There comes a time in an organization or a project, when you need to hire a project manager to help manage scope, build processes and track projects. Jennifer Bridges, PMP, helps you understand when is the right time to hire a project manager in this short video.

Here’s a shot of the whiteboard for your reference!

In Review

Organizations often struggle with process or project management, particularly when they don’t already have a project manager onboard. It’s one thing to know who is the right person to lead your project yet another thing to know when you need to hire that person, as Jennifer said.

That said, there are questions you must ask when thinking of hiring a project manager:

• When is the right time for a team or organization to hire a project manager?
• What are the requirements that precipitate that need?
• How does the size of the project or organization impact the formal hiring?

Before you even start a hiring plan, Jennifer said, make a technology plan. You’ll want the right online tools to support the project and that’ll inform your hiring plan. Now, once your project has a defined start and end date, after the scope and budget has been settled, then you’ll want to get a project manager to form the team and setting up procedures.

Pro-Tip: If you’re working in a startup environment you may think that hiring a project manager is an unnecessary expense, and maybe it is. But if you’re missing deadlines, have teams that are not getting along and the budget is going out the window, then it’s time to reassess.

For further reading, read How to Hire Effective Project Managers by Director of Project Management at The Nerdery, Kurt Schmidt.

Thanks for watching!

Video Transcription

Today, we’re talking about when to hire a project manager. A lot can be said about this topic, but today we want to talk about a few points centered around our technology plan. So, the questions become when is the right time, and what are the requirements that precipitate this need? And how does the size of the organization or the project fit and impact the hiring process of the project manager?

Specifically, say, start-ups and emerging companies with fast growth, who maybe…they don’t have the team and they don’t have the project manager processes in place, they want to know, when is that right time?We’ve found that before you make a hiring plan, make a technology plan. Begin using the right online tools that help support your organization, because when you start using those online tools, you can gain vital insights and information about your projects and your organization that will help facilitate the hiring of the right project manager.

Because we know typically, no matter what size project or organization, that the right time to hire the project manager is when you have a defined start date, end date, when you have scope and budget, that you need that project manager because they need to begin to start planning. They need to begin forming a team. They need to begin tracking changes, and they need to be setting up the tool, the documents and the processes needed for those projects.

So, from the perspective of the project or the organization, you need to make sure to evaluate, assess, and select and implement your tool that you’re going to be using, so that you can hire the expert who knows that tool. So when they come into your organization or your project, they know it.

They don’t have to learn it. It can prevent the derailing of your project if they don’t know that tool. And it can also prevent the derailing if they are trying to come into your organization implementing a different tool, that maybe your project, your team members, your organization doesn’t know.

So we feel like these are some of the things that will help you when you are going to hire your project manager. And if you need a software tool that can help you manage that process, then sign up for our software now at ProjectManager.com.