Route To Project Management

Project Managers are hugely beneficial for businesses of all sizes. They are important for ensuring that business operations run on time and on budget. However, the question remains, what are the paths to building a career in Project Management?

Courses

For an undergraduate, you don’t necessarily need a degree in Project Management, although a related degree such as Business would be helpful. For more niche Project Management roles in sectors like IT or Engineering, knowledge that can be obtained through a degree in those subjects would be particularly useful.

While you don’t need a related undergraduate per se, if you get a postgraduate degree such as a Masters in Project Management, it’d greatly enhance your career prospects.

Apprenticeship

An apprenticeship will help you to build your Project Management knowledge and skills. You will be able to earn while you learn and begin growing your network of industry contacts from the get-go.

Typically programmes begin at Level 4, although Level 6 Project Management apprenticeships are now available. Level 6 qualifications are the equivalent of an undergraduate degree. Programmes can last from two to five years, depending on your employer, and are available from such companies as British Airways, National Grid and Vodafone.

Work Experience

Work Experience will help you begin to build your Project Management knowledge and skill base. Look for any internships for junior or assistant roles in any sectors of interest. You can also opt to shadow an experienced Project Manager or volunteer for leadership roles. This will not only help you gain the skills necessary to succeed in a Project Manager role, but also help grow your network of professional contacts.

If you’re still a student at university, it may be advisable to get involved in the organisation of clubs and societies. Extra-curricular activities such as these would look great on your CV.

Graduate Training Schemes

Being new to the industry, especially as a graduate, you will probably begin in a junior or assistant position. As a graduate, you can search for vacant roles with professional bodies or through any number of job boards. Many companies will also run their own graduate schemes or student placement schemes, training students and new grads up in the essential skills related to Project Management. Top skills for Project Managers are:

Time Management: While micromanaging how other people spend their time, you will need to be able to effectively manage your own workload. This includes identifying what are the most important tasks to focus on and what to delegate. Good Project Managers know when to say no to a task that would overfill their workload.

Organisation: In order to better organise others, you must be able to organise yourself. Project Management requires a high level of responsibility with the likes of goal setting, estimating, managing timelines and tracking the progress of a project. These are the signs of a well-organised Project Manager.

Communication: A Project Manager will spend the bulk of their time communicating with others. Therefore effective communication skills are paramount. You will need to be able to clearly set out what your vision for a project is. The goals that everyone should work towards, the ideas you have for the project, and any issues that the team encounters. This includes both effective written and verbal communication skills for writing reports, giving presentations and chairing meetings between stakeholders. Of course, communication is a two-way street and you must be an effective listener as well as a talker. Stakeholders need to feel that they are having a conversation when problems arise.

Negotiation: Building off of your communications skills, Project Managers need to be skilled negotiators to find common ground. Stakeholders will often have competing interests within a project and it is your job to bring them together to agree upon a common understanding of how resources will be allocated, agree on schedules for the project, and the overall project budget.

Risk Management: Mitigating risk in a project shows that a Project Manager is in control of the project. You need to stay ahead of any potential risks and predict what may become roadblocks before they do. Creating innovative solutions to overcome these risks will leave you in good stead to achieve your project's goals.

Leadership: Project Management isn’t just about the management of people’s activities, but also about inspiring them towards the completion of the project’s goals. A sign of a good leader is a combination of all the skills listed above. Setting a vision of the project that motivates your colleagues towards the overall completion of the project.

Professional Qualifications

Professional Qualifications are available through a number of bodies. These include PRINCE2, Agile, Association of Project Managers (APM) and the Project Management Institute (PMI).

A PRINCE2 qualification is most commonly used for end-to-end Project Management with a structured methodology. Courses are available at three levels, Foundation, Practitioner and Agile. Foundation is aimed at new recruits with a base level of knowledge or the processes of Project Management. You can then move on to a practitioner level more aimed at working professionals.

Agile qualifications are more suited to fast-moving industries such as IT. This is due to short development cycles known as “Sprints” that zone in on continuous improvement of a product during the development process. Training for Agile courses is available at both Foundation and Practitioner level.

APM offers a number of qualifications. PFQ (APM Project Fundamentals Qualification) is an introductory course in Project Management. No prior Project Management knowledge or experience is needed.

PMQ (APM Project Management Qualification), is a more knowledge-based qualification demanding that candidates demonstrate some amount of understanding of the constituent parts of Project Management. This is the next step up from the PFQ qualification and requires some amount of experience.

PPQ (APM Project Professional Qualification) involves the core and specific skills that Project Management professionals require. This qualification targets those actively working within the Project Management industry and looking to become a member of a professional body.

APM offers supplemental courses on Project Management, aimed at augmenting the knowledge and skills gained from their professional qualifications.

PMI offers experienced Project Managers a variety of certificates and professional qualifications. Typically however, you will need a degree and a minimum of three years of Project Management experience. Examples of courses offered are the likes of Project Management Professional (PMP) and Program Management Professional (PgMP) among many others.

There is no one path to building a career in Project Management. Listed above are the various avenues you could take to set you on the right track towards a successful career.

Looking for any vacancies in the Project Management sector? Whether you’re a temporary candidate or an executive juggernaut, we have roles suited to your needs. Contact our team on 028 9033 0555 or drop us a line via [email protected]

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