Category Archives: Job Hunting

Contractors, Job Hunting, Project Management

Project Manager Contractor – marketing, your business checklist

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As a contractor, whether you are a Project Manager, PMO, Programme Manager, Change Manager, Business Analyst, Consultant to name a few, then you know only too well that you as a professional are selling your services to businesses. Yes, that’s right you are a business and as such you need to ensure you are doing all the right things to secure that next assignment.

Here’s a checklist of areas you should be addressing as a minimum to ensure you meet your goals:

  • CV – Your CV needs to be in good shape, not only are you required to have a well written document – it needs to clearly demonstrate your skills and abilities. Look to set the bar with your competitors by creating an inclusive piece of information which also includes your style/approach.
  • Website – More contractors are turning to online marketing through creating their own websites which include a comprehensive CV, case studies, contact info and further examples of achievements. This can also be a great opportunity for you to add in your style and challenges you have overcome.
  • Blog – A blog is a great way to keep fresh information flowing online (or as part of your website), it is a less formal tool which can be used to display your observations of current affairs, open up discussions with your peers over management styles, and it really does show your knowledge and commitment to PM.
  • Networking – Whether it is using your current contacts or generating new ones, this is a fantastic way to gain insight into the industry. By always keeping in touch and not just when you need something you will forge strong relationships and others will be more willing to offer up information/help/recommendations for roles etc.
  • Creating opportunities – Do your research, understand what industries are hot at the moment and identify where you can find a way into organisations. Find out who you should be speaking with, generate meetings, offer up solutions, be prepared to go the extra mile and you will be surprised by the results you harvest.

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For further information on writing an effective contractor CV click here.  Additional information about approaching job applications through a number of routes can also be found here and identifying unadvertised roles here.

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.

Careers Advice, Job Applications, Job Hunting, Recruitment

Understanding who reviews your CV

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When applying for jobs it can often feel like your CV disappears into the abyss – rarely receiving any replies, occasionally receiving the automatically generated response, and you are often left wondering whether your application was read. Chasing after feedback can be just as frustrating, if you can actually get through to the relevant party to discuss your application – often being fobbed off with generic responses such as “we have over XXX applications for this role so we cannot provide individual feedback” or worst still, a response telling you that your CV is fine (because they are too busy to bother spending 5 minutes to talk through details.

So understanding where your CV might end up when you apply for a job is a good starting point to enable you to make more informed decisions about structuring your CV and about where you might concentrate your applications.

  • CV sifters – this is becoming a popular and cost effective way for organisations to manage applications, taking out the recruitment element and fees. Companies specialise in taking bulk loads of CVs and sorting through to produce a shortlist of applications. Some are specialised in particular career fields but a lot are generalists and will work to a guide provided by the hiring manager. This works in respect of a popular job in that it sorts out all the relevant CVs (believe me, no matter how good the job advert, you will always get random applications from completely irrelevant job seekers), however if the sifters are not specialised and your CV reads in a technical or role specific terminology then you may find your application being put in the recycle bin.
  • Who reviews your CVRecruiters – often generalist recruiters tend to work on a pepper gun approach, taking a group of CVs which “appear” to match the job and sending them all to the employers. Similar to the sifters, this can generate a misleading hope (if they tell you they are sending your CV to the client) as you will probably be in a batch of 20/30 CVs. If the recruiter is working on dozens of jobs then it is fair to say they may not have spent a great deal of time reviewing and matching up CVs specific to the role. Not always the case but worth bearing in mind if you are wondering why you haven’t heard back or if you have been rejected post submission to the employer.
  • Specialist recruiters – these are the people you put a lot of faith in, they should know their game and in an ideal world have actually performed the roles prior to specialising in recruiting for them. As fees tend to be higher for these agencies, the employer expects to see a condensed shortlist of CVs which bear a close match to the position. This can mean a greater chance of interview should you be chosen for the shortlist but can also mean it is much more difficult to get into the shortlist in the first place.
  • HR staff – instructed by hiring managers to run a recruitment drive for a role, some HR staff are fantastic and really ask the right questions of the hiring manager and research the role, others take a less formal approach and create a list of “must haves” and use these to tick off when reviewing CVs. Remember that this tick list is most probably used by most reviewers to a point so it is important that your CV states are the things you have done which are relevant to the role.

The lesson to be learned from all the above is to ensure your CV is clear, do not assume because you have a job title of XYZ that you automatically have experience of ABC. Making assumptions and not spelling it out is the first step to failing to get past the reviewer on your job search journey.

Job adverts, Job Applications, Job Hunting, project management recruitment

Reasons why your project management job applications fail

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I have been approached literally hundreds of times over the years by job hunters asking why they are not getting calls following on from job applications – each case is usually slightly different but on the whole it comes down to a few reasons listed below:

  • Incorrect matching for job – in the current climate, most employers are less flexible with what they will accept in regards to skill-set and experience. If they are asking for a professional with specific product knowledge or project management method of delivery then they tend to stick with this requirements list and interview those who already have a close match. Remember, you need to meet at least 90% of the role requirements to be in a position to be considered for the job.
  • Poorly written job adverts / job descriptions – this comes down to recruiters and HR staff either not understanding the role or using old job descriptions to create new ones which are often out of date and not relevant. Therefore when you see an advert which doesn’t give any real detail about the organisation / projects in hand you are taking a leap of faith with your application.
  • Generic CV – alongside the generic job descriptions, these rarely give enough detail about your experience and specialism. As employers want project professionals who are closely aligned to their requirements it can be difficult for them to gauge you and they will naturally pick out the CVs which spell it out.
  • Job is closed – yes, a lot of roles are already closed when they go to advert. Why do it then you ask. A good recruiter will already have some candidates in mind for a role as they are qualifying it; as such they will have made contact with the candidates and will have sent in a shortlist to their client before writing up and publishing an advert. This is because there is a lot of competition for these roles with recruiters and time is of the essence, the advert will go online after, which will generate interest and more CVs for next time. Also the recruiters know that the best way to generate further business is to be seen to be publishing lots of new roles – the busier the agency appears to be the more likely they are to get more leads.
  • Fake job adverts – there are still a number of job adverts placed out and about which are “fishing” adverts, usually generic in their form and not unlike the above scenario. But these tend to be nonexistent jobs purely used to help build a recruitment database.
  • Too slow – not all roles are filled when published online, especially the harder to fill positions, but with competition high from your peers, you must be quick. I have published roles which have generated hundreds of applications within the first few hours, I have interviewed and shortlisted before the day has ended.

Looking for work

It is not uncommon to believe your CV is saying all the right things and reads clearly to others but all too often the common trait is that you know your job inside out and assume others will understand this. The CV becomes a document so in tune with what you know rather than a clear communicator of your exposure to different elements, difficulties you have faced (this sets you apart from others), core competencies (as you assume the reviewer will know you covered all aspects) and the types of projects you worked on (believing that leaving out the technical element will make you a more transferable candidate). My advice is to first address your CV, ask for a review – make sure it is honest! Then when you are confident it is good, keep an eye out for roles which look genuine and apply swiftly.