What do employers look for in project managers?
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 8:20 am
"What are they looking for? Magical powers. What should they be looking for? Proven competence."
Creative business
This was one of the first responses posted in a thread I was leading in the Project Manager Network LinkedIn group. And while the comment was sarcastic, it had an air of mystery about it that seemed to envelop what employers were looking for in potential project management candidates.
After reviewing more than 80 comments, several consistent benefits of using this list for your marketing and promotions themes emerged. But one was particularly striking: Andrew Bolander , a project management specialist, sent me a direct message summing up many of the inconsistencies I had found:
There is a huge difference between what companies expect from hiring a project manager and what project managers expect in return. It is clear that many companies believe that project management is an upgraded version of the old task management function.
Fat mine.
It is clear that what project managers hope companies are looking for and what companies are actually looking for are very different.
Our own research has shown that most companies, regardless of sector, require:
Bachelor's degree
PMP certification is preferred, although not required in most cases.
Five or more years of experience
High independence
Writing/communication skills
Must be a team player
Based on this extremely general description, Bolander is right; there is very little here that describes what a project manager should do in a day, other than use the certificate and communicate with the team. There must be more to it than that.
Project managers in LinkedIn discussions mostly listed the qualities that project managers should have. Perhaps, judging by their own descriptions, these are the credentials that businesses should really be looking for.
Bibek Banerjee , an Australian product manager, notes: “The single most important trait a PM needs is the ability to ‘manage’. Whether it’s ‘managing’ resources, people, time, budget, stakeholders, relationships, risks, processes and so on... [M]anaging is defining your goal, planning how to achieve it, and then taking the necessary action by controlling, directing, influencing, organizing and coordinating.”
Handshake between business people
Indeed, many commentators have emphasized that quality management skills are the foundation of project management.
Creative business
This was one of the first responses posted in a thread I was leading in the Project Manager Network LinkedIn group. And while the comment was sarcastic, it had an air of mystery about it that seemed to envelop what employers were looking for in potential project management candidates.
After reviewing more than 80 comments, several consistent benefits of using this list for your marketing and promotions themes emerged. But one was particularly striking: Andrew Bolander , a project management specialist, sent me a direct message summing up many of the inconsistencies I had found:
There is a huge difference between what companies expect from hiring a project manager and what project managers expect in return. It is clear that many companies believe that project management is an upgraded version of the old task management function.
Fat mine.
It is clear that what project managers hope companies are looking for and what companies are actually looking for are very different.
Our own research has shown that most companies, regardless of sector, require:
Bachelor's degree
PMP certification is preferred, although not required in most cases.
Five or more years of experience
High independence
Writing/communication skills
Must be a team player
Based on this extremely general description, Bolander is right; there is very little here that describes what a project manager should do in a day, other than use the certificate and communicate with the team. There must be more to it than that.
Project managers in LinkedIn discussions mostly listed the qualities that project managers should have. Perhaps, judging by their own descriptions, these are the credentials that businesses should really be looking for.
Bibek Banerjee , an Australian product manager, notes: “The single most important trait a PM needs is the ability to ‘manage’. Whether it’s ‘managing’ resources, people, time, budget, stakeholders, relationships, risks, processes and so on... [M]anaging is defining your goal, planning how to achieve it, and then taking the necessary action by controlling, directing, influencing, organizing and coordinating.”
Handshake between business people
Indeed, many commentators have emphasized that quality management skills are the foundation of project management.