If you interview and then just wait, you may be out of sight, out of mind. When you're interviewing with several people
First Edition
Advancing Your Project Management Career
Brad Egeland
Introduction
Introduction
Looking for your next step in your project management career path? Maybe your first step? Many of us became project managers out of necessity. I became one because I was bid on a government project in that role and we won the contract. I still had the option to decline…or at least that’s what I was told…but I took it anyway. I really didn’t see myself staying in – and enjoying – the role of application developer for a lot longer. Don’t get me wrong…I was a good programmer - but it wasn’t the challenge I was looking for. But many do become project managers out of necessity or force (do this or else!) or because you happen to be in the wrong or right place at the wrong or right time…depending on how you look at it. Others even choose the path – like I guess I did when actually given the option. I enjoyed developing software, I just didn’t think it was going to give me the leadership and management opportunities that I was seeking. Looking back I think I was right and I have no regrets at all. This book is going to look at project management from a few different angles... • Steps to getting that next PM job • Signs you may not really want that PM job you've been trying to get 2
• Some good questions to ask your job interviewer to hopefully give you an edge in your next PM interview • Will PM certification help you in your PM career path?
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Steps to Obtaining that Next PM Job
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Steps to Obtaining that Next PM Job
Are you looking for the next (or first) big project management job? Hoping to advance your career in the PM field? Do you think you finally have the qualifications to make a major PM career move? Get that cover letter and resume in order...you'll need to because the competition is fierce. But you can make yourself shine through...you just have to make some extra efforts. First consider this when looking over an available position? Is it a job opening that you really want? Is it an opportunity that seems likely you'll be called about because you truly are a great match and you think that this might be your next, best career move? If any of these are the case, then I have some tips that can help you land that PM job. And these can likely be applied to about any job out there as long as you are somewhat qualified for it. At least these tips might help you get that elusive interview and give you the chance to showcase your talents when you might otherwise get weeded out. Using some of these tips gained me a couple of rounds of interviews for the CIO position of a big Fortune 500 banking organization long before I really should have received strong consideration – I was a finalist for the position because I did my best to show that I was a good fit.
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You really want that PM job (or whatever job it may be)? Don’t just leave it to luck…make them know you want it. In order to show them that and to get noticed…do the following: Make your cover letter match the job. You really want the job? The first thing the potential employer will likely see is your cover letter. Some phone that in. Don’t do that if you really want the job. Put bullet points in your cover letter that match up with the key requirements of the job description and that can show how you meet those requirements. If the job is calling for 5-7 years of progressively responsible PM experience, put a bullet in there that says you have 15 years of experience managing successful projects in excess of $5 million in revenue on average. Be honest, but don’t overlook your strengths. Make your resume match the job. You’ve got a good resume and you don’t want to lie on your resume…that is never a good route to take. But you may be overlooking something on your resume that should be on there after reading the job description. Or perhaps it’s in your resume, but it’s buried too deep to see. Look over the job description and job requirements and make sure that your resume is emphasizing those things. Check your technical expertise that you have listed. If you haven’t updated it in awhile, then you might look outdated when you aren’t. Fix it fast – make sure you are on target for what they need and make it obvious.
Give them a call. As you’re submitting your cover letter and resume for the job via email, think about two or three questions you could ask the potential employer. Wait a day or two – no longer than that – and call the hiring company’s HR group. Introduce yourself and ask a couple of questions about the position. Don’t be annoying – you may have already crossed that line by calling. But if you’re cordial and have thought provoking, legitimate questions, you may make a positive impression that will help them remember you when they come across your topnotch cover letter and resume. Definitely do the research. This is an obvious one, but don’t waste your time on it till you actually get an interview. When you know the call is coming or you need to go for a face to face, make sure you know a lot about the company, their management, the customers, and their project management practices (if possible). You can probably locate some of their current PMs on LinkedIn – things you couldn’t do a few years ago – and find out a lot about how they manage projects from those profiles. Even connect with some of them…I’ve had clients and potential customers reach out to me on LinkedIn right away – it’s how business is done today. Follow up with them post-interview. I don’t mean the followup thank you’s. Those just have to be done and we all know that. But follow-up by phone or email – email is fine – with some thought provoking questions or some relevant information 6
about you that you may have missed emphasizing in the interview. Also, it’s just a great way to make yourself even more a part of their ongoing thought process. Be that nice, but persistent person who is very interested in the job they are posting. If you interview and then just wait, you may be out of sight, out of mind. When you’re interviewing with several people in one organization, there may only be one of them that really cares and the rest are just forced to be part of the process. Think of it like voting on a political candidate. You may vote out of civic duty, not out of interest in the candidates. Still your vote counts because you’re part of the process. So, who do those people sometimes end up voting for? The name that they remember. Be that name. Summary There isn't anything really new about what I'm saying here. The key is to be aggressive and show that you want it. Too many candidates who are desperate just send out resumes rapid-fire to openings they are somewhat qualified for and they hope one or two work. Do the work...put in the effort...and most of all show them that you really want it. It will make you stand out.
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Key Signs You May Not Want the Job that is in Front of You
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Key Signs You May Not Want the Job that is in Front of You
Sometimes, you get down the road on a potential job and warning lights start to flash. You hate to heed them because you have already put some sweat equity into the process. But still, they are there. Unless you are currently consulting and could very easily return to it and pick up where you left off or unless you are currently unemployed and desperately seeking any employment out of shear financial need, then no matter how good the job may sound, you still need to be careful. It may not necessarily be as good as it sounds. And you would hate to make an expensive move or dump good consulting clients for something that likely isn't what you really want and need. So, let's consider these warning signs that you really may not want to pursue that job that looked so good or you are a finalist for or you are thinking about selling your house and moving across the country for... The hiring organization seems overly needy. You know the one. They keep asking for things, they want to know if you can travel 75% of the time, they need you to start yesterday, they want to see samples of your previous project work including templates and sample status reports and project schedules. It may sound like a great job, but if you don’t know a lot about them and they seem to need a lot from you, what should your gut be telling you? That perhaps they are less “established” 9
and stable than you thought they were and they may not be worth taking a drastic life and career step for. At least not if it involves a big move and many life changes. The hiring organization is adding what seems to be an infinite number of rounds to the process. If you keep hearing that you are a finalist or that it’s your job to lose (that’s one of my favorites) but yet they keep adding “one more interview” or “one more round” to the process…then just know you’re probably dealing with an organization who can’t decide what they want or with an organization who can’t decide if they can afford you. Run the other way…you can’t make a flaky hiring organization into a stable one. But I have advice – very good and successful advice on how to handle this type of organization…especially if you are a consultant. I’ve had to do it on a couple of occasions. Let me know if you need any advice on this one. The company seems to think they are overly important. Actually, this one can easily tie into the last category. The company that thinks they are overly important may keep having you jump through hoops for them and dance for them. They may ask you to run a mock meeting or prepare some sort of demo for them. Sometimes they are legitimate, sometimes they are just acting overly important, and sometimes they are even just out to steal your ideas and templates for free. Yes, that happens.
The company is a very small startup. Don't get me wrong...I love to work with small organizations and startups. I've been consulting with them for years. But I have only done it in a remote capacity or for startups in the Las Vegas area. I would never move across the country for one - too many fail. And I would never dump consulting clients right away for one for the same reason. If I started working for a startup full time I would let the consulting clients go as projects ended without burning bridges because that startup I just went to work for may not be around next year. Your start date is continually getting delayed. If this is happening, be thankful you haven’t started yet…unless of course you’ve already made a 1,500 mile move. Then you’re probably screwed. But seriously…if this is happening then they are on the brink of financial ruin or seeking venture capital that isn’t in their hands yet. Whatever the reason, they can’t pay you yet or they would be. No one messes with a new hire this way unless they simply don’t have the money. I haven’t had this happen to me personally, but I have had it happen twice to colleagues and it was painful to watch. Good luck. Summary These are just a snippet of some of the reasons you may not want to take that seemingly lucrative or “too good to be true” project management job that you’re trying to get or have just been offered. Consider any career change carefully, of 10
course…as it can have dire consequences if you don’t and you are experiencing any of those gut check moments like the ones I’ve listed here or others that test your metal. Those voices probably aren’t lying to you!
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Key Questions to Ask Your PM Interviewer
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Key Questions to Ask Your PM Interviewer
When you are in the interview process for the job, it's ok to take the offensive and be aggressive with some questions. If anything, it will make you stand out from the pack. No one wants to hire a timid employee – especially when they are looking for a leadership position like a project manager who needs to be bold and make good decisions (and ask good questions!). There are many strategies out there that can help you in the interview process and one is to ask a few pointed questions to get some detailed information about the PM infrastructure you may be heading into and to help you make your mark, so to speak. You want to ask questions – always ask question – especially when the interviewer asks if you have any questions. You always want to try to answer questions in the positive. Try never to say, “no” or “I don’t know” or “I’ve never had experience with that”, etc. Always look for ways to apply some experience, some quantifiable success stories, and some leadership qualities to whatever you answer, of course. But when the tables turn, or throughout the interview session, be ready to ask some intelligent questions. And make them worthwhile so that you are actually finding out information that will help you determine whether or not you want to take the job if it’s offered – or help you determine if they seem stable enough to stop interviewing for other jobs if you do take this one out of desperation.
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Here are 5 legitimate fact finding questions you can (should?) ask in your next interview for a project management position or when you find you’re asked if there is any more info you want to know as the interview concludes… What is your average size project in terms of dollars and team members? This type of question – a good quantifiable question – makes the interviewer think hard and will allow you follow-up (possibly) in terms of size of projects and teams you’ve led. You’ll probably cause the interviewer to take pause – it will leave an impression on them which is good. Do you have business analysts assigned to the projects? You want to know this because this gives you an idea of the level of project management oversight vs. hands-on tech work on requirements, functional design, test preparation, etc. If there are no BAs – and that does happen – then usually what they are looking for is a project manager-business analyst combo position and you need to make sure you are experienced enough to handle both (and that you do want to do the BA work as well). Is there a PMO? Tell me about the structure of your PMO. Finding out some detail about their project management infrastructure will help you frame your other questions as well as your responses to the interviewer questions. It may also, ultimately, help you decide whether you want to accept the position should it be offered to you.
Does the pool of project managers run through policies, tools and templates annually to discuss changes and improvements? This is a good one because often PMO’s and pools of project managers will have annual getaways or working sessions where they brainstorm on process improvements…think of it as sort of a huge internal lessons learned session. It can be fun, but most of all it’s productive and tells you something about the progressive and focused nature of the organization’s project management infrastructure. And if they don’t do this, it may give you a leadership edge to spearhead this effort in the near future. Describe the process flow of the average project through the organization from conception to completion. This question will help give you insight as to when PM gets involved, what the pre-engagement project structure or process looks like and what handoff to support looks like. It's just an overall good question to get answers to if you're asking a knowledgeable person. Summary No one can guarantee, of course, that any particular conduct or Q&A in an interview will ensure that you get hired. In fact, you could do everything perfectly and still not even be considered further because some other candidate may already be chosen behind the scenes. But asking some compelling questions like these during the interview will help show your interest and 14
cause the interviewer to remember you because you made them think and respond. It allows you to make your mark.
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Why Didn’t They Hire Me?
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Why Didn’t They Hire Me?
You saw a project management job that you wanted and you went for it. But it didn't happen – for whatever reason it just didn't work out. Unfortunately, you likely aren't going to get feedback from the hiring organization. If you didn't get an interview, then you probably won't even get a reply to an email. If you were a finalist, you likely still won't get any good feedback – hiring organizations are too worried about liability so they really can't tell you much. You'll have to either guess or go to some third party source to give you resume feedback and coach you on putting together a better resume, cover letter and interviewing repertoire. I have some personal experience as well as colleague experiences that I can share with you as my personal five top reasons for not getting that next PM job you may be seeking. Hopefully, these can help you out in advance so you don't have to deal with the failed application and interview process as much. Good luck! You failed to quantify any of your experiences. When the hiring organization is reviewing your resume, they want to see numbers and outcomes...something they can see as a return on investment (ROI). Success is nice, but leading a $1.25 million project and coming in 2 weeks early and getting $110,000 in project client change orders approved tells them much more. When you can list team sizes and dollar values on budgets man17
aged and projects led, do so...those quantifiable things will set you apart from the competition. Your listed technical skills do not match the job description. More organizations seem to want some hands on experience from the project manager for the projects they will be overseeing. Make sure your resume shows you have that technical or hands-on experience or state it in your cover letter. Or better yet, put it in both places so they don't miss it. If you don't show this and they want it – and most of them want it – then that is likely why you are getting passed over...even if you are otherwise the perfect candidate for the job. You show too many short job tenures. You may have been hired away on one or more previous jobs because you're great or you may have been promoted fast but if you break every position out in your résumé it may make you look like a job hopper. That raises a red flag to any organization quickly – even if you are a finalist. They may be concerned that they are going to bring you on board, get you up to speed – all of which costs them time and money – only to have you leave quickly for another job. If your resume makes you look like a hopper, then leave off the months and only list years on your jobs and combine positions with the same company to show longer company-specific tenures. It will help...trust me.
needs to say “I'm the one for the job” (not literally, but you know what I mean). You can do that – at least partially – with the quantifiable information mentioned above. But use bold words whenever possible. If you want the job, then really go after it. Read your cover letter and resume over one more time. Does it really say “I'm the one, hire me!” If it doesn't, then why should they? You did not follow up. If you want the job bad enough, the follow up may push you over the edge. If you haven't heard back in 2-3 days after submission, try following up with a call and/or email. If you interviewed and don't hear back, call. They likely won't be able to give you much feedback, as I stated earlier, but you never know. It may be a lingering doubt with your commitment on the position even if you did your best to sell yourself. A call back may hit the right person who will tell you that...which you then promptly follow up with an email stating your desire and any relevant info to the entire interviewing team...asap. Summary If you didn't get the job you really wanted, the problem is likely you, not them. You apparently didn't quite “sell” yourself enough. The hope is that following the tips above will help you out with this issue on your next application and interview process.
Your resume and/or cover letter aren't bold enough. Maybe your resume sounded too wishy-washy. It needs to be bold. It 18
Should I Get Certified?
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Should I Get Certified?
This topic usually ruffles some feathers and inspires some good feedback so be ready with your comments. PM certification? Good? Worth it? Does it help the PM? Or does it make HR personnel lazy, hiring managers mindless, and PMO directors disillusioned? First let's consider the criteria. And for analysis in this article, let's stick with the Project Management Institute's (PMI) project management professional (PMP) certification...long considered the standard certification for project managers. Here are the requirements to sit for the exam: • !
A four-year college degree
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4,500 hours (a little over two full years) leading projects
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35 hours of project management training/education
Upon sitting for the exam, the PMP hopeful must then score 61% (approximately) or higher to earn PMP certification. Cost consideration Now, while you really can’t put an overall value long term on certification vs. non-certification because you can’t exactly quantify who much certification help you monetarily in your career path or how much it will help you get hired over another candidate, you can look at the overall cost of certification. Let’s consider… 20
• Membership is $129 initially and then an annual fee of $119 for renewal • Testing – pass or fail – is $555 for non-members and $405 for PMI members • 35 hours of education prior to sitting for the exam costs something – several thousand $$’s • Ongoing certification does require ongoing education – 60 PDUs per every three-year cycle. PDUs can be had for free or low cost, but there is usually some expense and definitely a time commitment. Lazy hiring tool? I’m not going to devalue the effort and dedication that goes into the PMP certification process for an individual. It shows a dedication to the profession and an interest in legitimizing your place in the project management world. But what about the PM hiring process? Less than three years ago it appeared that every project management position posted required PMP certification. I was receiving correspondence from job seekers who were very frustrated by this new trend. It seems lately that HR departments and hiring managers have backed down from requiring PMP credentials and now often list them as preferred or helpful. But still, I can’t help but see the inclusion of PMP certifi-
cation as a tool for HR departments and hiring managers to use as a weed out in the applicant evaluation process. They are certainly allowed to do this, but how many very experienced and qualified project managers are they overlooking in the process? I’ve managed and worked with so many excellent and successful project managers who did not possess certification and if I had only looked at certified vs. non-certified I would have certainly missed out on some great candidates and leaders. I see this “requirement” only as a lazy hiring tool…but that is just my opinion. Summary For hiring managers…many have cited that hiring only PMP certified project managers for a PMO gives you a pool of project managers who speak the same language (figuratively, not literally) and understand the same terminology. Thus making it easier to implement a common methodology for your organization and have everyone successfully follow it. Do you agree? Personally I consider experience more important than certification, though a mix of both in a PMO is usually desirable. I can understand the common language benefit that having a PMO full of certified project managers can bring, but nothing replaces experience in my book. Certification...yes or no? I vote “yes”, but it's not a top hiring consideration for me. I still go with experience. Both are important...and helpful.
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Summary
Only you can make the call on how and when to proceed doing your next or first path to project management directions in your career. Is the time right now? Next year? Are you looking for more responsibility – or just tired of what you're doing. Both are good reasons to change – though I'd take the former over the latter because jumping into a PM career is no small step, it certainly isn't easy and it is not without it's on immense challenges and responsibilities.
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About the Author
Brad Egeland is a Business Solution Designer and an Information Technology / Project Management consultant and author with over 25 years of software development, management and creative project management experience. He has successfully led creative project initiatives in Manufacturing, Government Contracting, Creative Design, Gaming and Hospitality, Retail Operations, Aviation and Airline, Pharmaceutical, Start-ups, Healthcare, Higher Education, Nonprofit, High-Tech, Engineering and general IT. In addition to his accomplishments in IT development, resource and creative project management, he has also authored more than 5,000 expert advice and strategy articles and more than a dozen eBooks and videos on creative project management, business strategy, and information technology and best practices for his own website and for clients all around the world. Brad is highly regarded as one of the most prolific go-to authors on creative project management general topics, advice and strategy in the world. He often bases his articles on his own personal experiences, successes and frustrations, providing insights on how to combat issues and deficiencies encountered along the way to the average creative project manager, business owner or strategist looking for help in a given situation. Brad is married, a father of 11 and lives in sunny Las Vegas, NV. You can learn more about Brad or contact him through the following: Website: http://www.bradegeland.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bradegelandconsulting Twitter: http://twitter.com/begeland LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradegeland Email:
[email protected]
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