Hi All
My name is Louis and I am a new member here. I am lining up a career in Project Management, and will be sitting my Prince2 foundation and practitioner courses in a few months from now.
I currently have no experience in a project management role, although ALL of my roles (all involving sales) have involved me planning and executing a variety of projects covering budgeting, time management, purchasing and everything in-between. During my time in sales and now field sales, I have also developed excellent customer service and negotiation skills.
I feel that I have the skill-set required to be effective in the industry, I just feel a little concerned about 'starting from scratch', especially with a young family/mortgage etc. Many have told me that the transferrable skills above give me a head start, and that I just need my Prince2 to become a really good applicant. My question is - Is that true?
Any help or advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks
Louis
Moving into project management whilst utilising skills...
Hi
Sounds like you have a decent enough grounding for a move to Project Management. Good luck with you Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner.
You could initially consider a role as Project Support/Assistant PM? That way you will gain some experience of the PM environment whilst not being exposed to the responsibilities of a full PM. After a year or two you could probably apply for a PM position in that company and be fully prepared for what awaits.
Regards
Sounds like you have a decent enough grounding for a move to Project Management. Good luck with you Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner.
You could initially consider a role as Project Support/Assistant PM? That way you will gain some experience of the PM environment whilst not being exposed to the responsibilities of a full PM. After a year or two you could probably apply for a PM position in that company and be fully prepared for what awaits.
Regards
Hi Louis.
First off, to answer your question I personally from my experience (note I'm in Toronto, Canada) don't think that its that simple in the sense that having Prince2 is going to open doors for you and get you a PM job. I just went job hunting recently and found another PM job (note: I was a PM at my previous job) and all the opportunities I saw required experience. So I would say it's unlikely a company will entrust someone as a PM with no experience as often the projects they will assign to you will have significant impact on the company or its bottom line. Otherwise they wouldn't dedicate a PM to it and just have some team leader or functional manager take care of it.
I would agree with the other reply that you could maybe find a job as a Project Coordinator or Assistant and work your way into a PM role after you've proven yourself. But then again if you got a mortgage, family with kids to take care of, I wouldn't risk quitting your current job and jump into becoming a PM. If I were in your situation, it's best to see if you can take on PM opportunities in your company, and hope that they will promote you to a PM or Coordinator as that is the safer way and how I came to be a PM.
Good luck and welcome to the wonderful, stressful but yet rewarding world of PM.
First off, to answer your question I personally from my experience (note I'm in Toronto, Canada) don't think that its that simple in the sense that having Prince2 is going to open doors for you and get you a PM job. I just went job hunting recently and found another PM job (note: I was a PM at my previous job) and all the opportunities I saw required experience. So I would say it's unlikely a company will entrust someone as a PM with no experience as often the projects they will assign to you will have significant impact on the company or its bottom line. Otherwise they wouldn't dedicate a PM to it and just have some team leader or functional manager take care of it.
I would agree with the other reply that you could maybe find a job as a Project Coordinator or Assistant and work your way into a PM role after you've proven yourself. But then again if you got a mortgage, family with kids to take care of, I wouldn't risk quitting your current job and jump into becoming a PM. If I were in your situation, it's best to see if you can take on PM opportunities in your company, and hope that they will promote you to a PM or Coordinator as that is the safer way and how I came to be a PM.
Good luck and welcome to the wonderful, stressful but yet rewarding world of PM.
"When you fail to plan, you plan to fail" - Benjamin Franklin