Graduate Project Manager - CV help

[JLammy]

I'm currently a Consultant/Project Manager at a very big cyber security firm, but I'm on the look out for a new Junior/Assistant PM role.

Reasons for wanting to leave:
- Not sure I want to develop within the cyber security sector (My degree is in Aerospace Engineering)

- Not enjoying the environment of the new business department that I was grabbed into (a lot more political and unstructured than the previous business department I worked in, within the same company)

- Working late nights every day of the week, but all of my work goes to the senior manager, who wipes out my name from emails/deliverables and puts his name on it before it gets sent straight to a director...

I unfortunately haven't had much luck, and aside from not having too much experience in Project Management, I'm not sure what else I'm doing wrong.

Is anyone here able to help me out? I really would be very grateful for any help I could get.

[colin79666]

If you are wanting to go the project management route then I'd suggest doing a course in Prince2. In our company just about anyone going direct into the PM role has that. Otherwise they get in by working as in the PMO as some kind of assistant or as a Business Analyst and then making the move sideways and a little up.

Have to say I'm the opposite, much rather have my hands dirty than doing the consultant role which I'm being moved towards

[JLammy]

colin79666 said:

If you are wanting to go the project management route then I'd suggest doing a course in Prince2. In our company just about anyone going direct into the PM role has that. Otherwise they get in by working as in the PMO as some kind of assistant or as a Business Analyst and then making the move sideways and a little up.

Have to say I'm the opposite, much rather have my hands dirty than doing the consultant role which I'm being moved towards

I'm currently in a PM role for a big portfolio of projects already, so was hoping to bring my half years experience somewhere else and developing up from there.

I do have the opportunity to do Prince2, but my current line manager has told me that he would not sign-off budget for it as it's a waste of time... (he has prince2 qualification himself)

[iwantagta]

JLammy said:

I'm currently in a PM role for a big portfolio of projects already, so was hoping to bring my half years experience somewhere else and developing up from there.

I do have the opportunity to do Prince2, but my current line manager has told me that he would not sign-off budget for it as it's a waste of time... (he has prince2 qualification himself)

Where are you based?

[iwantagta]

Reason im asking is that I may know of these sort of jobs going. If easier feel free to PM me (although never been PM'd so not sure where they go)

[JLammy]

iwantagta said:

Where are you based?

Based in London.

[iwantagta]

JLammy said:

iwantagta said:

Where are you based?

Based in London.

Hmmm - not ideal but may be an option. Send me a PM and i'll give you some details.

[iwantagta]

Actually - just PM'd you.

[rog007]

JLammy said:

I'm currently a Consultant/Project Manager at a very big cyber security firm, but I'm on the look out for a new Junior/Assistant PM role.

Reasons for wanting to leave:
- Not sure I want to develop within the cyber security sector (My degree is in Aerospace Engineering)

- Not enjoying the environment of the new business department that I was grabbed into (a lot more political and unstructured than the previous business department I worked in, within the same company)

- Working late nights every day of the week, but all of my work goes to the senior manager, who wipes out my name from emails/deliverables and puts his name on it before it gets sent straight to a director...

I unfortunately haven't had much luck, and aside from not having too much experience in Project Management, I'm not sure what else I'm doing wrong.

Is anyone here able to help me out? I really would be very grateful for any help I could get.

More than happy to provide some feedback on your CV if you PM me.

[edc]

Fund the Prince2/PMP/APM course yourself. With the companies you have worked for and the academic background plus the relevant paper PM qualification you should get through the door for most junior/early career jobs. Unfortunately if you want to stay in London and be a PM in Aerospace that's a tough ask. Do some research on relevant companies otherwise PM me.

[LooneyTunes]

JLammy said:

I do have the opportunity to do Prince2, but my current line manager has told me that he would not sign-off budget for it as it's a waste of time... (he has prince2 qualification himself)

Self fund it? It's not a huge amount of cash to buy the books and learn the stages/terminology - you may never use it but for may firms it's seen as a necessary bit of paper to show that you've got the fundamentals of PM sorted.

I'm nearly always looking for PMs (currently looking to hire several) and a CV showing cyber security + engineering background would pique my interest. Role are NW based though.

[worsy]

http://www.innovativelearning.eu/products/index.ph...

Less than 700 quid. The only thing you'll be short of is exam technique, but just practice.

[JLammy]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I will look into doing Prince2 as well as APM (I was told today that this is currently what my company is pushing for).

iwantagta: Sent you a PM as the email currently linked to my pistonheads account is old and no longer in use.

Rog007: I will ping you my CV right away

edc: I wouldn't say it has to be Aerospace. I'm quite open to all areas of project management, as long as there is potential for a lot of growth. Will drop you a PM at some point.

Thanks all. Really appreciate it.

[sparks85]

The rail sector is crying out for decent PM's at the moment, both Client side and Supply Chain.

If you have a grasp on project management then the Rail bit follows with some common sense.

Where I am is recruiting for Assistant PM's at the moment, you are welcome to drop me a line if you want more info.

Do PRINCE2 Foundation, its about £100 and incredibly easy - it will let you legitimately write "PRINCE2" on your CV and LinkedIn, and will pick up the key word searches recruiters run.

[sparks85]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Sorry, it appears it's more like £200min these days..

http://www.spoce.com/courses/prince2/prince2-exams...

Groupon used to do them IIRC..

[Slinky1989]

For what it's worth, I recently did Prince2 foundation and Practitioner.

For the processes and standards, just take the foundation course, the practitioner just confirms you can apply the knowledge and tailor it to different situations - I actually found the practitioner course less useful but at least it confirmed I could apply the theory.

Great course though, and very useful in my role (even if my company seems dead set against adopting any PM standard!).

[elvismiggell]

Sorry to piggyback, but;

I've thought myself about getting something 'official' in Prince2 or SixSigma.

There's a fair few websites offering something, which one(s) would people recommend? Are any seen as more 'official' than others?

[craigjm]

Prince2 foundation is a waste of time. To make it worthwhile you have to really do the practitioner level especially if yu have project experience.

More and more companies are moving away from Prince2 and moving onto Agile though so you might be better off getting yourself clued up on that.

In terms of the CV i have helped many PH'ers over the years with their CV's drop me a message and I will send you a template that works well for anyone with experience in their field.

[miniman]

Personally I wouldn't be fussed about Prince2 on a CV, I'm more interested in experience so make the absolute most you can of every bit of experience you have, even if on face value it seems not a lot. You need to show, for each project, that you set it up properly, managed the stakeholders, governed it well, dealt with change effectively, and got it across the line well. If you can say that about every project you've managed then you're lying I would want to know the details, how you dealt with it, what you learnt from it.

I would be particularly interested in managing change. I see so many PMs who have delivered exactly what the PID said the objective was, but the business had moved on in the course of the project so actually the end result wasn't what was wanted at the point of delivery.

[Podie]

P2 has become a standard, and sadly many ask for it without really knowing what they want.

Foundation qualifies you to tie your own shoe laces. Do Practitioner, or don't waste your time.

I agree with Miniman - experience counts, but in my book so does aptitude.