Tag Archives: job applications

Cover letters, CV Tips, Job adverts, Job Applications, Job Hunting, PMO CV, Project management CV, project management jobs

Essential Directory to Making PM Job applications

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I have written a number of articles containing tips and advice based on assisting PM professionals in securing that all important next role, job hunting should be a structured approach and does take some planning. Although the job websites make applications easy with one click to apply functionality, however some planning and organisation is required if you want to truly reap a good harvest.

A key starting point is setting out how and what you are applying for, this article provides some great ideas on how to structure an approach to your applications.

Once you have put together an action plan you need to start visiting some of the PM specific job boards and agencies, here is a list of some very useful sites.

Next, once you have a list of roles you wish to apply for you should take some time to match up your relevant experience to the job advert / job description. A cover letter can make the difference between being seriously considered for a role and being placed in a rather hefty pile of rejection CVs.  This article has an example of a cover letter which is written in response to a job description so you can really understand what detail you should be including.

Directory

I have said this before and I will say it again – don’t leave job applications to chance, with the market being flooded by applications it is important to make sure you are doing all you can to ensure your CV is being viewed positively. Taking the pepper gun approach of applying for everything just doesn’t work and can be detrimental to your endeavours – often making recruiters and hiring managers disregard your applications as soon as they see your name in their inbox again and that may well be the role you are well matched to but having seen you apply for lots of other roles which aren’t relevant to you, you have unwittingly given yourself a bad name / reputation.

Taking a targeted approach to applications will have your applications taken seriously and remembered for the right reasons.

CV Tips, IT Project Management, Project Management, Project management CV, Project Management Lessons Learned

Rainy days in projects – Project Manager CV Tips

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Inspired by the never ending rain at the moment I have decided to share a really interesting piece of work a client has worked on and it ties nicely into PM CV tips, as it is a great example to talk about on the CV. I have spoken about how important it is to include project war stories in the CV as it adds another dimension to the document and really helps to demonstrate your management style. War stories are the bits about the projects which are often left out of the CV but they are important in demonstrating how you overcome major issues when delivering projects.

The story….

Sarah* is an Interim Project Manager who was tasked with implementing a data centre and quick reference application on all products for a large organisation. On arrival to the new assignment she found that the stakeholders were less than receptive to the change and being particularly difficult when it came to sharing information which they “held close to their hearts”.  It was these stakeholders who were the key to all the product information and as they had always held their own information in pocket books, they felt the information belonged to them and not the business. Sarah worked very closely with the stakeholders to gain buy-in through a number of means, such as one to one meetings and group workshops. She had to sell the change in a way which didn’t threaten the team but demonstrated just how useful it would be moving forward. Forming individual relationships and finding out personal “likes” etc Sarah managed to crack the core issue and was able to deliver a robust application which all the stakeholders finally agreed would be an asset and essential tool to cataloguing products.

You like coffee, yes

Now it would be easy to state in the CV that Sarah delivered on time and to budget blah blah blah, but knowing the issues she came up against and how she overcame them says a great deal to the reviewer of the CV. Therefore some subtle changes to the remit talking through difficult stakeholders and gaining buy-in, coupled with a strong, concise key achievement highlighted at the top of the CV, really brings so much more to the document.

As a former project manager, I know only too well that delivering projects isn’t always straight forward and it is the people skills and management style which can make the difference between a successful project and another statistic for a failure. When you are putting together your CV, always pause to think about the extra mile you go to achieve success.

 

*name changed for the purpose of the blog
Careers Advice, Job Hunting, LinkedIn, Project Management Careers Advice, Recruitment

LinkedIn for Project Managers

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LinkedIn has evolved over the years, what was once a business social network has quickly become a tool for hiring managers and recruiter to identify potential employees – with a pool of 200 million users reported it is one big database. The ability to be able to search on location, companies, industries, job titles and keywords makes it a fantastic resource for those tasked with recruitment.

This in mind, have you done the basics to ensure you are making your profile attractive and not overlooked; here are some basics to get you started:

  • Endorsements – contacting your previous employers, colleagues, former customers etc. to request a few words is definitely worthwhile. That said you should also look to return the favour with your associates. Endorsements are useful for potential employers to have a look at how others view you; they won’t stand in place of your references but certainly play a positive part in attracting interest.
  • Project Managers on LinkedInDetails – seems obvious, but I have lost track of the profiles I have viewed which barely state current or previous employment names and dates. Think about how this looks to others, lazy and uninteresting. Invest some time to add in details which can be (and I advise should be) different to your CV. A stripped down version which talks through your projects and basics on how you delivered should suffice – whet the appetite of the viewer.
  • Summary – this is a good area to introduce yourself, make sure you talk about you as a professional – what is it you actually do? But also ensure you add in keywords specific to your skill-set as keyword searches will scan for these. Also think about including industries etc into this section.
  • Free flow – as your LinkedIn profile isn’t an official CV you can add an element of creativity and it is important to do this. Not make things up!! But address areas which you merely don’t have the room for on your CV, where your passion lays and also what your outside interests are too. Look to build a strong profile which says all it needs to but engages others.

OK so now you have a profile which is interesting and you feel happy with, make sure it is searchable / open to others. This is a question I am often asked – should I make my profile public in my privacy settings, short answer to those who are looking for their next opportunity, yes! You can always batten down the hatches on your settings once you have secured a new role but in the first instance, how do you expect to be picked up by recruiters and hiring managers?

We have been approached by a number of clients asking for their LinkedIn profile script to be put together alongside their CV so they are set to start their job search; this is certainly another element of our services and something we highly recommend to put you in the right position moving forward.

Case Study, Project management CV, project management resume, Recruitment, The CV Righter

Case Study – Project Manager not securing interviews

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Last month I worked with a client who we shall call Matt, he is a Project Manager who implements bespoke software solutions. Working closely with clients Matt takes the project from scoping in conjunction with the account management team right through to business as usual. Matt was made redundant at the end of December and decided to take a few weeks break as he had been with the company for a Head in handsnumber of years and felt a short break with the comfort of his redundancy payout was well deserved. When Matt came to start applying for jobs (bearing in mind he had not been on the job market for a number of years), he found that his applications were going into a black hole – rarely receiving acknowledgement.

 

We talked through how he was applying for roles and he was covering all the usual approaches such as online applications, registering with agencies, making his CV searchable on all the large job websites and using his contacts for advice/referrals/insider information etc. I performed a review of Matt’s CV with him over the phone, pointing out the areas which weren’t adding value and also clarifying information, as it soon became clear that he was selling himself short with the information he was supplying.

At the end of the call, Matt told me he’d never had such a thorough review of his CV and that asking recruiters he was told it was OK. I pointed out that calling up already very busy recruiters for feedback might not be the best route as they are often just trying to get you off the phone so they can get on with filling roles. Also the recruiters might not have an in depth knowledge of Project Management and so wouldn’t really know where to start in teasing out the relevant information. At the end of the review, Matt explained he was very low on funds and couldn’t justify paying out for a professional CV writing service as his house was soon going to be at risk. I sensed his desperation and supplied him with some support documentation which together with his notes from the review would arm him to rewrite the CV himself. I offered to review the CV again once he had rewritten it and told him to spend some time over the weekend working on it.

On the following Monday I had another call from Matt who told me he needed to secure a job within 3 weeks and he had sat down to write his CV but was struggling to articulate himself, he decided to take the CV writing service and I promised to coach him in addition to sorting the CV. We worked together to create a fresh CV, performed a skills audit and worked through effective job application coaching.

At the start of the process, Matt was panicky and deflated – by the end (which we conducted an intense few sessions to quickly get him in a good position) he was reinvigorated and had a new found confidence in his abilities. Within hours of loading his CV online he had recruiters calling him and also started to receive call backs from the roles he applied direct to. Within a week he had 3 interviews secured, by week 2 he was on second interview stage with 2 companies and by week three he had an offer for a job he really wanted.

We did it!Matt called me to thank me and told me he was initially hesitant to engage because of his financial situation but now realised it was the best investment he had ever made towards his career.

Advice I always give to those who are between contracts or made redundant is to try job applications with your current CV and see what kind of response you get, but always set aside a budget for support services such as CV writing and don’t waste your money on services which do not understand where you are coming from. You may not need the assistance, but as Matt found out, sometimes you may just need that helping hand. The most common comment I receive from those who contact me is that they just need to get through the door of the interview and they know they will do fine, but actually getting their foot through the door is the issue.