If only some employers could see pass the “must have previous experience within the XX sector” they would be opening up a wider project management talent pool to fish in. On numerous occasions over the last few months, excellent candidates (I’ll come back to what an “excellent candidate” is) have been shortlisted by Arras People to present to clients only to see knock backs due to the sector they have previously worked in. Now sometimes this can be justified to a certain degree i.e., construction or engineering where a specific project experience might be crucial or an IT vacancy where the project management role has a technical skill element to it but often it’s not justified. A prime example has been the public sector – MUST have prior experience of the public sector.
Why?
There is a danger of only recruiting like for like, of never bringing in new talent with new ideas, if the face don’t fit…. almost discrimination in some ways?
Many project managers – regardless of industry – are taking their PRINCE2™ so they’re used to working within the structured framework used by many public sector organisation, many are bright individuals who can learn the ways of a local government organisation or central government departments, many are highly effective project managers who deliver the project according to time, cost and quality – so what’s the issue?
Be good to hear from anyone who can shed some light on this reluctance?
I wholly agree with the points above. A good project manager with solid PrINCE2 or other recognised methodology qualification should be able to deliver to time, cost & quality and pull in the relevant expertise from other business units/departments to deal with specific technologies/products etc. However, it seems that companies believe it is easier to replace like for like, and that somehow minimises the risk of failure – that’s not necessarily true; a fresh mind may just bring with it other benefits not previously enjoyed. So come on, give us good PM’s the opportunity to make a difference!
Absolutely! The ability to deal with timescales, finance and (especially) people is completely transferable between industries. In my own career I was initially a semiconductor design engineer, however the experience of working in a project team on tight product lifecycles was excellent preparation for later project management and planning contracts in areas as diverse as financial institutions and medical education projects. In fact I would go so far as to say it may actually be better for the success of a project to have someone in charge who won’t or can’t be distracted by industry-specific team members who would rather talk than do!
There is often confusion in the role of the project manager, perhaps due to some clients wanting “2 for the price of 1″? If the PM is expected to be a product developer as well, he/she will have conflicting priorities and therefore will be less efficient in both roles.