I have recently completed my PMP certification after having led event and fundraising focused projects over the past few years. As our world has changed significantly due to the pandemic, myself and many of my colleagues are in search of new career paths. PM work is required in every organization, no matter how big or small, but I am finding it quite difficult to translate my PM work experience to potential employers who are not in the tech nor development industries.
Hoping that I might be able to get some feedback, tips, or some shared experiences. Saving Changes...
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Ashish DagaSenior Project Manager| Department of TransportEpping, Victoria, Australia
I work for the Department of Transport (DoT) in the State of Victoria, Australia. Essentially, I work in the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) branch of the business. DoT functions as a Road/Network Manager providing service to the community. Our purpose, in a nutshell, is to improve road-user journey experience, increase network throughput by reducing congestion on the network and making sure providing a safe driving experience for our community.
I come from a Commerce/Business Systems/Information Technology background, having led numerous IT projects, I had some decent exposure to managing IT projects at small and medium scale before I moved into the ITS aspect of the business. Since there was a technology aspect to the ITS business, the transition was seamless, albeit there were some learning curves initially.
I then moved into managing aspects of the project that demanded engineering (Civil and Electrical) domain knowledge. Since I do not come from a Civil/Electrical engineering background, the move presented some challenges at first. So I spent time learning the concept of operations, principles, policies, guidelines, standards, specifications, design drawings etc.., which helped me to engage in meaningful conversations with the Project Team and the technical SMEs. I spent an enormous amount of time amassing the required knowledge; even at a very high-level, it took some time to reach a functional level of understanding; and I am still on a learning path and will remain so.
While I do believe as a PM, one's role, as a bare minimum, is to facilitate conversations, manage expectations, lead a team of experts, negotiate outcomes, resolve conflicts, identify and manage risks etc. I do believe one needs to have a functional level of domain knowledge, but that comes with time and effort.
I believe the best way to portray your PM experience when applying for roles is your ability to demonstrate your contribution throughout the lifecycle of a project you've led, and your ability to lead and direct teams, understanding of concepts etc.
While it is a great idea to test the waters, it is also good to know one's boundaries and limitations as well. So I'd suggest only apply for roles that you are comfortable taking on. There are many roles that require generic Project Management expertise, perhaps look out for role statements such as the one in the link below.
Overall, the whole market is sluggish so we need to be more creative in the path for instance acquaint with new skills, keeping abreast with latest technological innovation, etc... Saving Changes...
Wan-Phek HowCareer and Project Management Coach| Wan How ConsultingBurnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Hi Verna, Project Management is a transferable skill. I have used it in a variety of fields including oil & gas, engineering, IT, education, marketing and regulatory compliance. What specific challenges have you encountered? Saving Changes...
Thank you for sharing your experiences and feedback.
Definitely agree on having the functional understanding and experience in the field. I am looking at opportunities where I would have the skills to do the role but in a different industry (non-profit to corporate).
In this current state of affairs, it sounds like the first step is getting my foot in the door and moving forward from there. Saving Changes...
Darren PaladinoEngagement Director| SalesforceDenver, Co, United States
Verna, the knowledge areas and process groups literally provide the outline for this conversation. Obtain some awareness about industry challenges and the organization's goals through informational interviews and networking, and then look at the PM outline. Non-profits for instance definitely involve stakeholders, communications, risk, and quality. Saving Changes...
