Your other experiences matter

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Even if you have never had a "project manager" before, you should not count on the position you are interested in.

Let me give you an example.

I reached out to Mickey Swartzel, the CFO and co-founder of New Eagle , a tech company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She's hired a lot of project managers, but one stood out to her.

Mickey explains:

In 2012, I hired a woman who had no direct project management experience, but had over 15 years of experience in various industries. Her experience was attractive because in each of her previous positions, she had entered the organization and identified a new opportunity to reduce costs or revenues and/or go to market. Additionally, she had been promoted to a management position in a short time. These previous positions were indicative of her ability to be a good project manager.

The woman is still happily living in New Eagle more 99 acres database than four years later. Mickey attributes her project manager's success to her "ability to communicate well, organize, and be creative in solving problems."

Swartzel also emphasizes, “These are traits that you can’t get through certification.”

The takeaway? When crafting your resume and cover letter, highlight how your previous work experience has given you tangible experience in the project management role you're applying for. You may even outperform PMPs (certified project management professionals) applying for the same position.

2. Soft skills are often more important than hard skills.
hired project manager

"Great project managers know how to talk to developers and executives."

That's Bruce Harpham, founder of Project Management Hacks . He encourages project managers to invest in their communication skills — going so far as to suggest they join Toastmasters . "While you can learn some presentation technique by reading books and watching great speakers," he says, "there's no substitute for first-hand experience."

Harpham doesn't stop at public speaking.

"Influence and persuasion are critical because the project manager must coordinate the work of people from different departments . I look for above average communication skills - both written and spoken."

Project managers don’t just communicate with internal clients. Markus Seebauer of Gateway Translations has hired two client-facing project managers since November. He works in IT and software translation, which makes him particularly sensitive to misinterpretations. He says he’s looking for “the ability to communicate clearly to avoid misunderstandings with clients or translators.”

Of course, soft skills aren't limited to communication. Seebauer also emphasizes social intelligence, empathy, and intuition.

More importantly, he sees critical thinking as key. He says, “The translation industry is very deadline-driven, and our PMs are constantly challenged to find creative ways to deliver quality on time and in less-than-ideal conditions.”

Are you unable to solve problems creatively?

Maybe look at another career.

The takeaway? While it may be tempting to overemphasize technical skills when applying for a project manager role, step back and focus on soft skills. Organization, communication, and creativity are just as important to a project manager as hard skills.