What Employers are looking for in Project Managers?

Project management is a combination of skills and tools that help to complete a project, undertaken by the organisation, from start to finish and often it is associated with fields in engineering, healthcare, finance or information technology or other, while a project manager should combine the technical skills of the associated field and the soft skills and most of big and professional organizations hire project managers to help them in several ways by providing the necessary guidance and expertise to ensure that the assigned projects are completed efficiently and effect.

In the last few years, less project-oriented organisations have started to realise the importance of project management and how efficient the application of project management practices is in their cultures. According to “Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap Report 2017-2027” published by PM, most sectors, such as healthcare, oil and gas and others will expect a high demand for the project management profession and a significant number of project management vacancies will be available in the few coming years. Also, according to the “PM, 2021, Talent gap, ten years employment trends, cost and global implications”, the global economy will need 25 million new project management professionals by 2030 with more than 2.3 million annual job openings. Because of that, the recruiters have too much critical work to choose the project managers who meet their needs, here it is important to ask what these organisations or employers are looking for in a project manager.

What are they looking for?

Most employers imagine the project manager as a man who has a magical power that could transform their requirements for a product or service rapidly, but in fact, they are looking for a human being with an important level of skills. Some of them believe that the single most important trait that a project manager needs, is his ability to manage, whether it is managing time, team, budget, risks or stakeholders and some of them focus on the project manager’s natural leadership ability and his charisma to lead a cross-functional team, but most of them they agree and they are looking for a combination of many essential skills and traits such as:

1. Communication skills

Communicate, communicate, and communicate. Project managers spend 90% of their time communicating. A good project manager must be a good communicator, promoting clear and unambiguous exchange of information. The employers are looking for a good communicator who can keep several people well informed, who can communicate effectively with his team to know when and what they must do, who can monitor the work progress and keep the project stakeholders engaged. So, communication can thus be summed up as knowing “who needs what information and when and making sure they have it.”

2. Leadership

Leaders inspire vision and rally people around common goals. Employers are looking for a project manager who can motivate and inspire his team to see the vision and value of the project and to find solutions to overcome obstacles.

3. Motivation skills

Most employers are looking for project managers with motivational spirit; when the project manager motivates the team, he helps them to work more efficiently and to produce better results and to move toward goals completion with passion and enthusiasm.

4. Problem solving skills

One of the most important skills all employers are looking for in a project manager is his ability to understand the heart of a problem, look for a viable solution and then make a decision to implement that solution.

5. Emotion intelligence

It is especially important for any project manager who must have the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of others. The employers are looking for a project manager who can navigate human emotions across team and stakeholders and handle conflicts, inspire trust and face challenges without losing his calmness.

6. Negotiation skills

The employers are looking for a project manager who can negotiate with stakeholders, vendors, and customers for the good of the project, to reach a level of agreement acceptable to all parties involved in negotiation.

So, for the employers, the project manager can do a bit of everything, fill the gaps, draw up plans for the team and manage and work with employees from every department daily.

They are looking for project managers who can inform them what is going to happen tomorrow, next week and next month and have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen, who can pay attention to details and use these details to shape a strategy, but do not lose in them and who have a bird’s eye view of every department that involved in the project and can create a balance between short and long term performance of their teams and fix their mistakes without dropping the ball.

Moreover, nowadays most employers are looking for Certified Project Managers; such as PIMP certification who are placed by the global marketplace in high demand and more organisations are seeking a greater percentage of PIMP certified project managers on board.

Then, if you can master these skills and you can earn a project management certification, there is no doubt you will be at the top of candidates list for project management professions, and you will represent a precious job hunting for the employers. Always remember success is by enabling others and doing the things needed to push your team forward and never letting the ball drop but keep a close eye on who let it drop and fix the underlying issues as soon as possible. In addition, never, never, and never be afraid to over communicate and never stop sharpening your traits like diplomacy and objectivity and always try to do things no one else thought should be done, and finally keep in your mind:

“You are the real hero when you successfully complete a project, and everyone is satisfied and still likes and respects each other with a wide smile on their faces.”