in the PM world and want to join it, it is imperative that you gain valuable experience working on projects. You can add the detail to your CV and really demonstrate your commitment to potential employers about taking a dedicated project position moving forward. For those who are seasoned in the PM field it is a prime opportunity to work on projects which you haven’t had exposure to before which will widen your knowledge field and potential for getting into differing projects later down the line.

There are others ways to increase your skill-set and get noticed for the right reasons at work – such as volunteering yourself up to head up presentations, some may be based on something new you have learnt or to generate a discussion about ideas you may have for the business. Not all management teams are open to new ideas – which is a shame and can be catastrophic for the business but you should persevere all the same. Your ideas may be shelved at the time but brought out when needs arise in the future. However most good managers will take your ideas on board and look at how they can be utilised with the core business goals. You could be the instigator for some fantastic strategies in the business – nice to add to your CV huh!

The best way to really impress your management team and the business is to think out of the box and don’t be afraid to challenge – the best businesses actively welcome being challenged and it proves a great way to really build strong strategies and initiatives that work for the business and for your career.