Starting a project management career can involve education, certification, and on-the-job training. PMP certification courses are intense and comprehensive, while hands-on experience combined with education and certification can propel a career in project management. A strong focus on management and leadership in a resume can make it stand out to hiring managers.
A project management career can be very rewarding and lucrative. The work of a project management professional (PMP) focuses solely on the project, even if he or she does not necessarily have experience in the type of work required by the project. Your job is strictly to manage. Starting a project management career can take many avenues, including education, certification, and on-the-job training.
Education is always a good starting point, especially if you don’t have management skills and experience. There are a myriad of educational options available, including online courses, classroom programs, and combinations of the two. Some programs last for eighteen months, while a degree program in project management can take four to five years. Courses often cover a variety of topics from management to human resources, time management and budget management.
PMP certification courses are typically 36 or more hours of instructor-led training and prepare students to earn their project management certification. These PMP certification courses are usually quite intense, focused and very comprehensive. Some programs have prerequisites, such as a required number of college credits, a college degree, a certain number of hours of project management experience, a certain number of hours of project management training, or any combination thereof. This varies from program to program; therefore, if you are planning to start a PMP certification course, it is wise to check the prerequisites first.
Even if you plan to earn your certification, it’s a good idea to get some hands-on experience as a project manager. In the long run, experience will help propel your career in project management, particularly when combined with education and certification. You can apply project management skills and principles to virtually any job you have, even if you’re not in a leadership position. To apply project management concepts to projects assigned to you at work, or even if you are a volunteer, take a focused, organized and management-oriented approach.
Create a comprehensive report or project analysis that expands on the project and details its various aspects. You can do this even if you are the only person on the project. You’ll start with a project overview, in which you clearly define your work or project objectives. Identify the resources needed to achieve your goal. Before starting your project, clearly define your deliverables and get approval for those deliverables before the project starts.
Set realistic delivery dates and meet or exceed those projections. Throughout the life of the project, communicate its status to your project manager or client. It’s a good idea to send a short weekly report if you can. In that report, include project status, milestones achieved, risks or threats, a synopsis of work completed since the last report, and any issues that may affect the delivery date. Identify any design issues before being asked and include them in your report and analysis.
At regular intervals throughout the life of the project, include additional information in the project review, make recommendations and offer solutions. At the conclusion of the project, include a lessons learned section and send the report to your manager. By approaching your projects in this way, you are providing a real-time, on-the-job project management experience. You can highlight this experience by pursuing a career in project management.
When you start looking and applying for project management jobs, you need a good resume with a strong focus on management and leadership. Hiring managers tend to look at the total number of years the candidate has in project management, the complexity and size of the projects, what kind of budget was managed and who you reported to. Briefly describe scenarios of things you actually did while working in the capacity of a project manager. This will give your resume more power and make it stand out.
Always consider the management aspect of your assignments so that you can use the experience later in your career. Look for ways to shape your work to reflect your goals. Whether you choose to major in project management, take a certification course, or work to gain the experience, you can make your dream of a career in project management a reality.
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