I’m excited to be part of this community of project professionals. I’m currently seeking new opportunities and actively working toward my PMP® certification to take the next step into a Project Manager role.
With 8+ years of experience as a Project Coordinator, I’ve supported projects in construction, engineering, and utilities—and now I’m looking to pivot into industries like IT, finance, or infrastructure where I can bring fresh value and grow.
I’d love to hear from others who’ve made a similar transition:
👉 What helped you stand out during your job search and interviews?
👉 How did you position your skills for a new industry?
I’m based in North Carolina and will be joining the PMI NC Chapter to start building in-person connections. If you’re a local member open to sharing advice or chatting, I’d truly appreciate connecting!
Looking forward to learning from you all.
-Shamilla
Assuming you are targeting Project Coordinator roles within a new industry, you will want to do as much research as you can in advance to understand some of the nuances of managing projects within it. Examples of this could include common risks, specific skill sets or roles of team members, and common delivery lifecycles.
In your application and interview you'd want to describe how you have adapted to a new industry in the past (and how quickly) and highlight your strengths which are portable between industries.
It will be a lot more challenging for you to land a role as a PM for the first time in a new industry - not saying it won't happen, but you might have a lot more luck with a PA/PCO type role as a starting point.
Kiron
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2 replies by Shamilla Wiley-Roberts
Jul 01, 2025 9:52 AM
Shamilla Wiley-Roberts
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Thank you! This makes perfect sense. Highlighting transferable skills and my ability to learn and adapt will be key focus in the new industry! I have also begun taking courses to learn more!
Jul 10, 2025 7:32 PM
Shamilla Wiley-Roberts
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Thank you! This very helpful.
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Hi Shamilla Wiley-Roberts Welcome to the community — it’s great to see your energy and clarity as you pursue this transition!
Your solid background as a Project Coordinator, especially in demanding sectors like construction and engineering, gives you a strong foundation to pivot successfully.
The competencies you've already developed — such as risk management, stakeholder coordination, and delivering under pressure — are highly transferable to IT, finance, and infrastructure.
To further strengthen your application, here are a few suggestions that have worked well for many professionals in transition:
- Deeply explore the sector you want to move into.
This includes understanding key challenges, terminology, regulations, tech trends, and success metrics.
It helps not only in interviews but also in crafting a relevant value proposition.
Podcasts, whitepapers, events, and webinars are excellent resources.
- Reframe your experience using neutral, competency-based language.
Focus on universal project management elements: leading cross-functional teams, stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, and scope/cost/schedule control.
- Look for micro-opportunities to get familiar with your target sector.
This might include short courses (e.g., IT or finance fundamentals for non-specialists), side projects, volunteering, or even shadowing professionals in the field.
- Build bridges before you leap.
Getting involved with the PMI Chapter in North Carolina is a great start! Also consider joining sector-specific events (e.g., PMI Financial Services Community of Practice, digital transformation webinars, infrastructure forums).
This combination of self-awareness, active learning, and relationship-building with your target industry turns change into construction — not just a leap.
Assuming you are targeting Project Coordinator roles within a new industry, you will want to do as much research as you can in advance to understand some of the nuances of managing projects within it. Examples of this could include common risks, specific skill sets or roles of team members, and common delivery lifecycles.
In your application and interview you'd want to describe how you have adapted to a new industry in the past (and how quickly) and highlight your strengths which are portable between industries.
It will be a lot more challenging for you to land a role as a PM for the first time in a new industry - not saying it won't happen, but you might have a lot more luck with a PA/PCO type role as a starting point.
Kiron
Thank you! This makes perfect sense. Highlighting transferable skills and my ability to learn and adapt will be key focus in the new industry! I have also begun taking courses to learn more! Saving Changes...
Hi Shamilla, welcome to the community! Your experience in complex, high-stakes environments like construction and utilities is highly transferable. When pivoting, focus on highlighting core PM skills risk management, stakeholder coordination, and scheduling that apply across industries. Tailor your resume with industry-specific keywords and show how you’ve delivered value in dynamic settings. Joining PMI NC Chapter is a great step building those local connections will open doors.
Wishing you success on your PMP journey and career pivot!
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Shamilla, welcome to the community. You bring solid experience from construction, engineering, and utilities because those are complex, high-stakes environments that require strong coordination, communication, and stakeholder management skills. Those core PM competencies absolutely translate to industries like IT, finance, and infrastructure.
That said, transitioning into a new domain often requires some ramp-up on the technical side. While you don’t need to be a subject matter expert, having a baseline understanding of the industry’s terminology, processes, and pain points will help you build credibility and lead projects more effectively. Many people do start out by taking on Project Coordinator or Junior PM roles in the new industry which can be a great way to build that expertise while still growing in your career.
That said, I know there’s often a debate around whether project managers need technical expertise. While it’s true that in some industries a strong focus on leadership and process is enough, the reality is that many organizations still expect a baseline level of technical understanding especially when hiring for PM roles. It’s not always about being an expert, but rather about speaking the same language as your team and making informed decisions. Saving Changes...
PMO Leader | Speaker & Mentor | Content Leader – PMOGA Latin America
Hub| Catholic University of UruguayMontevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
Focus on your transferable skills (leadership, team management, planning, communication) and demonstrate your ability to adapt and learn. Research the industry, use industry-aligned language and show enthusiasm for bringing a fresh perspective. Saving Changes...
Hi Shamilla,
While I agree with a lot of the sentiments above, when I review resumes for who would be a good fit from other industries, I am looking for evidence of specific skills more than general personal characteristics.
Without domain knowledge, I'm looking for diversity and progression in your past roles, showing that you can learn new things more than a high degree of specialization in one thing. In my cover letter or summary, I highlight my progression of responsibility over time.
Leadership experience often comes across as vague on resumes. Be more specific in your action verbs than "led". Did you plan and/or facilitate workshops, negotiate schedules, develop communication plans? Help me understand what functions you performed rather than telling me you think you're a good leader.
Highlight your relevant technical office skills. The modern office deals with a lot of data. Skills with tools like SQL, MS Project, advanced Excel capabilities, developing dashboards, etc. that serve to collect, organize, analyze, and visualize the data are extremely valuable. I don't need you to be an expert in all the data, but rather your expertise at using your skills to help manage the data and communicate the information it reveals.
I hope that helps,
Keith Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
This is an "ancient" debate: to be or not to be a generalist. My personal experience along more than 40 years, and the same for others I have the pleasure to interact, is you need to be a generalist. Then, it is not a project manager related to an industry. How to do that? Because a project manager must perform a critical success factor task each time it is assigned to a new initiative: elicitation. Some about to the elicitation process can be find inside the business analysis documentation, just to put it in PMI´s terms. Unfortunately the PMI itself generate controversial between the documentation related to business analysis and project management. The PMI itself is working in siloes unfortunately. Saving Changes...
Abdur RehmanSenior Lecturer in Project Management & Analytics| University of Central Punjab Business SchoolLahore, Pb, Pakistan
How can I transition from academia to industry, joining as a project manager or Scrum Master? I feel my lack of recent experience in industry is a big hurdle. Saving Changes...
Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
You got so many good answers so far that it is difficult to add something new or relevant. I will just share that in my case I transitioned from the chemical to the life sciences industry.
I recall that I got asked during the interviews why I wanted to shift industries; I don't recall what I said, but I based my answer on the nature of the role and the relevance of the company, together with the desire to work in an area that was dear to me in order to contribute in saving people’s lifes.
So, my advice is to prepare a good story about the desire to shift and worry less about the technicalities derived from the switch itself.
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