SR. PROJECT MANAGER
ALLDATA® is the leading provider of automotive repair information and solutions to the professional automotive service industry. Thousands of professional repair and collision shops across North America depend on ALLDATA for service & repair information, shop management and customer relations solutions. We are looking for a dynamic, experienced Sr. Project Manager to join our team.
Saving Changes...
This is an interesting case study though: if anyone else read the attached file, can you see why it would turn away the good candidates and only loosely capture the interest of the desperate ones? I suggest we take the opportunity to dissect this proposal and help our friends in HR write better job offers in the future. Saving Changes...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
This person is expected to be part PMO manager, part 'traditional' PM, part administrator, part Scrum Master. It's a lot to ask of someone. Saving Changes...
I would also need to have some idea of sizing/scope; I've seen a PM role offered to fit out a one-room office and another to build a nuclear power station. Also, although there is a mention of a team it's unclear whether they are 10, 50 or 1000, and whether there is any line management responsibility involved. Saving Changes...
Thank you Elizabeth and Tim, valid points from both of you. Here is how I read it:
"Communicates with management and team members, and employs strong resolve to keep teams accountable"
Notice how it says "resolve" up there, and not "authority"; meaning, job title says Senior PM, but job description says no direct reports. Like Wai Mun Koo once wrote on this very website, responsibility without authority equals scapegoat. Fun, especially with what's coming next.
"Demonstrates strong planning, cost analysis, and capacity analysis skills to anticipate frequent customer and management course corrections"
Welcome to Change Request Hell. Not only do you have to expect frequent "course corrections" (gotta love euphemisms) from the customer, i.e. no culture of documenting requirements and sticking to them, but even the management isn't going to have your back! No surprise, then, that the next thing on the agenda is...
"exceptional motivational skills to maintain team's focus and morale"
I love the smell of high turnover in the morning. If you have to be exceptional at salvaging morale, then there's someone out there who's exceptional at torpedoing it. My guess is you'll probably need to be good at maintaining your own morale - either that or massive doses of Lexapro.
Anyway, that's just how I see it. In a way, I'm glad there are these little reminders in life that the grass is, in fact, not always greener on the other side. Saving Changes...
