Career Ideas – Project Management FAQ – Part 1

Project Management is seen as an attractive career by a lot of students, graduates, young professionals and even older employees that want a career change due to the large number of jobs available on the market and the high wages offered by employers. To offer you a deeper image into this career option I have put together a list of FAQs that I will answer in my next series of articles dedicated to Project Management – an attractive yet difficult career.

What is Project management?

I like the definition that Wikipedia offers, so I will give you here a small part of it: PM is “the discipline of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals.” The rest is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management

What does a Project manager do all day?

At first planning as mentioned above. A project manager is given a specific goal to achieve – for example open a new subsidiary of a company in a specific new location, build a dam, recruit and train a new team that will handle customer support for a new client, introduce a new drug to the market, you name it – projects are everywhere and project managers are those that are given the task to implement them. Planning means splitting the goal into smaller bits – activities, sub-activities, identifying the resources needed to achieve the goal: people, money, materials, creating teams and budgets, identifying risks to be overcome during the phases of the implementation.

Then, after everything has been planned and organized, all activities start and the project manager makes sure that all goes ahead according to plan or if changes and adjustments are necessary, these are implemented and communicated to the teams. Motivating the teams to do everything on time and according to plan and controlling daily that everything is done as required also falls under the responsibility of the PM.

Is the Project manager’s job difficult/demanding/stressful?

I dare to say yes. All because of the tight deadlines and the high level of responsibility involved. Managing people, money and materials and being responsible in front of the investor or customer for everything that happens is not easy to do.

Where can I find Project manager jobs?

They are available all over the internet on main job portals, professional networks, recruitment agencies, everywhere. A simple search with the “project manager” keyword revealed 9,000+ jobs in the US on www.careerbuilder.com, 13,000+ on www.simplyhired.com, 41,000+ on www.indeed.com, 5,000+ on www.linkedin.com and a few thousands again on www.monster.com

 

How much do the Project manager jobs pay?

PM jobs are seen as well paid jobs. Just a simple search on job boards reveals salary estimations/year in the US between $50,000 and $180,000 amounts depending of course on experience and skills required by the employer.

What skills do I need to be a successful Project manager?

Soft skills: all these are crucial - organizing and prioritizing skills, time management, decision making skills, communication skills, attention to details, problem solving, negotiation skills, leadership skills to lead the teams needed to implement the project, pro-activity;

IT skills: PM software such as Microsoft Office Project, Excel, other dedicated software;

Other skills: financial knowledge (income, expenses, assets, liabilities), budgets, pricing, general local and /or international legal requirements;

Do I need a Project management certification to be considered for a job?

At first, no. During the early stages of this career they will not require it, but later on if you want to be considered for a better paid job with more responsibilities, a certification really makes the difference between candidates. Sometimes, the company you are working for will be willing to pay for it. In terms of certifications, these are available: Project Management Professional (PMP) and Prince 2. They are similar. PMP is used mainly in the US while Prince 2 mainly in Europe.

Do I start my job as Project manager or are there any intermediary steps?

Starting your job as PM without any experience is rather difficult even if you are certified. A small project in a small company could be an exception, but don’t count on it. You may start as Project assistant – doing administrative project work and being the assistant of the Project manager, then Project coordinator – handling only a small project or part of a larger one, Project consultant – being involved as consultant for some of the activities (for example financial consultant for the budget part) and only then Project manager.

I will come back with more FAQs in my next article. I will focus on more detailed notions like risks, milestones, budgets and more. Questions from your side are more than welcome.

Take care,

Geo

Also read:

How to Become a Project Manager

What Do HR People Do Every Day? Part 1 of 4 – Entry Level Jobs

As I have noticed a large interest in my article “Again…What Does HR Do Every Day?”, this also raising some controversial comments from readers who had had unpleasant experiences with unprofessional HR people, I have decided to prepare for you a series of 4 articles with more detailed information concerning HR jobs. 

This article presents main HR entry level jobs (up to 2 years of experience) – position name and main responsibilities as they appear on large recruitment websites and as they have been posted by large companies seeking for HR professionals. 

The list of responsibilities includes only those responsibilities valid for most open positions – I have tried to delete those that are specific to only one company. The idea is for you to understand that HR people actually are not all spies (as it has been suggested by some readers) and that compenies pay them to do real HR duties for their staff.

Junior Recruiter (area of expertise: recruitment and selection of new hires, either on new openings or back fills):

-          Build strong relationships with hiring managers, understanding recruitment needs;

-          Gather information on candidates, industry and market trends;

-         Select appropriate recruitment channels for optimum results to make sure that positions are covered within deadlines;

-          Recruit, screen, interview candidates and present the best to the hiring managers for final decision;

-          Prepare recruitment reports;

-          Plan and organize recruitment events (job fairs, presentations, workshops);

-          Create and negotiate candidate offers;

-      Administrative tasks: schedule candidates for interview, archive applications and tests, update recruitment database (candidates, feedback);

-          Provide background checks of candidates;

-          Offer feedback to all candidates that have been contacted;

-          Adhere to the recruitment policies and procedures at all stages of recruiting and hiring;

-      Proactive recruitment plan implementation – having candidates ready to be hired in advance;

HR Generalist (area of expertise: most HR areas, responsible for recruitment partially, administration of paperwork, legal aspects, payroll, training, a bit of everything; the HR Generalist is present mostly in smaller companies where one HR person does most of the HR duties):

-          Post job openings, review and interview candidates, offer support to hiring managers;

-          Present job offers to selected candidates;

-     Manage employee hiring paperwork (contract and other items requested by legal authorities);

-          Manage employee personal files;

-          Coordination of performance evaluations;

-          Set up training classes and workshops for employees;

-          Enter payroll information;

-          Conduct new employee orientation;

-          Administer corporate policies and procedures as well as local ones;

-          Administer employee benefit plans;

-          Prepare requested reporting;

-          Conduct off-boarding process for employees that are leaving the company;

-          Prepare employee communication campaigns;

-         Serve as primary contact and resource for employees and managers to address HR issues;

Compensation & Benefits Assistant(area of expertise: compensation and benefits, administration of main benefits that are offered to employees mandatory by law or optional; assist with the creation of benefits plans, suggesting additional benefits to engage employees to the Comp & Ben Manager):

-        Administration of employee benefits programs, such as medical, vision and dental, life, accident, disability, investments and savings, meal tickets, fitness subscriptions, movie subscriptions, glasses, company cars, other;

-     Maintain benefit plan eligibility systems and records and check them for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with administrative guidelines and company policies;

-          Serve as the initial contact for basic benefit questions from employees;

-          Comp & Ben reporting;

-          Prepare Comp & Ben communications for employees;

Payroll Administrator (area of expertise: payroll and all activities connected to paying salaries to the employees; sometimes responsible for only part of the employees, not having access to all salaries especially those of managers due to confidentiality reasons):

-   Data entry of all employee changes into payroll system – new hires, leavers, salary and position changes, type of contract (part or full time), other;

-      Files and maintains personnel and I-9 records to ensure all records are complete, accurate, and compliant to company, local, state, and federal regulations;

-       New hire and payroll related reports;

-      Reviews Audit reports to ensure changes were made and payroll is accurate before it is final;

-        Records sick, personal, and vacation time on payroll records;

-        Receives and processes child support deductions and garnishments;

-        Records night shift and week-end shift bonuses, cash advances, any other detail impacting salaries;

-      Communicates with employees to explain payroll details, replies to employee queries related to payroll;

Junior Trainer / Training Assistant (area of expertise: employee trainings, seminars, workshops):

-          Assists in tracking staff attendance at training;

-          Serves as back up to Training Specialist by assisting in identifying staff in need of training; scheduling of training and creation of class rosters; tracking training cancellations and reporting rosters to HR;

-          Assists department supervisors with questions related to scheduling staff/training;

-          Creates newsletters for employees related to training news;

-          Assists in maintaining training library (books, visual materials);

-          Manages training feedback from participants;

-          Assists with maintaining training room equipment/supplies;

-    Assists with development/revision of training handouts/materials and Power Point presentations, internal and external monthly training calendars;

-          Assists with revision of training curricula;

-          Assists with scheduling, greeting and preparing equipment for external trainers;

I hope you are starting to get a clear idea of what HR is really about. I will be back next week with the second part (out of 4) of the series – experienced (non-manager) jobs.

Take care,

Geo

Why Being the Best at a Job Interview Doesn’t Always Mean Success

Have you ever been invited to a job interview and after that you went home confident that all was great and that the job was yours? Have you been so confident that you knew all the details they asked for and that you went with your friends to town to celebrate before the company even called you back for a feedback? Have you been so well prepared for all the questions and you did so well that you were sure you blew their mind with your knowledge? Have you been so sure you were the right candidate; the one and only, that you had the best skills, the best knowledge, the best attitude, and the best of the best?

Did they call you later to tell you that you were rejected, the whole world crushed around you and you simply didn’t understand why no matter how hard you tried to figure it out? Well, here are some possible reasons (I am talking only about professional reasons, not silly and unethical reasons like they hired someone’s friend or relative instead):

-          Sad as it may be, you simply weren’t the best as you expected – there was another candidate just a little better; what can you do – simply ask what you could have improved and do it; some recruiters will tell you;

-          You were the best, but the team manager didn’t see you as part of their team– being the best individual doesn’t always mean that the candidate is right for the team – each team manager investigates candidate’s skills to see if they would work well with the rest of the people in the team – no matter how great you are, not working well with the existing team can mean project failure;

-          They found out some information about you that they didn’t find suitableor that damaged your image – did you check all the profiles and comments that you have made public on LinkedIn or other similar networks? Did you check all the photos that you have available on Facebook? Did you do a simple Google search with your name as keywords to see what comes up? Did you ever think that your picture from the seaside 4 years ago that you placed online, picture where you were happy to show your friends how drunk you were after drinking 6 bottles might be available and might affect your credibility?

-          Have you been a good employee in all your previous jobs? Did you know that HR people know each other most of the times and can ask for unofficial information about your performance, behavior, attitude, team work, loyalty and so on? Sometimes labor law requires that the candidate is informed when background checks are done, but let’s be honest, if you had a friend in another company and wanted information about something happening there, wouldn’t you just ask unofficially? Just between friends? Well, HR people do that, just between friends and sometimes find out interesting information about candidates; so you must be really careful as the past can haunt you;

-          They have some hidden selection criteria that they are not allowed (by law most of the times as this is considered discrimination) to publish, but which unfortunately exist – what I mean, they need to hire a man instead of a woman or the other way around (for example you will be selling lip gloss, you are a great salesman, but they think a woman would make better connections with their target audience), they have a specific age range in mind, they don’t want a mother with children as she is not available to do overtime and they want someone willing to do that, they prefer someone single who can travel a lot (even if you say you are available, being married and traveling all the time may affect your relationship and at some point you may quit and they don’t need that after they have invested in you) and other similar ones;

-          You have some specific features that they would like to avoid due to some previous negative experiences they had with similar candidates – for example – we were searching at some point for our help desk team French speaking candidates; we found some great ones that had French teaching as previous professional background; we hired a few and after a short while most of them decided to leave as they considered the job too demanding and below their professional level. This was a mistake from our side as we didn’t check their motivation thoroughly enough and we offered them just because they were the best French speakers. We found out that teachers most of the times have a much less demanding job in school than French speakers in a help desk center dealing with angry customers all the time, that they have 3 months of vacation during summer which was not the case in our company, that they had the respect of their students while our clients would be always angry and treat them badly. All this made us think really well if we wanted to hire another teacher again, no matter how great their French was.  Do you understand my point?

I hope that my article will help you choose the positions you apply for wisely. Make sure that you really want the position and make sure that you are really well informed and ready for what is expecting you.

Take care,

Geo