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CV Tips, CV Writing, Motivation, Project management CV

New Year shape up – PM CV Tips

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Last year seemed to fly by and the holidays often spring thoughts of change – whether the break sparks a need to move on from the old routine at work or for a completely new start, now is a good time to start updating your CV. At an event the other week I was having a discussion with a Project Director who told me he often puts his experiences to the back of his mind, well once it is done and dusted there’s little point procrastinating right!? True to a point however it is good practice to keep adding detail to your CV even if you haven’t time to shape it up. That way you are keeping a record of interesting pieces of work which will refresh your mind when you do have time to update the document properly. Another project professional I was speaking to told me that at the project close down meeting he rounded up by telling his team to update their CVs, ensuring they are keeping a record of achievements. This is fantastic practice and something I believe is quite rare for project leaders to promote. He is clearly demonstrating great leadership skills, not only encouraging celebration of success but also caring enough to have his team think about their own personal development.

Get your CV into shape

Of course it isn’t always possible to keep updating your CV as work and personal commitments take priority and before you know it the thought has slipped your mind. If this is the case then now is the time to set some time aside to really work that CV and make it work for you. As the new year prompts a health kick and resolutions to give up bad habits, you can also take control of your career (which is less excruciating than giving up chocolate etc) – make a list to start, think about you as a professional and what you would have others read from your CV. If you have a proficiency in a particular area which yields you results then now is the time to start thinking about good examples of this skill so you can really back up what you say you are. Flex out those pinkies and get writing about what you enjoy in the PPM domain – you’ll find that it will come across as far more interesting than just stating XYZ like a job description and it will actually help hiring managers understand more about you.

CV Tips, Project Management Careers Advice, Project management CV, project management resume, Transferable Skills

Switching Industry – Project Manager CV Tips

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There are many reasons you may be looking to swap into another industry and sector, such as growth areas in other industries like Financial Services, limited growth in your current field or you may just fancy a change. The job market is constantly evolving and competition is high with a great deal of project professionals looking to take on new assignments. Most advice tends to be that it is incredibly difficult to make the shift over but it isn’t an impossible task, just because there’s reported competition and hiring managers are deemed keen to employ what they know doesn’t mean you cannot do it. Establishing some diversity in your career achievements can really assist you in your career goals moving forward, demonstrating your ability to manage or support projects in a variety of industries and programmes / projects will really boost your perceived flexibility and validates you project management skills.

It is important to make sure you pull away from industry specific terminology in your CV and take a look at the bigger picture, in the Change routefirst instance if you have a great deal of experience in one area such as engineering or public sector – look at the projects which may be transferable into other sectors such as IT/technology or business change pieces of work.  Talk about the actual change and how you were instrumental in implementing; put yourself in the hiring managers’ shoes – what would they like to see? If they have a project which needs delivering, what areas are relevant to them? Think about the project lifecycle – how you deliver, and the type of projects, complexity, team sizes, budgets, technologies, tools used etc. By writing a more generic CV which addresses the users, impact and cultural changes you are starting to build a good picture of what your experience is, set aside from the industry itself. By coming from a different background you can add so much more to a business – asking questions which might be overlooked and bringing a fresh approach to “how we normally do things” whilst offering assurance with your stellar delivery track record.

Working to regulatory compliance is also a great skill that can be transferred into other industries, a great deal of industries have these types of projects and by demonstrating an ability to decipher conformity needs and work to them is valuable. Such as FSA regulations which are applied to new systems in industries across the board – fantastic if you are keen to get into Financial Services.

Don’t go too generic with the CV so the reviewer cannot understand what you have done but take back the terminology and focus on key deliverables combined with your competencies – produce a balanced CV which demonstrates your management style, highlights key achievements and sells you as a PM professional not necessarily an “Engineering PM” or “Public Sector PM”. Be defined by your delivery not the environment.

CV Tips, CV Writing, Project Management Careers Advice, Project management CV, project management resume

A Life Less Ordinary – PM CV Tips

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Having reviewed thousands of CVs in both my recruitment and CV writing capacity I have seen all sorts of techniques used by candidates hoping to gain interviews. Some work and some really don’t, formatting although it is important is not going to get you on the shortlist – bright and creative CVs only tend to work in the creative industries but not necessarily for the management roles. Focus tends to be placed on aesthetics and not content, at the end of the day it is the content which will get you the ticks in the box of the requirements list. Therefore it is important that you concentrate on making the information you provide interesting, put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter/hiring manager – if they haven’t worked at your business in your exact role then they cannot read between the lines and guess at how you work or what the projects actually entailed. Simply stating you delivered XYZ project to time and budget doesn’t cut it, think about what the project involved and what the benefits are for starters. Address “how” you got from A to B and core competencies involved, who were your stakeholders, what were your major challenges and how did you overcome them. A seemingly bland project will come to life as you add context and paint a clear picture of what it is you can do, jazzing up your CV in the right way!

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Look at the information you provide objectively, does it make sense to others? It is easy to become embroiled in internal terminology and confuse reviewers who will simply discard the CV for one which is clear and interesting. Most of you will be passionate and proud of what you achieve in your professional capacity, this needs to come across as it can be the difference between being shortlisted or put in the recycle bin.

Statements such as “Delivered new project capability where others had previously failed, the teams were de-motivated and sceptical about another attempt at change…” are great with some further context – suddenly what can seem a fairly generic skill set for PM professionals is sounding gritty and makes you want to read on, now I want to know what you did and what the outcome was. This is the start of clearly demonstrating how you add value and problem solve coupled with your PM capability/understanding, and management style.

So what are you waiting for? Do you have a Life Less Ordinary or are you another Lifeless Ordinary? Put the work in and harvest the results from your job applications.

CV Tips, Project management CV

Writing a strong Project Manager CV – PM CV Tips

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The title “Project Manager” covers a multitude of roles under its umbrella therefore it is important to paint a clear picture of what your role actually involves. Remember that project management is all about delivery, the reviewer needs to see what projects and programmes you were engaged on, were these multiple concurrent? Were they interdependent?

All PMs work differently and organisations work differently. Some organisations are matrix managed and others have dedicated PM teams. This can make a huge difference to how you get things done.

Programmes are more strategic by nature so giving the reviewer an idea of how involved you are strategically is paramount as is team and line management exposure.

Make Notes

A great deal of PMs fall into the trap of writing a long paragraph about the company – think about it, the CV isn’t a marketing document for them, it is a marketing document about you. Don’t waste valuable space, a short statement (a few words) can easily encapsulate the business and then you can use the space to talk through what you were engaged to do, including some detail about the project. This statement should be clear in that is states the type of business and what you are/were doing there. Then run through core competencies in the bullets underneath, do not cut and paste the job description – apart from it being so very obvious to reviewers it reads as lazy and we all know that the job description isn’t necessarily the reality of the role. We need to have some context which is where these questions come into play:

  • How big are the teams you are leading / working within?
  • Who do you report to?
  • Are you hands on or do you manage teams to deliver?
  • Who are your stakeholders?
  • Where are your stakeholders based and how do you communicate with them?
  • How structured an environment is it you work in?
  • What structures / methods are adopted?
  • Have you Introduced and embedded new processes / structure to projects and programmes?
  • Do you have full budgetary responsibility?

In addition to this, make sure you highlight out some key achievements, talking through the challenges you have come up against. Project management is rarely straight forward, it is this additional piece of information which will make you stand out from the crowd and bring some personality and management style to the document.