Getting ready for your first project management role - graduates

Welcome to the world of project management – yes, it is a very rewarding profession because project management is about delivering value. At the same time, it is no ‘walk in the park’ when you are doing right.

Here at PMO2DAY we specialise in working with ‘brand new’ professionals wishing to enter the world of project management. We are now extending our offerings to graduates – here are a few insights to consider as you land your first role:

1. Be ready for an avalanche of meetings - face to face and online – we spend at least 80% of our time in meetings –negotiating, discussing, agreeing, finalising etc – if you are leading any aspect of a project – be ready for a full day of meetings.

2. Be ready to put in extra time – do you remember the iron triangle of project management, where one of the constraints is SCHEDULE? There is always a timeline to keep, whether that be the project itself, or a race to mitigate a risk or to bring an issue to a close – and if you take into consideration number 1 tip, we find ourselves either having early starts or late finishes.

3. Be ready to embrace administration – typing, templates, spreadsheets, presentations, reports, the list goes on – perhaps you got a taste of this while you studied for your qualification, hopefully you didn’t struggle with this because it is a taste of what lies ahead.

4. Be ready to up-skill on tools – as PM professionals one current focus is to lessen the time spent on administrating projects and spending more time, effort and money on delivering value – and so for many of us we are having to learn how to use tools more – automation, artificial intelligence, visualising big data – being able to use these tools will open doors for you.

5. Be ready to work on your soft skills – communication, teamwork, managing expectations, diffusing a tense situation, keeping calm, emotional intelligence, appreciation of diversity, inclusion – these are just a few of the soft skills you need to become more aware of.

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