Hi all, I would be very interested to hear peoples' impressions of the current situation for PM roles in the UK, especially across the business change, heath & social care, & IT sectors, and whether it is improving or deteriorating. Also, which job boards are worth a look nowadays for UK PM vacancies.
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Bernard GorePortfolio, Programme & Project Professional| NZ PoliceWellington, New Zealand
I have worked in these areas across UK and NZ, and keep my eye on both, through my network. I'd have to say everywhere is tough, but UK is particularly so in those fields - I know some truly excellent PMs in those fields in UK who are struggling to find good positions.
While UK economy is recovering, it is still in the early stages, and most companies are cautious and are focusing carefully on established stable core business, not the sort of change that most projects in those sectors depend on. Saving Changes...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
I'd have to disagree with Bernard, I think the UK situation for project managers is looking pretty good at the moment, especially in healthcare IT as there are plenty of changes nationally that mean good project managers are in demand. I do think that people are tending to recruit those with sector experience, which can be limiting if you are trying to break in.
For a 'state of the industry' perspective, try Arras People's website. They have an annual UK survey assessing confidence levels and what's happening with salaries and the PM market which I have always found very interesting. They are also a recruitment agency. I would prefer to use an agency (them or someone else) over a job board as I've not had much success with those. If you do want to use a job board, Computer Weekly's (http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/) is OK. Saving Changes...
Interesting angles. From my initial investigations there is quite a variety of demand, even for those of us with relevant sector experience. If looking at healthcare IT, for instance, much seems to be supplier driven demand, so companies in areas such as the M4 tech corridor have opportunities, whereas NHS Trusts have much fewer.
Elizabeth, that’s a good point about Arras, I’d overlooked them on my searches despite having completed their survey last month! I have just tended to use boards in the past for initial market investigations, not only as agencies often replicate the same post, and have found several – cwjobs, jobserve, monster, jobsite, indeed, which between them seem to pick up most of the roles that reach the advert stage.
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