Category Archives: Project Management

guest blogger, News, Project Management

Funding for Construction Projects Extended to Smaller Firms

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The construction industry has always been a major part of the UK economy and it’s one that has seen some difficult times in recent years.  At the beginning of the recession building firms and suppliers were particularly badly hit by a combination of factors, including the collapse of the housing market and high fuel and transport costs.  However, a number of initiatives are now underway to help boost this crucial part of the economy.  In addition to the planned high speed rail link and the announcement of a nuclear plant building programme, the housing minister, Grant Shapps, has also announced the Get Britain Building initiative.  The scheme is designed to not only provoke growth in the construction industry, but to address the UK’s shortage of affordable and rented accommodation.  The fund that was launched last year has so far managed to under-spend by £100 million, leading Shapps to announce changes to the scheme allowing smaller building projects and firms to access funding.

Spare Change

The fund was established last year with a pot of £570 million available to those companies constructing a minimum of 25 homes.  With the £100 million funding still available the Homes and Communities Agency will now accept applications from firms building only fifteen homes.  The government estimates that releasing this money will facilitate the construction of a further 2000 homes.  Originally the funding was put in place to develop around 15,000 homes on sites that had previously gained planning permission but where work could not be started due to lack of ready cash.  Funding from banks has become notoriously hard to access for small businesses in every industry and the construction industry in particular.  The small to medium sector has been particularly badly hit and by opening up the fund to smaller firms the government scheme may offer a lifeline for this type of firm.

Limited Growth

The announcement is expected to be a welcome one for small construction firms and their suppliers, allowing access to cash in order to continue with previously mothballed projects or begin new schemes.  With figures from the Office for National Statistics showing a nine per cent drop in output in the construction industry as a whole in April this year, there’s a strong a feeling that the changes to the fund are not before time.  Some experts have predicted that the downward trend in output will continue for at least twelve months, however, the broader access to the funding may well help to stabilise this vital part of the economy.

Scheme changes

The new deadline for applications for funding through the scheme is now the 25 July 2012, only a matter of weeks away and there is some other significant changes to the scheme.  The cash available is now only in the form of loans or equity-risk share and there are time limits on when building must begin and when projects should be completed.  The new start date for construction schemes gives firms until 31 March next year, while a condition of receiving the funding is that the project must be completed within two years.  For many small firms and their suppliers this time scale should be more than realistic and help to get the construction industry, the industry’s supply chain and the housing market a much needed boost.

For those supplying the building industry with everything from a volumetric concrete mixer to a steady stream of bacon butties, the extension of the Get Britain Building scheme to smaller firms should help to revitalise this crucial sector of UK business.

Infographic, News, No, Project Management, The CV Righter

Unveiling our new animated infographic by Zack Esterhuizen Design

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Infographics are becoming increasingly popular in a number of fields and apps which produce these are a plenty however taking the infographic to the next stage is an exciting concept which is being embraced across the digital media industry and spreading out to other sectors – the animated infographic. Intrigued by the concept The CV Righter engaged Zack Esterhuizen Design to create an infographic about our business and were very pleased with the service we received. I met with Zack who is the company founder of Zack Esterhuizen Design – he performed requirements gathering and really worked to understand what The CV Righter as a business hoped to achieve from the animation. Our primary goal was to have a piece of work which clearly covers our service offering and has a humour element too. Once Zack had taken down a detailed brief about the business they went away to work on a project plan and were back in touch with a story board and script for the animation which we went through together, slide by slide, to ensure it worked and said the right things. Perky Pair engaged S2Blue, an established audio services business in broadcasting, to create the voiceover – who took on the assignment with as much professionalism as Perky Pair and created a great piece of work which runs over the animation. Once this was approved and changes were made we were presented with the final product.

Not only were we impressed by Zack and Vikki’s professionalism throughout the project – we also felt included in the process which I have to say was very exciting. The final piece is both informative and easy to follow – it says a lot in a short time frame and as such I personally feel this would be an exceptional tool for engaging stakeholders on large projects. It moves away from the traditional “stuffy” format and brings a fresh element to presentations. But don’t take it from me – have a look for yourself here.

The animated infographic is a fantastic way to present service offerings to a wider audience and unlike the static format – it engages its audience with a short presentation which gets to the point and presents some great facts without getting embroiled in confusing detail. Perky Pair manage the project from start to end and engage the third party suppliers as required – overall I would say they have embraced stakeholder engagement exceptionally!

 

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.