What Sets You Apart?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Career Development  

I was recently asked what made me different from anybody else managing projects. It was a serious question--the person was looking to understand how they could stand out from the crowd of PMs as they were looking to get a new job. They were concerned that their cover letter and résumé would look just the same as everyone else’s--and getting an interview would come down to sheer luck.

The person worried that the nature of project management was that it drove people to similar standards of behavior--compliance with established processes that not only resulted in most PMs doing the same basic work, but also drove them to perform at the same standard; effective compliance with processes didn’t allow room for excellence.

Now maybe he is the only person who feels that way, but I doubt it. So let’s spend a little time looking at how you as a project manager can set yourself apart from the crowd.

The science and art of project management.
The person who asked me the question recognized that not all PMs are the same. Just like in your organization, he knew that some of his colleagues were better than others and that some were more suited to certain types of projects than others. His concern was that he didn’t know how to get his own personal strengths across in a cover letter and résumé so that he could stand out from …

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