Putting the 'Management' Back in Career Management

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 feel that it’s time for a bit of a rant. As you might expect, when I am talking with project managers there are a number of recurring topics that come up, and one of the most common is a PM career. Whether it is people looking to break into the profession or people who have been working in project management for 20 years or more, many people ask me for advice on how to move forward with their career. I’m happy to offer my thoughts and ideas, although I always caution that they need to do what feels right to them. However, there is one thing that I frequently note among this group—the number of individuals who are doing nothing to actively manage their careers.

I suspect that project managers are not alone in this; we can probably look at pretty much any profession and find that the people in those professions frequently allow their career to “happen to them”—they may try and take an opportunity that is put in front of them, but do little to try and actively create those opportunities.

However, with project management, I believe that there are a far greater number of chances to create opportunities for growth and advancement. There really is no excuse for not trying to control our own destiny, and that’s what really frustrates me. So rather than just mutter under my breath, here are a few thoughts on how each and every one of us …

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