Words: John Thorpe

Attracting over 500 delegates, the format of the Best Practice Showcase 2010 event was highly interactive as Arras People hosted a series of discussions during the day of professionalism as well as running a short survey on the subject.

Words: Lindsay Scott

Back in the good old days of 2005, Tipoffs reported that the UK project management marketplace was hit by a massive skills shortage;

The job market is bound for massive expansion as companies and organisations take the dust covers off their delayed investments in new IT systems and regulatory adherence demands change!

The general consensus would appear to be that this skills shortage will convert into pay increases and a general scramble as organisations look to secure the services of the best permanent and freelance consultants!

The interesting observations we made at the time included; "The number of available skilled programme and project management professionals is reducing; employers are not yet cognoscente to the fact that there may be a shortage on the horizon and rates are still pretty level and not inflationary." At the time we were a little sceptical about the perception that a skills shortage would exist in project management but fast forward to 2010 and the marketplace is showing some interesting signs.

Permanent employees and contractors alike will tell you of their concerns on not only the available opportunities within the marketplace being drastically reduced but also the impact on the rates and salaries available. It has not been uncommon to hear of contract project management professionals raising concerns about the reduction of their rates by up to 30% of what they were two years ago. There is, however, a flip side to this story and one worth noting and sharing with the project management community.

It is the project management professionals who are working within a "skills shortage" industry, sector or organisation that have carried on working through these recessionary times and who have seen their rates increase during the last two years. It is also worth noting that although we are still within a period of economic flux, where the marketplace has seen an increased in available project management resources, the general consensus amongst employers is that there is a decrease in "the right" project management talent being available. That's right, it appears we do indeed have a skills shortage, or to expand that further, we have a domain knowledge shortage within project management. The contract and permanent project management workforce who are currently working within those areas deemed to be in demand are cleaning up.

My question to you is this; "what is your area of specialism?" Or are you a generalist project management practitioner who believes that project management is a transferable skill set which will allow you to work in any industry sector? Rightly or wrongly, the marketplace at the moment is demanding specialism of its project managers; demonstrable experience of domains, sectors, industries, systems, products, business change and so the list goes on.

Think about your own situation and circumstance; if you were to market your own specialism what would it be? What areas of business and industry are looking for my particular specialism? How can I work the current marketplace demands to my advantage? Now is not a great time to think about how to change sectors or markets; now is the time to capitalise on your real achievements to date.

Words: Lindsay Scott

In an ongoing tough recruitment market your CV is still the one document that recruiters and employers will use to make those all important decisions about whether your capabilities and skills make you a great bet to bring you in for an interview. Rightly or wrongly, this outdated mode of presenting yourself and your case for suitability for employment (with the advance of technology and online tools, we're still concerned with Word documents?) is still the most important thing you can spend time on in the job hunting process. Yet still we're hearing the horror stories of job seekers parting with much needed cash for a service which, in effect, takes control and responsibility away from you in the most important aspect of getting a new job; the CV creation.

Just last week a currently unemployed Project Manager was talking to me about the frustrations he felt when looking for a new position; "The last time I was out of work about 6 or 7 years ago, I had job interview opportunities coming out of my ears. This time around, out of 70 or 80 applications I've had three interviews from two different companies but no job offers". He went on to tell me about the steps he's been taking: "Now I'm just applying for anything with the title 'Project Manager' in the hope that as I increase the number of applications I make there are greater odds in gaining an interview." With this new plan of attack he has also paid £400 for someone to re-write his CV.

There are two things wrong with this approach; blanket applying for jobs based on job title with a CV written by someone else; this Project Manager has got to the point where he is no longer in control of his job searching and when it doesn't work he now has someone else to blame.

So why do people use CV writing services? Many people find it difficult to write about themselves or find the etiquette of CV writing confusing or frustrating. It is also difficult to know how to write about your career in a way which is clear, concise, compelling and in some cases, accurate [one in three applicants lie in their CV (Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors [CIEA] Feb, 2009)]. There appears to be two main issues people struggle with: Firstly, it is about a subject matter they are too close to. It is difficult to write about themselves and at the same time write about themselves in a successful, high-achieving way. Secondly, it is a writing style that requires effort and a little practice: For example, the use of encapsulating words like "structured methodologies", rather than a long list of every process, method and guidance ever used in your career. CV writing is a true skill, and one which many people don't think is worth investing the time and effort when money can be easily thrown at the issue to fix it.

And therein lies the dilemma: Can a CV really be outsourced to an external party and the output really and truly reflect that individuals career, achievements and experience in the best possible way? CVs are personal documents, and unfortunately, professional CVs come across strongly as impersonal and too generic. A professional CV writer misses the subtleties of an individual's career, especially when the writer has little understanding of the subject's trade. Project management is a complex role with many core competencies, capabilities and skills, and these coupled with the industry sector knowledge means there is much to capture and highlight in a professional project manager's CV. All this information is the real "stuff" that makes a project manager tick, and ultimately what makes them a potentially attractive employee or contractor to a hiring organisation. With a generic and impersonal outsourced CV which implies rather than being explicit, it is easy to see why some people are overlooked whilst others are being asked in for interviews.

The other piece of advice I've been giving to seekers recently is the need to tailor your CV to each individual role which brings us back to the Project Manager featured above and how his system is doomed to fail. Project management professionals that are invited into interviews are doing three things in their job hunting; applying for the relevant job (do you have 90% of what the company is looking for in the job specification or advert?), tailoring their CV to that job (highlighting the relevant points, moving their key achievements to make relevant ones more prominent, changing wording or terminology etc) and professionalising their approach (with cover letters carefully constructed to catch the eye and hold attention). With a blanket approach to applying for roles the opportunity is lost to personalise and tailor and with a paid for CV it makes it much more difficult to fine-tune for individual roles.

So how can you become a professional job seeker?

• Use a sounding board, preferably a good friend or agent*. Use a friend or colleague to read through your CV and ask for honest, constructive criticism. If your friend does not work within project management, would the content of the CV make sense to them? Can they understand what you do, how you do it and how good you are? If a friend doesn't understand, you can be assured that some readers of your CV will also struggle. Remember: not all HR professionals or department heads know what a project manager does, so you are potentially writing your CV to a wide audience. Better still, use a trusted agent. Good agents will be able to mentor or coach you on what hiring organisations are looking for in a good project manager CV. They can also advise on the do's and don'ts and be particularly useful at letting you know what a successful candidate is doing right with their CV.

• Get into the mindset of thinking of the CV as sales material. Ultimately the CV is there to sell you as a first choice project manager (or programme manager, project office etc) to the hiring manager. Think of the job specification as a tender for work - what is the job outline asking for? Your CV should clearly convey and sell your skills, capabilities, competencies and experience in relation to that tender for work.

• Research for a good template and advice on the basics of CV writing. Arras People Careers Advice has a template and CV advice document especially written for project professionals.

1. Does your work experience cover your key skills and experience across the entire project lifecycle? Have you covered experience and skills in planning, for example? Do you cover initiation and your role, in say, business case development?
2. Does your CV cover the behavioural competencies of your role? For example, do you cover communication in an explicit way or is just implied? Do you cover team management, resource management, conflict management in any obvious way?
3. Do you actually cover the core competencies of project management? Are there details that cover areas like stakeholder management, estimating, scope management, quality, scheduling, risk management, change control, etc?
4. Is your CV guilty of giving too much detail about the projects you have worked on rather than the way you as a successful project manager have delivered them? Remember your next role may be completely unconnected to the previous projects you've worked on therefore will a new hiring manager really be that interested in the technical aspects and jargon-littered details?

*Arras People have a sounding board service available through their Project Management Careers Clinics. See here for more details.

Lindsay Scott is a Director of Arras People. To read more of her work on project management at How to Manage a Camel, click here.

Author: Kathrin Köster
Publisher: Sage
Size: 392 pages

Reviewed by Dr Ed Wallington

I'll get this out of the way at the start, this is a textbook, and is stated to be aimed at advanced business or engineering students, and practitioners. Having been a student once, a CPD advocate, and a project management practitioner, I have to say this book does indeed satisfy both camps - this is to its credit, and in some ways leads to some of its limitations.
 
As with many textbooks, the aim is to give a broad overview of a subject, which can then be supplemented by further reading and learning tasks to embed the knowledge, and to allow students to challenge themselves. This is what allows good students to excel and demonstrate a wider reading base, whereas others may just read the book and 'get away' with the basics. This book lends itself well to the former style of learning, identifying key topics, and pointing students towards further reading.
 
The book covers a wide range of topics (discussed below), but also purposefully leaves out many areas (this is understandable as one book cannot cover everything), and it is stated that other books cover these areas (alluding to wider reading). From a practitioner's point of view, this book gives an excellent overview of key elements of international project management - however, I felt the book lacked detail in areas, and this was sometimes a little frustrating. Köster has attempted to provide a wide-ranging book giving explanations, guidance and tools for every aspect of project management, alongside interjecting the elements of international working - I would argue that it may be trying to do too much in one book. Having said this, Köster has made an excellent contribution to a field of project management which hasn't been widely documented as far as I am aware, and this is certainly a worthy contribution to the realms of international project management.
 
The book is structured around the APM Body of Knowledge 5th edition, and covers a wide range of topics, starting with an introduction to international project management, including what is project and programme management, stakeholders, differences between 'standard' and international projects. For me, the interesting read throughout this book is the emphasis on location (geographically dispersed) and culture (national, organisational or functional), and how these impact on our approach to project management. Further discussion of project diversity, dynamics, resources, complexity and risk are all made trickier due to the international nature of a project. This certainly rings bells in my experience in managing teams split across the UK and Russia, and the need to be aware of cultural differences, and how different teams and individuals view the world, operate and approach project work and working together.
 
Further chapters cover topics such as project structures, risk, planning, organising, implementing, controlling, leading, communicating, co-operating and learning in and from projects. These are all bread and butter to most project management practitioners, but this book gives a refreshing new view, particularly in light of international working. The book covers a good range of discussion regarding standard tools to help project management planning, implementation and control (WBS, Gantt, network diagrams, stakeholder analysis, risk management etc), as well as positioning their use in the context of an international project, highlighting and emphasising where issues may arise due to the nature of working internationally. Köster spends quite some time discussing the cultural context, cultural frameworks, and how tools can be used to better understand and address cultural issues in stakeholder and project management approaches. Key elements a project manager need to have include organization skills, technical skills, communication skills, and, as this book stresses, cross-cultural skills. These are lessons we can learn from and utilise in any project, not just internationally, as we pull on a wider pool of talent.
 
Where this book differs from other project management texts is the recognition, active assessment and management of the impact of working across boundaries - physically, mentally, emotionally and culturally. A project manager needs to be acutely astute at managing a project, made more complex by the nature of international working; sometimes we can focus on the tools and forget about the people and how they work - this book reaffirms that projects are about people, and are only as successful as the project teams, management and collaborative work. This book helps to highlight these issues and organises solutions around a structured project management process.
 
The book is easy to access and read, and successfully balances discussion with examples. The book covers a great deal, and it also leaves out a great deal, but as Köster states herself, there are other books available that cover this.
 
I would suggest this book is a good introductory text for students of project management looking to gain an insight into international working (supported with further reading recommendations, tasks, a companion website, lecturer resources, questions, answers etc). Likewise, I would recommend it to project management practitioners (working internationally or more localised), as the book contains a wealth of information and is excellent in contextualising considerations focused around diverse cultures (be it nationally, organisationally or functionally).
 
This book is a worthy contribution to project management literature which can teach us a great deal, and is a good starting place for those involved in or leading international projects, or those looking to be better rounded in terms of project management practices.

ABOUT OUR REVIEWER: Dr Ed Wallington runs geoCognita, having worked previously as a Programme and Business Development Manager. Ed has also undertaken research projects with the aim of understanding issues and requirements, investigating options and delivering solutions to support and enhance management and business decisions at strategic and operational levels. He has written a number of publications for academic and professional bodies, see his publications page for further details. 

GUEST REVIEWERS:Would you like to review a book for TIpoffs? We're ready to give away a free copy of "The One-Page Project Manager For Execution", a John Wiley & Sons title written by Clark A. Campbell with Mike Collins, to one reader who can best demonstrate their acumen to write a solid, unbiased review for the Tipoffs audience. Contact us today.

"Being a project management professional who has been made redundant and actively seeking a role to no avail for the past few months, would employers take notice of me if I gained my Prince2 qualification?" - Ian, Redhill

Arras People's Nicola Thorp takes up Ian's question...

Thanks for your question, Ian. A simple answer is maybe - it's always difficult to say based on a job advert, most asking for Prince2 practitioner are actually asking for a project professional, who has and can work within a structured project management environment. Having worked with hundreds of organisations across a diverse range of industries I have yet to discover a company working stringently to PRINCE2. If you have a background working in project management using a formal approach you can get around the request for the dreaded P2 "tick in the box" by clearly demonstrating core competencies within the remit of each role you have worked in.

To start, simply take a blank piece of paper and draw a line with the project lifecycle from start to finish and fill in the core areas with your own personal experience; i.e. Areas such as writing the business case, project initiation document (PID), planning, gate reviews, benefits case etc. Once you have a concise list of competencies it is time to add them to the CV and contextualise - don't just list like a job description, this is your opportunity to really demonstrate your understanding of the importance of clear communication within the field and remember managing a team of 5 is completely different to managing a team of 50+ across Europe.

Of course you may have a project management qualification which is not P2, maybe APMP, PMI or similar - it is important you use the P2 terminology in your CV and ensure you clearly talk about the structures you have worked in (which are invariably a form of P2), don't assume the CV reader knows what these qualifications are!

There are a few good deals out there at the moment (being a competitive market) with trainers; if you have set aside some funding for professional development and have previously worked within a P2 environment then it will not hold you back taking the qualification. As with all qualifications, these should be taken to compliment your experience - we never advise going to take the exam unless you have worked to the structure previously.

If you would like to put a question to Nicola, contact us and it could end up in a future edition of the Tipoffs Q&A. For more examples like this and/or further help & advice regarding extending your search and creating professional and effective cover letters refer to our Project Management Careers clinic /  Project Management Careers Advice pages.

Got a question for us? Contact us today.