When you have a project, you’ll need to put someone in charge of leading it to successful completion, but who? Jennifer Bridges, PMP, offers you practical tips for hiring a project manager.
Here’s a shot of the whiteboard for your reference!
In Review: How to Hire a Project Manager
What are the skills you need in a project manager? Jennifer asked. They’re the ones the match your organizations needs. How to do that? She suggests three keys things you’ll need to think about, which are as follows:
- Do they know real-world project management?
- Can they adapt to the fast-paced nature of your work today?
- Are they proficient in online tools and apps they need to use?
Then it’s a matter of matching up the right candidate with the right credentials for the job. That can include whether or not they need have a certain level of education, training, certification and experience.Again, it’s all dependent on the needs of your company. If you train then maybe a trained prospect would require too much reeducation to make them the right choice. The opposite can also apply if the work your organization does is reflected in the candidate’s resume, so it would be an easy fit to place them into the project.Don’t take our word on it, the business magazine Forbes recently posted an article on how to land the best project manager for the job, which is worth a read.
Pro-Tip: Before that prospect even steps into your office for the initial interview you can start weeding out the candidates that aren’t right for the position by not placing a generic help-wanted out out on job boards. The more specific you can be in what your needs are, the better defined they are both in your mind and on paper for the applicants to read, the quicker you’ll fill that position with the right person.Thanks for watching!
Video Transcription
Today, we’re talking about how to hire a project manager. I just love this question, because when I get this question, I know someone’s trying to plan ahead. So basically what we’re looking at here is what you need to look for in terms of skills matched with your organizational needs.
There are three key things that you need to try to deduce. Do they know real world project management? Can they adapt to the fast-paced nature of your work today? And are they proficient in online tools and apps that they may need to be using?
Well, we put together an assessment list that you can use to gauge your candidate, whether they’re internal or external. Here are a few suggestions. In the educational area, do you need them to have a college degree, a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or even a doctorate degree? What kind of training do you need them to have? Do you need them to have project management training, program management training? Will they be managing a portfolio?
What about software tool? Do they need to know specific software tools coming in? What about industry specific training? Any kind of certifications? Being a project manager, do you want them to be a PMP, a project manager professional? If they’re managing financial application or projects, do they need to be a CPA? If they’re heavy into human resources, do they need to have a human resources certification? What about a agile, or anything industry specific?
So again, you identify these according to your organization. What about level of experience? Would they be an entry level person coming in that you’re going to coach and mentor along the way, or do you need an expert that comes in who has been there done that and is going to really take the lead on this? What about industry-specific? Do they need to have industry specific or experience with complex projects?
And then with the skills, these skills will change based on what you need, but here are a few suggestions. Do they need organizational skills? Do they need to be very proficient and verbal in written communications? Do they need stronger management skills and leadership skills? What about presentation skills? Would they be conducting presentations to team members or even executives? So you want to make sure that they’re strong in those areas.
And then behaviors, again, this depends on your organization. Do they need to be able to provide feedback effectively? What about maintain a level head when times get tough? What about adapt to fast-paced environments or fast-paced changes? What about adopting online tools?
There may be new tools that they need to adopt along the way. What about leading change effectively, and working well with others, and promoting teamwork? Again, all of these will vary based upon your assessment of your organizational needs, but this will give you something to gauge your candidate with. And if you need a tool that can help you hire your project manager, then sign-up for our software now at projectmanager.com.
