Programme & Project Management Industry Notes - 2010

The Registered Project Professional is all about APM's continued journey to professionalism, "build(ing) momentum in creating a recognised and valued profession" whilst waiting for the outcome of the chartership bid.

With the launch of the new Arras People website and our updated registration process we are now able to collect additional data about salaries, day rates and trends for the UK Programme and Project Management community. The data which we are collecting will be analysed and published in a new quarterly briefing document PPM Insider™ which will be exclusively available to our clients.

During the recent APM Conference I took the time to listen to a presentation by David Pitchford the Executive Director of Major Projects within the Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) which sits within the Cabinet Office. If you have not come across the ERG you may recognise them under their former name OGC (The Office of Government Commerce) who amongst other things have been responsible for the promotion of Prince2, MSP, ITIL and other PPM methods.

I’m going to make the assumption that the suspected age discrimination you have experienced is not blatant because there are Age Discrimination laws to protect you and avenues to pursue if you would like to take that further. I will concentrate on the element of the question where you are looking for advice on proactive steps to take to make your job search more fruitful. The setbacks you are experiencing could just as easily be a product of the general economic downturn we have experienced in hires over the last two years and there are four areas I want you to think about and take action on.

The Best Practice Showcase 2010 held at Victoria in London provided a lively day of discussion, networking and learning for the Arras People team and the many programme and project personnel who attended. Attracting over 500 delegates, the format of the event was highly interactive and Arras hosted a series of round table discussions during the day on the subject of professionalism as well as running a short survey on the subject.

On her beginnings in projects: "Project management is so diverse, I couldn't help but get intrigued. Supporting the team of programme and project managers, I had to track project progress, preparing status reports and provide administrative support. That was my introduction to the world of project lifecycles, methodologies, processes and tools."

If 2009 was the year of gaining project management qualifications, we firmly believe that 2010 is going to be the year when project management competence takes centre stage. Our experience during this year has shown us that in a tough environment employers are much more focussed on the "doing" aspects which a project professional brings to the table.

Arras People, the project recruitment specialists, have carried out their fifth annual survey of the UK project management market, using independent research company Benchpoint™ to survey over 900 project management professionals in January 2010.

Like every good project professional you should start with a plan. The job market has certainly been different over the last 12 months and 2010 will see an equally competitive market to secure the best project management roles. Remember, looking for a job is a full time job and the rewards generally reflect the efforts expended during the process.

You may be either a Project Management graduate with no experience; a Project Management graduate with a little experience or a Project Management graduate with a lot of project delivery experience who has gone back to university as a mature student. Whatever your situation, a personal stock take should be carried out so you can answer the questions, "Who am I? What do I want to achieve? And why should someone employ me?"