Category Archives: Careers Advice

Careers Advice, Interviews, Job Applications, Project management career progression

Making time for interviews

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Whilst working full time and having a life outside of work job applications are sometimes a little hit and miss – however once you are attracting interest from hiring managers and have secured interviews you really do need to set aside some time to prepare. I have addressed how to prepare for interviews in a previous blog but the reality of actually putting the work in to ensure you reach success is crucial. Hopefully you will be given some notice ahead of your allotted interview date and as such you should plan ahead how you can spend some time to really work at your technique.

Using the job description you should be able to gain a good idea of the questions you will be asked from the list of required skills. Work through the list and think about some good strong responses, by giving actual examples of when you have used these skills rather than what you would do – the hiring manager will be able to form a good picture of you and how you work. This will no doubt prompt further questions about how you dealt with issues that arose etc and will help the interview flow. It is a good idea to formulate some questions and give them to your partner / colleague or relative to ask you. Answer the questions as you would at interview and be sure to allow your personality to shine through to (not forgetting to smile also), after each question ask your mock interviewer to repeat back to you in their own words what you have told them. By performing this scenario you will get practice at talking out loud about your experiences but also gain a good understanding of how clear you come across. If the responses back to you are unclear – then you need to look at how you are articulating yourself, are you using jargon and terminology which isn’t being understood?

Remember that practice makes perfect so the more you can run through your examples, the better you will be at articulating yourself. Try to keep to a structured format when supplying your responses, set the scene (briefly but concisely) then talk about your actions (remember the interview is about you not your team so “I did..” not “we did..” should be used and then talk through the outcome, what was it you achieved (the benefits).

Careers Advice, Job Applications, Negotiation, Project management career progression, Q&A

Counter offers from current employer – questions answered

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I have been with my current employer for several years but feel I am not really appreciated – I have been responsible for delivering strategic business lead projects and implementing PM structures. I have become increasingly frustrated by the businesses attitude towards my work as I rarely receive any recognition and my salary has not been enhanced for 3 years. I decided to apply for a new role and have now found myself with a couple of offers which pay more and potentially look like good places to work, I discussed with my boss who has made a counter offer of more pay. I really do not know what to do? Tony; Project Manager, London.

So you’ve been feeling undervalued in your job for a while and as such you have taken action by applying for new roles which you feel can meet your potential and after interviewing receive an offer or two. It’s a nice place to be in and negotiations are underway with your potential employers; you have made it known with your current employer that you are going to leave your role and your hiring manager is making moves to keep you, but has he asked why you wish to leave? All very straight forward and being professional you can explain that you feel that your skills could be put to better use on a new challenge and that you are feeling undervalued currently. Then the big question comes from your boss; what do they have to offer? Now this does not always happen as a good deal of employers feel that if you haven’t taken the steps to move on that you must do what you feel is right as they do not want begrudging staff in the office moving forward. However as in your case, some businesses know that as you play an instrumental role in their projects that losing you will be detrimental to the team and the project and so contact HR and arrange a new package offering for you to stay.

Have you considered that the “knee jerk” reaction to you leaving only then presents a need to reward you? This does not bode well moving forward within this business as they are only willing to re-evaluate your current status and reward because they are going to lose you. Does this also mean that every time you want progression or a salary review that you must go through the same cycle of applying for roles outside the business to gain any recognition?

The very fact that you have originally gone out and secured job offers says a lot about where you feel you are and having been made a couple of offers from businesses which appreciate your worth whilst offering you a remuneration package which reflects this means you are indeed worth more. Sometimes a change is as good as a rest, if you have any concerns about your potential employers – drop them a line with some further questions. Good luck!

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.