Another Project Manager help thread

[stellacheersmate]

Hi all,

I have just taken voluntary redundancy from my previous company and would like some advice please.

A little bit about me

For the past 3 years, I have been working as an IT project manager project managing software development projects ranging from large, new version $7M+ and 80 FTE's, to small $500K enhancements developed for specific customers, often concurrently. As part of my role, I work within a PMO overseeing anything between 5 - 15 project managers at any one time ensuring projects are governed and aligned with corporate processes. On top of this I have developed and implemented project management processes such as change control, risk & issue management as well as monitoring and controlling and reporting processes.

So onto the questions. I have taken some of the advice given in the other PM thread, but from those in the know, does this work as a format for a CV.

My CV currently contains the following:

Personal Statement
Core Skills

• List and short explanation of all the project management skills I possess
• List and short explanation of all communication and team management skills

Previous employer
Short description
Project Management responsibilities list and very short explanation
Business Unit PMO responsibilities list and very explanation
Other responsibilities list, like being responsible for all procurement for the group

CV follows with older employment history
Certifications
Awards
Technical Skills (I have a sys admin background so is this even relevant?)
Education

I know there is no detail above but as a format, does this read well?

I have also signed up with all the major Job Boards such as Monster, Jobserve, Reed Planet Recruit and competed an iProfile profile and pushed that to all the member recruitment agencies.

It's been 2 weeks now and a couple of opportunities have arisen, one of which I'm still in the running for, but on the whole it's a pretty slow process. I have applied for a fair few and always followed up with an email and a day later a phone call, but often rec consultants are a little dismissive. Am I taking the correct approach here?

Are there any other places I should get my CV out to?

I'm also asking for a 40K minimum, can anybody comment on whether I have positioned myself in the right salary bracket based on my (limited) description above?

A lot of questions, I know but I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

[stellacheersmate]

Taken from the other thread, I guess a list and minor detail of previously completed projects would be useful?

Also, I'm a PRINCE2 practitioner. I'm thinking of persuing a PMP credential as I'm at home, anybody got any experience with PMP home study courses?

Edited by stellacheersmate on Tuesday 29th June 14:06

[AJS-]

I would generally say no, but it might be worth having seperately a portfolio of projects you have managed. Better IMO would be to have on your CV 3 recent and relevant ones to the role you are applying for. It doesn't need to be anything that would give away confidential information, pretty much what you have outlined above, just in an easily digestable form, something like

New Version development - $7m
Co-ordinating a team of 40 designers, developers and testers to produce a new version of ABC for a client in the XYZ industry. The challenges were competing demands on key resources and a tight schedule with the release date fixed for May 2010.

[stellacheersmate]

AJS - thanks. The CV is just shy of 4 pages so was reluctant to add any more content

[AJS-]

Then a separate portfolio might be a good idea but I would say trim the CV a bit either way.

It does vary place to place, I know in New Zealand longer CVs are the norm, but if you're in the UK 2 pages is usually ideal in my experience.

Having worked in a recruitment consultancy I usually think of a CV this way - recruiter gets the CV, gets excited and phones hiring manager to say he has a PM CV. The first question the hiring manager will ask is "what has he done?" The easier and clearer it is on your CV, then the easier and clearer the recruiter can say "he's managed a $7m software development project with ABC." That will quite often be enough to at least get the hiring manager interested in seeing the CV and if it all checks out then an interview.

[stellacheersmate]

Thanks again AJS. Makes perfect sense when you put it like that. If I was looking for a PM and I have 10 CV's on my desk, I wouldn't want to sift through pages and pages to get an idea of what they have done and what they can do.

Appreciate it

[DJC]

Send me your CV. Ill have a look and play with it.

[MrP80]

stellacheersmate said:

AJS - thanks. The CV is just shy of 4 pages so was reluctant to add any more content

Way too long, 2 pages max. First half page should make them want to read further, even if they are drawn in they won't go past 2 pages, so that the max.

Only list jobs that are relevant, you only have 2 pages. You mentioned about listing skills, again only list all that are relevant. If I was recruiting you for a PM role, although knowing you have a technical background from your profile could be nice, your technical background has little to do with you being able to run a project.

Mine has a section of my biggest achievements from my recent career, maybe half a page (remember if you can't say it succinctly you maybe are explaining it badly). Then go into career history, but very brief details on the jobs, not half a page for each - key achievements are already in the first half remember, this section builds out the picture for them. Just an idea of how you can do it.

PMP is useful, but Prince2 and MSP are still the ticks in boxes for the UK, for US based recruitment PMP does have more weight.

Oh and when explaining your roles, explain what you really did and why this had a positive impact.
Just think of the old classic format: Situation (tell them the background), Behaviour (what did you do), Impact (what was the result of what you did)

Edited by MrP80 on Thursday 1st July 13:26