Category Archives: project management jobs

Job Applications, Job Hunting, Project Management, Project Management Job Boards, project management jobs, project management recruitment, project management resume, Q&A

Which Project Management Agencies should my friend be using – Q&A

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Hi Nicola, a friend of mine who has been living and working outside the UK for some time has decided to move back to the UK with his new wife and has asked me which project management recruitment agencies are best for him to sign up to. He has a background in delivering software implementations on a contract basis and is keen to pick up where he left off. – Chris, Manchester.

Hi Chris, many thanks for your question. A starting point for your friend would be my blog on project management job boards as this lists some of the forerunners in the field both recruitment agency wise and good PM related job boards. However I also would like to point out that your friend will need to make sure he has his CV up to date and is in-line with current requirements of the employer as he has been away for a while. Being a contractor one of the first things I would suggest is to make sure the CV talks through his assignments and pays particular attention to why he was brought in and the state of the project on arrival (including how he picked it up and led it to success). Contractors are generally paid a premium day rate to “hit the ground running” and as such demonstrable experience of this is what hiring managers are looking for in a CV.

Coming home

Next I would suggest your friend creates a LinkedIn account (if he hasn’t already got one) and brings it up to date, ensuring it is searchable by everyone – this will open up opportunities for employers proactively searching for fresh talent. He should also make sure he has some recommendations from previous clients and managers so he has some good references to back up his work.

Job hunting also requires some further input from your friend such as posting his CV on the job boards – personally I would recommend some of the larger general job websites and also the specialist job websites such as the ones mentioned in my article. It is important to keep refreshing the CV on these websites as the longer they are in the databases the further down the searches they go. From a recruiter perspective I have found that when searching for CVs through such databases that I am offered a date selection – I would automatically assume that those over a month old have now secured a new position so they would be discounted from the search.

It is also good practice to keep abreast of organisations local to you to understand any changes and jobs which may pop up on their websites – your friend can set up google alerts on companies so he is emailed when something new is published online about them. Any changes such as new service offerings / mergers / product launches etc are a fantastic opportunity for your friend to make a speculative approach to the business and really sell himself to how he could add value. The speculative letter needs to be really tailored to the organisation and its changes and highlight examples of when he delivered similar changes.

Job Applications, Project Management Careers Advice, project management jobs

Organising your Project Management job search

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Project management is all about being organised and disciplined – it makes us more efficient, however as prepared as we are in the office / about our projects, some of us are less organised outside office hours. Now that is not to say in everything we do as we still need structure to function, getting the kids ready for school, walking the dog and making sure we all eat at the right times etc. but when it comes to applying for jobs. It can be a case of go online, find a few project management jobs, adjust CV accordingly, apply and then forget all about them until you (hopefully) receive a call.

Creating a good impression with HR and recruiters is a must – they are the gate keepers, if you mess up with them, then your application goes no further and all the work you put in to writing a cover letter or reshaping your CV has gone to waste. Therefore it is important to make sure you keep a note of what you are applying for, a simply excel spreadsheet will suffice. Create a few headers for the columns such as job title, salary or day rate, location, reference number, agency/business applied to, date applied, version of CV sent (make sure you name your CVs so you can track what went where), where you found the advert/role (this may be a particular search term or website) and date to follow up application.

Once you have this document you can print it off or email to your phone (screen shot it for Apple products) and then you are ready to take calls from recruiters and employers on the go – when you receive a call, ask who is calling and the job title they are calling about. Ask them to hold the line (say you are taking a private room) and scan through your document for the role. You will sound far more organised and professional as you talk through the job and are more likely to gain success with the “gatekeeper” to actually get your CV put forward to the hiring manager for the position.

You can use the spreadsheet to collate details about where you are finding relevant jobs from which will assist you moving forward in deciding which websites you should be spending more time / less time on, noting dates for applications and setting follow up dates to call employers / recruiters is great practice. All the good project management people are always following up actions!

I cannot emphasise enough, the need for a professional approach to job applications – remember first impressions. Don’t blow it with an agency by answering the phone unprepared and sounding disinterested, there are plenty of other great candidates out there who are happy to take your place and will do so if you fall at the first hurdle – excuse the Olympic themed idiom!

Careers Advice, Interviews, Job Applications, Project Management, Project management career progression, project management jobs

Demonstrating you want the job – Interview tips

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With the double dip recession the market has certainly come around full swing and interviews are not in abundance – they certainly haven’t disappeared but there are less roles being advertised and for those who are less active at searching for new openings then it does feel like there are less opportunities and as a knock on effect less interviews. Therefore it is important to make sure you are doing all you can to make sure you harvest success in the interviews you are being invited to.

One of the key areas employers check for in interviews is your buy-in to the organisation, interviewers are expecting a good level of enthusiasm and are happy to throw prospective employees back into the vast sea of job seekers as it is perceived as an employer’s market. This isn’t entirely the case – yes there are a great deal of job seekers out there at the moment but there are only a few which closely meet the employers’ expectations in terms of experience and skills. Most of the good candidates have already secured work or have been in work for some time and would rather not risk a move into a company whilst we sit in unknown territory with the global recession.

Here are a few tips to ensuring you grab the interviewers’ attention for the right reasons by demonstrating your buy-in to the business:

  1. Make an effort – how you present yourself is very important, think first impressions – putting on a suit and clean shoes (boys & girls) is a must, no matter how casual the workplace is.
  2. Noting down names – seems like a stupid thing to even mention but I have lost count of the amount of people who forget or just don’t take notice of my name when I am interviewing them. Don’t overuse names either – it sounds wrong and almost patronising if you keep repeating someone’s name when you are talking to them.
  3. Research the business, again it seems ridiculous to even mention this but over and over again I have come across people who really should make more effort to understand what an organisation does / produces etc as a bare minimum. However you could actually shine in the subject of buy-in by learning more about competitors and what’s happening in recent news for the company.
  4. Presentations – sometimes you will be asked to prepare a presentation to take along to the interview, make sure you put the work in. I would expect you to ask what presentation facilities will be available on the day and make use of the best ones. i.e. a projector and Powerpoint is ideal, it’s what most use in everyday life at work and helps the interviewer imagine you in a regular meeting (how you fit in, can they actually sit through an entire meeting listening to you etc.). I cannot emphasise enough that “just jotting down some notes to talk through and maybe a handout” is not good enough.
  5. Take examples of work – you may be asked to do this, such as a plan or something similar but you can always take some examples even if you have not been asked to. Try to keep to documentation which is closely aligned to the role you are being interviewed for and don’t force it on them if they are not keen.
News, Project Management, project management jobs, project management recruitment, Q&A

Project Management job market insight – Q&A

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This week we have a great question from a client looking to get an insight into the reality of the job market during reported “troubled times” with the economy.

Hi Nicola, do you know what is happening with jobs in project management at the moment? I’ve noticed a distinct drop in advertised positions over the summer holiday period, is this normal as I saw a healthier jobs board over the same period last year?

Judith; Programme Consultant – Bristol

Hi Judith, thanks you for your question – yes it has been a quiet summer for advertised jobs in the PM field. There are a number of reasons for this and the obvious ones are the Olympics and Paralympics taking over a great deal of attention, however the media were finally reporting upbeat news which normally tends to have a positive effect on recruitment. Once the doom and gloom stories of the economy shrink back – a sense of confidence from hiring managers’ emerges. To be fair I haven’t noticed a huge dip in project management roles across the board, a number of independent job boards seem to be publishing a healthy volume of new PM related roles on a daily basis and having been in touch with a fair few senior managers at large blue chips, I can confirm that hiring personnel is not on hold generally. In fact I have discussed many fantastic positions with these clients and noticed a trend of recruitment being taken in-house. This cuts back on the fees for engaging recruitment firms and in their opinion saves them time and money – they have in-house recruiters / HR who can do the job so why look outside. I can see their point and for roles which are not so niche and are well paid, they shouldn’t struggle to attract strong applications. However the harder to fill positions will still be dished out to recruitment specialists eventually; however they will try to fill the roles themselves, sometimes for months before taking external services.

Businesses are turning away from the major job boards and relying on their own websites, twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to advertise / attract talent. This makes your job a little bit more challenging as you need to research organisations in your field, find roles and apply direct. Of course a great deal of the in-house recruitment teams are being trained up to use LinkedIn as a tool for finding talent too – clearly a time to dust off your profile and make sure it is up to date and searchable. The specialised job boards are offering very competitive fees for advertising roles on them so it is important to keep an eye on them too.

The advertised roles are certainly picking up now we are heading into autumn and speaking with a number of specialist PM recruiters – there is a positive impression that the recruitment market is picking up.