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From what I've learned about PM career, if have no experience or never interacted with projects, one may have to start in more project administrative role. Project coordinator role may be preferenced to someone who has prior PM experience. I am at project admin stage and got more interaction with projects with foundation CAPM certification, and I'm looking for opportunities to build my experience in PM.

Project coordinator could be equal to Asst Project Manager, so it depends on the company and the structure.
you need some experience to start, and I would try to apply for a basic job in project management, but not a coordinator.

I am preparing for PMP exam now . Is that suggested to clear CAPM first before attending PMP exam?
Suggestions and advise please

What job tasks fall under a project admin? What is your day to day responsibilities like?

So far I see a lot of very general responses. I would like to add more info to then see how one would qualify and for what type of title or position in terms of PM work.

Admin assistant really doesn't fit from what I have seen. By the description most tasks have to do with a lot of office and clerical needs, billing, and maybe coordinating any travel or tasks like that. This includes answering phones etc..

So here goes - I've worked in freight forwarding/logistics for 11 years now and held a sales/PM position regarding trade show freight transportation for a good year before relocating.

This is how I try to relate my duties with PM work or the work of let's say a coordinator. Experts - let me know your thoughts.

First contact made with customer (Initiating phase) - I do this daily to get information to put together for freight transportation needs. This includes cost budgeting/planning, method of transport best used based on needs of time and what's most cost effective, PU/Delivery details.

Once I have the information I need, I schedule based on the target PU date and choose specific methods of transportation to hit the delivery target date. (Planning) - I also schedule the vendors I am using to carry out the work.

Then I (Execute) the work, it's now the day we PU the freight and pack it for transit, get any related documentation together, drop to carrier.

Once shipment is in route - (monitor + control) we now track and trace the shipment the whole way through until it hits final destination at carrier facility. This includes monitoring any changes to where cost would be affected, delivery dates, etc..

Then we execute final delivery to customer and (close) for final billing once shipment has been satisfied and complete.

Some of this may incorporate parts of the 10 knowledge areas, maybe on a very shallow scale compared to "projects" directed towards PM work. But I like to view each transportation move as a small project. They are temporary, involve some ITTOs in itself, have a clear scope of work that needs to be done or is expected, involves the 5 process groups, and ALL involve a level of EEFs and OPAs. Not only do we have organizational policies and procedures, templates or methods etc - But we also need to fall inline with government regulations (air + ground + sea transportation rules/laws/standards (Customs/TSA regulations, OSHA etc.) We must take in to account weather aspects and other factors not in our control.

In a nutshell, does ANY of this qualify for PM experience even at an entry level with a CAPM certification to follow?

I see PM titles in my company with other stations and Logistics coordinators etc... A customer of ours who deals with domestic trade shows considers every movement she asks for services on, a project..

Does this qualify to even go for a PMP certification?

I know many of you are in different applications, maybe more fitting applications, but I hope my general breakdown can give a clear idea of what is being questioned. I'm not sure how long the OP has been doing freight, but this definitely sparked my interest in getting answers as I am on a mission to get my CAPM and currently studying.

And before anyone says it, yes a lot of this may be considered operations because this is on going, daily - but I feel it does have some relations to PM work as I learn more.