PM Network - August 2015

Focus your work history on the last five years ( 10 years if you’ve worked for the same employer for a long time). For earlier positions, include only the date, the company you worked for and the job title. This shows the reader your previous experience, and they can choose to ask you for more detail in the interview if they’re interested.

4. USING A LIST OF SKILLS

It has become common in project management résumés to include a list of skills, such as “stakeholder management,” “managing business change” and “leadership.” The skills are not attached to any career history, nor is there any context. Instead of including a bulleted list that stands alone, consider highlighting these skills in your career history. These skills are what hiring managers are really hiring you for, so it makes sense to give them the context they deserve.

5. FAILING TO HIGHLIGHT ACHIEVEMENTS
AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The most impressive achievements and accomplishments on a project manager’s résumé go beyond finishing a project successfully. Project managers are expected to deliver a project on time and to budget, so that alone is not really an achievement.

Key achievements showcase the difference you personally made. They highlight how you went above and beyond the call of duty to deliver benefits and value for your organization.

Ask yourself, “What benefit did my organization receive because of what I did?” Then communicate this achievement, as well as any key facts or figures that back up your claims.

If you haven’t updated your résumé in a while, it may be worth starting from a blank sheet of paper and using these insights to form the first draft.

Remember to always have someone from outside the world of project management read your résumé.

A hiring manager might not be as clued in to the ins and outs of project management as you are.

Q: I’ve been working in a project management office (PMO) for a few years now, and I’m not sure where my career is going. Do you have any advice about creating a career path in this area?

A: There are two options for people working in a PMO: either stay within the PMO field or think about moving into a delivery role, like a project management position. If the latter appeals to you, there is a lot of information and advice already available. Check out PMI’s website, and Career Central specifically, for career and professional development information.

If you think you’d like to progress in a PMO,
there is less career development advice out there.

The interesting thing about a PMO role is that you undertake the same training and development that any other project management practitioner would, but the way you use this knowledge differs.

A lot of PMO people have to adapt their training, because there aren’t many PMO-specific training courses available. PMO people also look for development in areas such as analysis and data management, quality management, coaching and mentoring, and business operations. It helps in their primary role as custodians of good project management practice within their organizations.

Senior positions in PMOs, such as portfolio office managers, will require that you have previous hands-on delivery experience, such as a project manager or program manager role.

Finally, you need to carry out your own research because your PMO career path will be determined by the organizations you work for. You need to be able to answer the question, “What do I want to achieve in my PMO career?” to help drive your own development plan. PM