New research from Monster.co.uk, the major job board, shows that ” fears over job security are encouraging a quarter of UK workers to quit their jobs and start a new career in 2010″ and interestingly “a huge 46% of Brits polled said that their career prospects for 2010 were very gloomy and that they were extremely worried, but had no plans to change jobs”
The project management industry is faring much better as we look to the rest of 2010. In the Arras People Project Management Benchmark Report 2010, project professionals were asked about their personal confidence moving into 2010. Only 8% reported that they felt gloomy about their prospects in 2010.
Comparing the project management sector against the general job seeking population further, 20% of the general population felt optimisitic about their prospects and opportunities in 2010 whilst a whopping 71% of project management professionals felt steady/bouyant about their lot in 2010.
When looking at job confidence, 10% of the general population were doubtful about keeping their job in 2010 compared with 9% of project management professionals expecting major cuts in their organisations with regards to hiring and redundancy.
Is the average project professional just an optimist or does the project management have a rightful claim to feeling that the worse of the recession is over for the project world?
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As long as there are projects, there will be a need for project managers. A lot of projects were shelved over the last couple years, but obsolescence is going to force many of those projects back out into the open, and soon. Also, I believe the UK has a fabulously robust independent contractor industry. It makes sense to me that PMs there would be relatively optimistic for 2010.
However, one trend I am starting to notice is, companies are looking more and more to less expensive (and therefore less experienced) project managers to deliver their projects. That could be trouble for seasoned folks in the short term, and project sponsors in the long term.
.-= Geoff Crane´s last blog ..I Second That Emotion =-.
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Totally agree with that last point Geoff, there has also been for a time, less rate for the same, thank you very much! Needless to say, some seasoned PMs have had to drop rates in the short term (I only wish they stood their ground, then we wouldn’t get this perceived “buyers market” from the company side.) Sure it’s been tough but I’m with you in that the pendulum will swing back, especially when the less experienced PMs may not have delivered the goods. My prediction is that we will see quite a few “troubleshooter” roles; ones where PM’s are required for a short term to get projects back on track
Glad to hear that, by and large, project professionals are feeling optimistic about the future.
Once the results of the general election have been announced, I’ll be keeping a close eye on high profile projects, such as Crossrail; if we have a change in leader (or even a hung parliament), it will be interesting to see the government’s response to big-budget undertakings.
Twitter: projectmgmt
Hi Elizabeth, you raise a very good point especially as one of the parties have already talked about their reluctance to carry on with the Crossrail project in particular. It’s been an interesting three weeks so far too, the recruitment industry is normally one of the first industries to feel the effects of things like the economy, and the annoucement of the general election has been no exception. There has effectively been a total freeze on project management roles in the public sector, departments are sitting tight and awaiting the results. It’s a good job we don’t have an election every year!