We had placed a small survey on our site to get the opinions of our candidates and 54% of them thought it was important. In this issue we decided to find out why clients like to see candidates with qualifications in Project Management (PRINCE2, APM, PMI etc) and ISEB qualifications (Project Management, PPSO Foundation and Advanced).

When Arras People is working alongside clients to define their requirements for a role, one of the most important questions we ask is "what methodology does your project organisation use?". 9 times out of 10, the answer is PRINCE2, but often when you delve a little deeper, it's often a case of ,"well we're suppose to follow PRINCE2 but we taken the principles and adapted it to suit our needs".

So many organisations are not actively using many of the principles of PRINCE2 but still they look for potential employees who have undertaken the exams and passed with flying colours. Something of a mismatch? No, not really, we talked to a number of clients recently to get their thoughts as to why they prefer to see this on CV's.A Programme Office Manager responsible for a team of project co-ordinators said;

"It's often a good indicator of the type of person the candidate is. If they've attended and passed an exam in a subject related to their field it tells me a little about their competency levels. This qualification coupled with good works experience would often give them the edge over other candidates because it shows to me they're dedicated to their chosen role."

The ISEB qualifications in Programme and Project Support Offices are currently the only qualifications for Project Co-ordinators etc, which is why many prefer to complete the PRINCE2 exams.

When talking to another client, a Senior Project Management Consultant about why PRINCE2 qualifications are important to him when selecting candidates for interviews, "it demonstrates a couple of things to me; a candidate has a good combination of the theoretical side of project management and the hard and fast experience and its important to our organisation as a whole. We're raising the project management maturity capability levels and to do this we need project management professionals - the qualifications are a good step in the right direction"

Slightly different reasons from different organisations, but the interesting thing here is that there is no mention of attracting new employees with PRINCE2 or ISEB qualifications purely because they want people qualified in the methodology that the organisation uses. In the next issue we look at what employees think about the qualifications

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Not often, if the latest research from Gartner is to be believed. Their latest annual survey of 956 enterprise class CIO's , published in March, points to the majority of IT departments and CIO's concentrating on the back office and system delivery rather than embracing real business issues.

Only 16% of CIO's are what Gartner classifies as 'breakaways', focused not only on technology and service delivery, but focused on business effectiveness, trusted by senior management and seen as business leaders in their own right.

Marcus Blosch, vice president and research director at Gartner EXP (Gartner Executive Programs) put it this way, 'My advice to the CIO is spend time with your business, and make it a priority to really understand them, because the strongest connection between trust and respect, in the survey, was time spent with the business'.

Most IT project managers ensure that time is spent at the start of a project to understand the business as well as technical requirements. Indeed most IT projects would not get off the ground without a compelling business case, but how often do projects really consider the effect of change on people, both staff and customers? How often are the people who will experience the change, really involved in designing the change, innovating the change, executing the change and implementing the change. Project delivery is about process, business change is about people. It seems that this is a lesson many CIO's and project managers have yet to learn.

John Gough is a director of Diabolo. www.diabololimited.com

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In this 1st series we're looking at the project manager interview and specifically at those questions designed to find out about project management skills and knowledge:

Give an example of how you tackle the initiation of projects?
Describe how you have undertaken the practical application of a project
methodology for a programme or project?
Please discuss with examples how you undertake managing a project on a day to day basis?
What is project management? Briefly describe the project lifecycle.
What has been the most significant project you have worked on?
What was your actual role in that project?
What is the most important thing in project management?

Specific Skill Areas:

RISK: How have you managed risks on a project you have run?
CONTRACTS: Given a situation when we are delivering a project without a contract but on a promise that the customer will pay (they have always paid before), what are the issues?
FINANCES: how do you start costing your projects? what experience do you have of building a change request for more money to complete your project?
QUALITY: Consider the statement 'inadequate quality management will result in project problems'. Give an example of why this should be.
ISSUES: What methods do you use to capture issues when initiating your projects?
CHANGE CONTROL: In terms of time quality and cost and time please give an example of how you have managed change? How did you identify and determine the impact of your change options? Give an example of where a requested change was refused and how you managed it?

In the next issue we look at interview questions that challenge the softer skills of the project manager role.

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A recent Arras People applicant - Simon Roberts shares his thoughts on transferable skills in project management.

After recently applying for a Project Manager role and being given the feedback that I didn't have the specific skills the client was looking for (in this case Billing, CRM and Utilities), I accept that some clients will be more choosey than others and will look for specific experience.

However, it is interesting to note that Chelsea Football Club have just appointed a new manager Jose Mourihno who (apparently) has never been a professional footballer. He has led Porto to the UEFA Cup & Champions League success and is consequently in demand. I believe that Project Management is about client satisfaction, the ability to manage a team of people, and achieving desired results. Specific technical input can always be drawn upon via the deployment of specific resources.

I believe that if you possess strong Project Management experience your skills are highly transferable. It's getting this message across to the more "flexible" clients that is the key as I believe that Project Managers can make a difference in most environments. I would venture to say that sometimes it can be an advantage not to have a background in that specific field because it helps you as a PM to focus on the key things, and to see the wood beyond the trees.

In essence : I like to view a project in terms of; what do I have to deliver & to whom; what's the budget to work with; who are the available resources; and when do I have to deliver it. I prefer to see projects in those terms. Everything else is detail that sorts itself out during execution by drawing upon the right resources.

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My thoughts in this world where PC (Political Correctness not Personal Computing :) is ever present I often wonder about this question! Is this a profession where it is valid to have an ageist view on life? YES I boldly state, I believe it is.

My own belief is that no person can be an effective Project Management practitioner by just having read the books, passed the PRINCE or PMI exams, attended a project management course. No university course can create a Project Manager; the best practitioners have all been through the University of Life!

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying education isn't valid. What I am saying is that the real practitioners have a wealth of experience, battle scars and real life scenarios upon which they base their decisions, judgments and actions, generally balanced with formal education.

Most project managers I have worked with and more recently placed haven't started their professional life as a project manager but evolved into the role as their natural talent has shone whilst undertaking other project related roles. They have served an apprenticeship, delivering under the wings of other project managers, watching and learning, picking up on good practices, looking to eradicate or improve areas that they disliked.

This I believe is what makes the project manager the beast he/she is and at the age of 21 very few people can have had the relevant exposure to prepare them for this most crucial position! Don't you agree?

- A 43 year old ex-Project Manager

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