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.