A career in project management can be both rewarding and lucrative. A project management professional’s (PMP) job is to keep a laser-like focus on the project, even if he or she does not necessarily have experience with the type of work required. His or her sole responsibility is to manage. Education, certification, and on-the-job training are all options for getting started in a project management career.
Education is always a good place to start, especially if you lack management skills and experience. There are numerous educational options available, including online courses, classroom programs, and hybrid programs. Some programs last as little as eighteen months, while a project management degree can take four to five years to complete. Management, human resources, time management, and budgetary management are all common topics covered in the coursework.
PMP certification courses typically consist of 36 or more hours of instructor-led instruction and prepare students for project management certification. These PMP certification courses are typically intense, focused, and thorough. Prerequisites for some programs include a certain number of college credits, a college diploma, a certain number of hours of project management experience, a certain number of hours of project management training, or any combination of the above. This varies program, so if you’re thinking about enrolling in a PMP certification course, make sure you check the prerequisites first.
Even if you don’t plan on getting your certification, it’s a good idea to get some project management experience. Experience, when combined with education and certification, will help you advance in your project management career in the long run. Even if you are not in a leadership position, project management skills and principles can be applied to almost any job. Take a focused, organized, management-oriented approach to project management concepts that are assigned to you at work, or even if you are a volunteer.
Create a detailed report or project analysis that outlines the project and all of its components. Even if you’re the only person working on the project, you can accomplish this. You’ll begin creating a project overview, in which you’ll clearly define your work or project goals. Determine what resources you’ll need to achieve your objective. Before you start your project, make sure you have a clear understanding of the deliverables and that those deliverables have been approved.
Set realistic delivery dates, then meet or exceed those projections. Communicate the status of the project to your manager or the project client at all times. If you are able, it is a good idea to send out a brief weekly report. Include the project’s status, milestones achieved, risks or threats, a summary of work completed since the last report, and any issues that may affect the delivery date in that report. Before you’re asked, identify any issues with the project and include them in your report as well as the analysis.
Include additional information in the project analysis, make recommendations, and offer solutions at regular intervals throughout the project’s life cycle. Include a section on lessons learned at the end of the project, then submit the report to your manager. You are giving yourself real-time, on-the-job project management experience approaching your projects in this manner. You can use this experience to your advantage if you want to work in project management.
When it comes to looking for and applying for project management jobs, you’ll need a strong resume that focuses on management and leadership. Hiring managers typically consider the applicant’s total years of project management experience, the complexity and size of the projects, the types of budgets managed, and who you reported to. Outline scenarios of things you did as a project manager in a few sentences. This will make your resume more powerful and noticeable.
Always keep the management aspect of your job responsibilities in mind so that you can put the experience to good use later in your career. Look for ways to make your work more reflective of your objectives. You can pursue your dream of working in project management earning a degree in project management, taking a certification course, or working to gain experience.