Preparing to become a project manager but not sure where to begin?
This extensive guide can help you build your project management career from start to finish.
However, before you discover the path to become a successful project manager, let’s see what being a project manager actually means, the career scope of the domain, and how an online project management certification can help.
What Does Being a Project Manager Really Mean?
If you aspire to enter this domain, be prepared for a truly adventurous career, one that you’ll not be bored of. There is no place for dullness or monotonousness.
As a project manager, you’ll be leading an entire team from initiation, planning, execution and control to completion. You’ll be working on a different project every now and then. You’ll need to collaborate with different people and cultures as well as adapt to dynamic environment and situations.
Some of your duties will include:-
- Taking part in the creation process
- Executing the project
- Opening communication line
- Finding solutions to recurring issues
- Monitoring the project’s progress throughout
- Ensure that your team is actually getting things done
Simply put, you’ll be responsible for taking each project across the finish line and to your organisation’s clients. An online project management certification is the ideal way to gain in-depth knowledge of the domain. But is there any scope? Let’s find out.
Career Scope in Project Management
The below-mentioned points can iterate the scope of project management:-
- The demand for skilled project managers is expected to reach 22 million by 2027.
- Project managers are in demand in almost every sector ranging from IT, business administration to manufacturing, finance, marketing and insurance.
- The compensation for project managers is highly lucrative. According to research by Glassdoor, the national average salary of an entry-level project manager is $59,680.
- Project managers directly impact the employees’ morale and the company’s bottom line. In addition to lucrative salaries, that’s another upside.
- Highly experienced and skilled project managers can hope to see fairly lucrative pay in the coming years.
Now that you’re all set, let’s help you understand how to build a career in project management.
Taking the First Step in your Project Management Career
1. Choose the Right Training
Project managers are good at their jobs for various reasons. However, the primary one being the right PMP training. Every aspiring project manager is required to acquire a PMP certification, which is the gold standard laid down by practitioners for practitioners.
What are the steps to get a PMP certification?
- Begin with a PMP Handbook
- Fulfil the prerequisites to become a PMI certified project manager
- Join the Project Management Institute
- Prepare for the PMP® Examination
- Complete your application and payment
- Schedule and take your PMP® exam
The course in project management from IIM has everything you’ll need to prepare for the PMP® exam and more. With access to extensive study material, online classes, quizzes, and more, you can advance your domain knowledge through this course.
1. Practice, Train, and Advance By Getting an Entry-Level Job
Once you are certified by the PMI, there’s no stopping you. However, with the increased demand for skilled project managers, the competition has become steep in the domain. So you can get started by getting an entry-level job as an assistant project manager or trainee. Since project managers are in demand in almost every sector, you can get a job in nearly every domain.
Industries Hiring Project Management Professionals
- Construction and Engineering
- Finance
- Information Technology
- Energy
- Healthcare
- Legal
- Resources – agriculture, mining etc
- Aerospace
1. Go For an Advanced Online Project Management Certification
Even though pursuing an online project management certification is not necessary, experts and successful project managers recommend it. The benefits of pursuing a project management online course are innumerable, including:-
- An in-depth theoretical and practical application of extensive project management tools.
- Exposure to the latest themes and trends of the domain.
- Configuring complex organisational projects and how to deliver them with utmost efficiency.
- Online project management courses are more pocket friendly as compared to brick and mortar courses.
- Access to all study material and sessions anytime, anywhere.
One such course that can help you reap all these benefits is project management from IIM. Offered in collaboration with Talentedge, this course from IIM can help you learn the A-Z of project management, ranging from project management challenges, how to overcome them, to project planning and project termination.
2. Build Your Skillset
Project management is a complicated job that includes several difficult tasks ranging from initiation, planning, executing, controlling, and finishing the project. Performing these tasks requires an advanced skill set. Common skills you must acquire to become a successful project manager:-
- A solid understanding of project management cases and risk management processes
- Advanced knowledge to meet specific circumstances
- Proven project management and self-management skills
- Strong leadership skills
- Ability to monitor and control budgets
- Critical thinking
- Excellent communication and negotiation skills
- Ability to make decisions under pressure
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Data collation and drawing insights
- Strong business acumen
- Strong organisational and multitasking skills
- Creative mindset
- Analytical skills
- Accuracy and attention to detail
- Excellent time management skills
- Maintain schedules and meet deadlines
- Problem-solving skills
- Self-motivation
- Accountability
- Great work ethic
- Practical knowledge of project management tools
Now you know the ideal pathway to build a career in project management. Let’s look at some of the jobs you can land after pursuing a credible online project management certification.
Career Opportunities in Project Management
- Project Co-Ordinator
- New Product Development Project Manager
- Construction Project Manager
- Information Technology Project Manager
- Environmental Research Project Manager
- Assistant Project Manager
- Business Project Manager
- Product Manager
- Project Co-ordinator
- Senior Project Manager
- Software Project Manager
Over to You…
Apart from technical skills, experience, and soft skills, you must also be a great leader. Project management may seem like an easy and uncomplicated job. However, if you look closely, it’s actually the opposite. You’ll be required to perform tasks under stringent timelines and budget, manage an entire team, keep them motivated, and make decisions under pressure, all the while measuring performance and ensuring on-time delivery of the project.
This requires an in-depth understanding of the domain and an advanced skill set. The course in project management from IIM can help. By providing exposure to every facet of project management, this course ensures a well-rounded education, leading to a lucrative career in the domain.
More Information:
Step-By-Step Guide to Project Management
Skills Required For A Career In Project Management
Top 50 Project Manager Interview Questions and Answers for 2022
What are the Different Career Options Available in the field of Project Management?
