Category Archives: Careers Advice

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.

Careers Advice, PMO, Project Management, Q&A

Project Management qualifications – Questions answered

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This week we have a fantastic question about PM qualifications from one of our clients’:

I have been working in the project management domain for a number of years and been working to a fair few methods due to the variety of projects delivered, all my methods have been learnt on the job and I feel I have a good grounding which will be attractive to employers. Do you think I should gain formal accreditation in these methods, will it enhance my career moving forward or will employers be happy with my hands on experience?

David, Project Manager; Leeds

Hi David, many thanks for your question – glad to hear you are going about the big qualification issue the right way. First of all having the structured approach experience is always paramount to the majority of employers out there and also for your own professional development. I all too often see a lot of project professionals who have gained accreditations before putting the method to practice; this is often deemed the wrong way to go about things. I agree that more junior PM staff and those starting out in project management would benefit from taking introductory courses which will allow them a good understanding of why / what the stages of structured PM are in place, but don’t recognise the benefit of taking qualifications for methods which are not currently being used unless there is a requirement to bring such structure to the project with no other champions in the field available to oversee the implementation.

As a seasoned professional you would be adding to your current repertoire by taking qualifications relevant to your experience as this adds reassurance to the hiring manager that you are committed in the field of PM and also willing to enhance your own professional development. As such I would evaluate where you see your career heading and take an informed decision as to which qualifications to run with. If you have a particular specialism and can see this as a growth area in PM then it would be wise to follow this route, there’s little point in going for the qualifications which you don’t deem personally useful moving forward. As PM courses can prove to be expensive, you might also look to your current employer and see if they are willing to invest in your professional development. By providing a good business case for the need; such as training others / implementing companywide structures etc you should be able to strike a deal which will be mutually beneficial.

Careers Advice, Interviews, News, Team building

Tackling mental health issues in the workplace

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The Word’s Maddest Job Interview aired on 25th July on Channel 4 which saw 8 candidates tested in a number of scenarios by 3 employers from varying backgrounds, a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist were also observing the testing and behaviours to try and determine who out of the candidates had been previously been diagnosed with mental health issues. According to the program 1 in 5 employees who disclose a mental health issue to their bosses lose their job. The aim of the programme was to determine if having a mental health issue could a. be detected and b. determine if this would be detrimental to their employability.

The experiment was a really interesting insight into behaviours displayed by the candidates when placed into a number of tests – the first test being an interview setting where the 3 employers sat behind a desk and welcomed each candidate with one question. “What do you think about the Olympics?” The reasoning for one question to be asked was because common theories on interviewing candidates tends to indicate that interviewers make a decision within the first few minutes of an interview whether or not they like a candidate or not. This is an interesting theory as I believe this is not always the case – I have conducted a large volume of interviews and can honestly say that on occasions I have made a decision about the candidate in the initial first question or two but often once a candidate has relaxed a little and settled into an interview my perception of them has changed. But in the interest of the experiment I recognise that to give a fair and controlled decision; this format worked. I was also intrigued by the employers’ versus candidates’ perception of how the interview went. One candidate felt he came across confident and strong where as the general feedback from the 3 interviewers was that he came across nervous and dishevelled – clearly promoting that feedback from interviews, whether positive or negative is instrumental for candidates to understand how they appear to others in this type of setting to be able to hone their technique for future interviews.

As the candidates moved through various circumstances such as a lateral thinking task, memory and recall, group task, risk taking, socialising and a real life work challenge; the employers’ changed their views on employability for each candidate. The aim was to place 3 candidates in their “top 3” shortlist through observation and discussion but they were also issued with anonymous statements about each of the candidates who had been diagnosed with mental health issues. Some of the statements were describing the effects the illness had on individuals such as suicide attempts, being sectioned and being unable to leave the house for months at a time. When discussing the statements one of the employers said he would have to think long and hard about employing someone with a mental health issue and having it stated on their CV would make him likely to not employ that candidate.

The interesting part about the experiment came when the final top 3 candidates were informed of their short-listing and all of them had been diagnosed with varying degrees of mental health issues – a surprise to the employers’ who agreed that their perceptions had been changed and that due to spending time with each candidate over a 5 day period had really assisted with changing their initial choices and also opened their eyes to the fact that the candidates ability to demonstrate the right traits for a work environment such as leadership, demonstrating independent thinking and team work was very strong hence being chosen.

The tasks set were nothing new to testing I have come across for interviews and also internal management candidature testing – the only difference being that they were all set on a 5 day period which leads to the next question; are the interviews being held currently enough? Should there be more than a couple of one hour staged meetings? Some organisations stipulate an assessment day which is gruelling to say the least having been on a few in my past but maybe spreading the testing out over a number of days may be a more successful route to identifying the best person for the job, not just on first impressions.

The program provided an interesting insight into interviews and perceptions generally, not just for those diagnosed with mental health issues and as such I recommend watching it to hiring managers and candidates alike to gain an understanding of how behaviours are observed by employers for interviews.

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