Q: I just got an offer for a project lead position, and it will be my first time handling a multidisciplinary project. What advice can you give me? I have my Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification.
A: First, congratulations! Many project management positions today involve multidisciplinary projects, or projects that involve many departments, so you will be gaining experience that can help your career. The key to working in this kind of environment is finding the balance between keeping control of the project and keeping all interested parties on board as the project progresses.
Like any first-time experience, starting this job can be daunting, exciting, challenging and nerve-racking. Yet this is what you have trained to do. The project processes and techniques that enable control and the management of people are important competencies that those earning the PMP® credential must demonstrate. So in the initial stages of your new role, pull in your experience, knowledge and training, trusting that the foundations you lay down in the new project are based on good practice. It comes down to confidence in your own abilities.
In a new role, remember that while you may be on a steep learning curve, you don’t have to be on the curve alone. As you settle into the role, seek out a more experienced person to become your sounding board. Just having the opportunity to sanity-check some of your decisions or get a second opinion will help you feel more confident in what you are doing.
Finally, I think the most essential thing any project manager can remember—but particularly practitioners with multidisciplinary projects—is to communicate. You are in a new organization, with a new project, new team, new stakeholders and new customers. The only way to navigate the newness is to talk to the right people and find out what is going on in and around your project. With a multidisciplinary project, it’s imperative that you spend time with all the people who make up the different disciplines and seek out information that will help you plan and manage your project moving forward.
Q: I’m a project manager, and I’ve talked to my friend about my career. He loves the idea of becoming a project manager himself. Any practical advice I can give him?
A: The first and easier part of getting into project management is gaining the necessary knowledge. He can use training courses, books and websites to begin studying the principles of project management: the tools, processes, techniques, etc. Making this switch also generally demands some kind of management experience. If he doesn’t have any experience managing teams, he may have to think about other positions within project management that don’t necessarily need management experience on day one.
The next and hardest part is getting the first break. Hiring managers want people with knowledge and experience. So how do first-timers get a break? There are three main ways: One, they catch a lucky opportunity, such as an organization looking for an inexperienced employee to train. Two, they use their previous work experience as a door opener, such as when an accountant joins a large program to manage the finances. Three, they undertake a branching project.
Branching projects, such as volunteering, are intermediate steps between the job you perform now and the career you want. Community and charity organizations are always looking for volunteers to help make projects happen. For a career change into project management, branching projects can mean finding a way to use your project management knowledge in your current position. Just undertaking project management study can often make you think differently about how you can perform your current role better—and gives you the opportunity to start using techniques and processes. Branching projects don’t just allow for an easier transition into project management—they can also be a risk-free way to ensure that project management is really the career for you.
Q: I’m looking for new opportunities in different parts of the world. I have a few countries I’m particularly interested in. How do I find out what salary level I should be aiming for in different countries?
A: The trick is to think like a native. How do you know your current salary level is right for the country you work in now? You consider the sector you work in, the type of company you work for, the experience you have and what the market is like. All these conditions affect salary levels in other countries too, so they’re an easy jumping-off point for research.
Start with the resources at your fingertips. The latest Salary Survey is available to PMI members; it includes breakdowns for countries around the world. Next, use your LinkedIn account to find people in your network who are already in the countries you are interested in. Ask them to point you in the direction of any local resources that could be useful or, if you know them well enough, ask for their opinion on current conditions. Local job boards may give you a sense of salary range, and recruitment businesses and agen-cies are excellent sources for understanding more about local conditions. They could also help you in finding the right position.
Don’t stop at salary, though. When considering a practitioner position in a new country, you also need to understand the employment market and regulations. Matters like holiday entitlements, employment tax, healthcare and pensions can all affect the total remuneration levels. Don’t be caught up with what you think is the ideal salary level only to find out that the cost of living is going to leave you seriously out of pocket. Consider not only thinking like a native but spending time in the country before making the final commitment. PM
Consider Your Career
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Lindsay Scott is the director of program and project management recruitment at Arras People in London, England.