CV requirements in the job market

Minimum requirements have increased across all sectors, due to increased supply of candidates on the job market. Therefore recruiters can expect more qualifications and experience from candidates. This is the direct consequence of the increase levels of relevant and skilled candidates. Even if the specified requirements are not needed, these qualifications/skills provide reassurance to the employer.

However whilst expecting more, the stats indicate that average salaries for Project Managers have begun to rise again. The average salary for a Project Manager is £47,500 compared to £45,500 a year ago. Programme Manager average salaries are static at £70,000.

The CV is greatly underestimated by candidates. Even with the right skills and experience – if it is not presented in the right way then recruiters may not include you in their shortlist as the key areas will not stand out. With increased competition, the CV is a candidates most important sales tool, yet interestingly over 75% of candidates do not have their CV professionally reviewed, even those applying for high level roles. Projectmanagerjobs offer candidates a free CV review: http://www.projectmanagerjobs.co.uk/info/your-cv to help get the most relevant job for candidates.

BPUG Members Annual Conference, 11-12 November 2009

By Melanie Franklin, CEO at Maven Training

Best Practice User Group Members Annual Conference took place at the Mercure Holland House Hotel & Spa, Bristol on 11-12 November 2009. The Conference Theme was 'P4: People, Portfolios, Programmes and Projects'.

Conference delegates enjoyed two days of valuable discussions, presentations and ideas generation across the whole range of OGC PPRM guidance, with special emphasis on 'people' aspects. Past delegates of BPUG conferences have praised them for their wide spread of topics, the quality of the session leaders and the opportunity to network amongst others in similar work circumstances.

I gave a presentation on the importance of emotional intelligence in achieving project success. There was broad agreement in the room at the start of the presentation that building capability and being able to answer the question ' how do we things well' is more important these days than sorting out 'what we do' which results from the implementation of methodologies. That is not to say that the methods offered by PRINCE2 and MSP are not important for project and programme management, its just that many organisations have implemented these now, and are looking to upskill their workforce for successful project delivery, and not just successful following of a methodology.

Interpersonal skills and technical skills combined deliver this 'how to' knowledge. Excellence in interpersonal skills are a result of developing 'emotional intelligence' which involves self awareness - an unflinching assessment of our strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and how we demonstrate these through our personality and self management - a willingness to tailor some of our personality traits to the situation. We discussed how emotional intelligence grows over time, as we learn from our mistakes, and therefore, it is essential to constantly ask ' how could i have done that better' when engaging with people. We all agreed that we would never get anything done on a project if it weren't for the people around us, so increasing our ability to inspire, motivate, delegate and manage is not optional, its mandatory.

There were a number of questions at the end including the importance of building personal relationships if we are to get the most out of some of our more impersonal meeting formats such as teleconferenes, virtual teams, webinars and email. The removal of face to face communication presents us with even greater challenges for which emotional intelligence gives us a number of solutions

If anyone attended the conference over the two days it would be great to hear your thoughts!

London Project and Programme Management Forum

By Melanie Franklin, CEO at Maven Training

The event was the London Project and Programme Management Forum. This even happens twice each year and on this occasion was hosted at the London Borough of Lewisham. The event is designed to bring Project and Programme Managers from London Local authorities together to share ideas, best practises and success stories. The focus was on Change Management and there were about 90 people in attendance most of whom are from Local Authorities, Met Police and the Fire and Ambulance Services.

I was really pleased to be asked to speak at this event, as embedding change is a subject we are repeatedly asked to design workshops for. Many of our clients are currently planning and implementing change programmes and are keen for practical guidance on how to make the change relevant to all who are impacted by it. It is this relevance that drives their involvement enabling individuals to see a reason for becoming involved and for adopting the change for themselves.

In my presentationg I explored a range of different perspectives that individuals typically take when evaluating an organisational change. The first evaluation is always how it will impact them and their position within the organisation, with pessimists often seeing the change in a negative light, seeing it as a criticism of the work they do today. Optimists can see the change as a way to fix current problems and provide them with new career development opportunities, but can sometimes lose heart when they realise the change does not offer them all of the advantages they had originally associated it with.

In order to address these extremes of view, and all points in between, all activities and communications about the change need to target how people learn, their preferences for receiving information and where they are in their own 'cycle of change' remembering that some people adapt to change very quickly, constantly seeking out the next change and how they can become involved in it, and others will be slower as their resistance to change is much greater.

During my presentation there was lots of notes being taken and at the end there were a number of questions about how to practically address those that resist change, clearly indicating that this is the biggest challenge that we face in change programmes.

Other speakers included Barry Quirk – Chief Exec at Lewisham, Steve Gough – Director of Programme Management and Property at Lewisham, Stephen Jenner – Director, Criminal Justice I.T, Tim Ellis – Kensington and Chelsea and Richard Caton – LB Hackney. Outperform also gave an update on the London Programme Management Methodology.

Project Management in the Transport Industry

Maven Training along with sponsor Matchtech and partner WTS London (Women in Transportation) present the event 'Project Management in the Transport Industry', a unique opportunity to hear from leaders in Project Management recruitment and training and representatives from the transport industry. Melanie Franklin, CEO of Maven Training, a leading training provider, will speak about opportunities for individuals and companies to build capacity in their teams, through project and programme management training and identify how qualifications can be used to further your career in project management in the transport industry. Matchtech, sponsor of WTS London, and recruitment specialist for engineering, science, construction and professional services, will present an overview of what it is employers are looking for in a project manager: What type of qualifications are expected? What types of roles are available in the transport industry? We will also hear from a project manager within the transport industry - what their experiences are and what they think are the key qualities and qualifications that have helped them succeed in their role.

WTS London will be offering members the opportunity to undertake a Prince 2 qualification in Jan 2010, so ensure you come along to this exciting event to find out more about project management in the transport industry and your potential to advance your project management skills. Further information and the ability to sign up to this course will be available on the night.

Places are strictly limited, so ensure you don't miss this great event by registering now.

• Venue: Maven Training Centre Location and Map
• Date: 26th November 2009
• Time: 6:30pm (arrive at 6:15pm) for a 8:30pm finish
• Cost: FREE
• Bookings: info@maventraining.co.uk (please email us with your name and contact details so we can confirm your place)

Light refreshments will be offered throughout the day and you will be given the chance to network with trainers and fellow peers.

The Project Management job market

By Nicholas Tipping, Marketing Executive at Maven Training

I thought I would just spread the word on some interesting markets research into the job markets. This was found on the website ITjobswatch.co.uk and I have looked for figures and statistics on the term ‘project management’. I have outlined the main parts below but for more information please click on the links.

As you can see, the statistics of searches on their website matching 'project management' with permanent IT jobs has dropped from '17499' in 2007 to '5030' in the 3 months leading up to the 2nd November 2009. Saying that, the average salary quoted was more than £30,000 which accounted for 90% of the jobs, interestingly for 10% of the jobs, the salary has increased by up to £10,000 over the last 2 years.


Please click here for the full report

Project Management Histogram

The below chart provides a salary histogram for IT jobs citing Project Management across England over the 3 months to the 2nd November 2009. As you can see the average salary tends to lie between £30,000 to £55,000 which has also remained fairly steady over the last 2 years.

Project Management top 30 related IT skills to 'job titles '

For the 6 months to 2 November 2009, IT jobs across the England region citing Project Management were grouped by job titles in order of popularity. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of IT job ads sampled that cited Project Management.

Project Management top 30 related It Skills to 'Methodologies' and 'Processes'

For the 6 months to 2 November 2009, IT jobs across the England region citing Project Management were grouped by Methodology and Processes in terms of popularity. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of IT job ads sampled that cited Project Management.

Feel free to check out the ITjobswatch website for more information on these statistics as well as other keywords such as 'PRINCE2', 'MSP', ITIL, Change Management, APM and 'M_o_R.