The future of work is changing due to COVID-19 and impending new technologies. To mitigate the future of work risk, high school and college students should consider careers as a Project Manager. Workers who are currently in jobs that are in jeopardy should contemplate upskilling to become a Project Manager. The question becomes How Do I Get A Project Manager Job?
I authored a book titled How to Get A Project Management Job: Future of Work. It will be on sale on Amazon in mid-May. This paper presents an overview of How Do I Get A Project Manager Job? In subsequence papers I will explain the various topics involved.
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
Google developed a Project Manager Professional Certificate. See below.
According to Google, there are 475K US job openings with an average salary of $59K. Not bad. In this piece, I’ll share my hard lessons learned how to get a PM job.
OVERVIEW
The following list comprises the topics that you need to know to start your project Manager journey:
- What is a Project Manager?
- How do you become a Project Manager?
WHAT IS A PROJECT MANAGER?
A Project Manager is responsible for the delivery of specification compliant product(s) on time, and within budget within budget. He/she is the leader of the project and make all final decisions. A Project Manager has to take a group of people and turn them into a fined tuned team. This is a challenge especially today due to a diversified cultural and geographical team due to remote working. Talent search will be global.
HOW DO I BECOME A PROJECT MANAGER?
The short answer is education, experience, and personal traits.
EDUCATION
The most likely and quickest way is to earn a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), health care, energy, finance, or other industry. Then get a job in a company where there is a career path for you in your chosen profession.
Another way to get there is to attend a two-year and earn an associate degree. Find an entry level job on a project in a solid growing company and earn your bachelor’s degree to accelerate your career path. It will probably take you longer to achieve your goal but if you want it badly and persevere you will get there
EXPERIENCE
Like a lot of professions, some experience is required to get your first entry level position in a company or on a project. This is also true for Project Management. How do you get the experience if no one will hire you? This is a real dilemma.
Some tips to getting started:
- Large companies usually look for recent college graduates or completion of certificate programs.
- Look for entry level project jobs such as assistant Project Manager, scheduler, or planner.
- Take a chance in a startup company if the opportunity arises.
- You can get good experience faster in a small company because you wear multiple hats and you do not have a pool of experts to consult with like in a large company.
PERSONAL TRAITS
Leadership is an important trait to become a Project Manager. It comes naturally for some people, but most of us have to learn it. It also helps to have a good ego and confidence.
Project Managers need to have excellent communications skills and like to work with teams. He/she needs to have technical and soft skills to manage a diverse, globally distributed, and culturally diverse team as remote working grows. These are some of the more important traits. It also is an advantage to have a good sense of humor because it will come in handy at times.
Check in Next Week’s article. I’ll share some more PM lessons learned.
Bio:
Currently John is an author, writer and consultant. He authored a book entitled Project Risk Management. It went on sale on Amazon in August 2019. He authored a second book titled How to Get A Project Management Job: Future of Work. It will go on sale on Amazon in mid-May. The first book is a text book that includes all of the technical information you will need to become a Project Manager. The second book shows you how to get a Project Manager job. Between the two, you have the secret sauce to succeed. There are links to both books on my website.
He has presented several Webinars on project risk management to PMI. He writes a weekly column on project risk management for CERN. John also writes monthly blogs for APM. He has conducted a podcast on project risk management. John has published numerous papers about project risk management on LinkedIn.
John earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Engineering Management from Northeastern University. He has extensive experience with commercial and DOD companies. He is a member of PMI (Project Management Institute). John has managed numerous large high technical development programs worth in excessive of $100M. He has extensive subcontract management experience domestically and foreign. John has held a number of positions over his career including: Director of Programs; Director of Operations; Program Manager; Project Engineer; Engineering Manager; and Design Engineer. He has experience with: design; manufacturing; test; integration; subcontract management; contracts; project management; risk management; and quality control. John is a certified six sigma specialist, and certified to level 2 EVM (earned value management).https://projectriskmanagement.info/