A small-business organization is requesting for a new course in “Positive Organizational Behaviour”.
A local hospital wants to extend its facilities to cardiac-care and rehabilitation.
A famous restaurant chain wants to open a franchise in the locality.
A medium-sized enterprise needs to upgrade its data servers.
A local university needs to convert its traditional courses into eLearning courses.
All of the above are major projects. Notice the variety of sectors that need a project executed. Who is in-charge of these projects? The project creators? The stakeholders? The public?
Nope.
It is the project managers that handle all these projects. Project managers, regardless of the project, run highly efficient and organized teams to complete demanding tasks. Do you have these two qualities in you? If yes, then the project management career is definitely for you.
Notice the versatility of the project management jobs. One degree and thousands of economy sectors! It’s quite rare to come across such diverse choices. Today, project management has become much easier and agile; thanks to many feature-rich project management software available at disposal. This software enables a bird’s eye view of the project, complete with notifications from different team members and stakeholders. A well-trained project manager can easily maneuver his way around the project with such help. Indeed, the scope and demand of project managers is steadily on the rise. In this article, we discuss the top seven reasons why you want to choose project management as your career.
But first things first. What do project managers really do? And why do we need them?
“Project management is necessary for any industry where time, budget, and scope are of utmost importance,” says Dr. Craig Winstead, Saint Leo University assistant professor of project management and a certified project manager with 12 years of professional experience.
Project managers manage complex, cross-functional teams. They can speak the language of multiple professionals! They understand process, risk and change management and have the specialized skills, technological knowledge, and interpersonal and communications attributes – to bring together all the pieces of the project together and achieve its objective.
Let’s look at these seven reasons why this field will be lucrative to choose as a career option:
1. Rising demand for Project Managers
Project management represents one of the fastest-growing professions in the world. Between 2010 and 2020, the global job market will create 15.7 million new project management roles.
A study in United States reveals the rise of project management jobs from 5.4 million in 2012 to 6.1 million in 2020 – this rate is faster than any other occupational growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that this job-growth rate will exceed 19 percent.
Why this great growth?
Simple: escalating technology growth, leading to globalization and development of global projects.
2. Availability of authentic online project management training
Project management trainings is one of the widest and the most authenticated trainings available in the market. For instance, Saint Leo University offers online degree programs in project management at both the undergraduate and graduate levels: an online bachelor’s degree in business administration with a project management specialization and an online MBA degree with a project management concentration.
3. Industry versatility
According to PMI®, project management “is one of the top skillsets demanded by organizations around the world” and “is more important now than ever before.” As demonstrated in the scenarios above, all kinds and all sizes of business have projects that require qualified project managers.
The following are the industries with the highest demand of project management professionals:
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Manufacturing
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Construction
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Utilities
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Information services
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Business services
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Finance and insurance
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Oil and gas
Health care is also experiencing a growth in customer-centred projects. As a result, the healthcare industry is projected to generate the greatest number of project management positions by 2020.
The film and show business sector is also experiencing the project boom. Project managers will be needed to better control risks and reduce budgets.
4. Higher Salaries
Project managers are generally well-paid across the globe. A study in the United States wages for average salaries for project managers range from $88,000 in Florida and $92,000 in Virginia, for example, to $101,000 in Georgia. The national average is $92,000.
Here is a more refined list of project management jobs in selected industries:
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Computer and information systems project manager: $120,950
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Healthcare project manager: $90,940
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Construction project manager: $82,790
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Business services project manager: $88,075
5. Better Career Growth
With experience, education and improvement, the opportunities for a rewarding career in project management are virtually limitless. The skills, experience and on the job training are directly transferable to numerous industries that require budget, schedule, and scope.
An advanced degree, for example an MBA or a PMI certification takes an individual a very long way. These professionals also enjoy greater earning.
6. Multi-disciplinary candidates accepted
This again makes the field of project management very flexible and available to anyone. An individual can take the PMI exam or any other project management certification regardless of their previous career or degree program. To sharpen their skills, project managers can also use a simple project management software and get hands on experience. In fact, many employers request for project management certifications from their employees. This includes school principals, instructional designers, eLearning developers and even hotel managers. No business background required to plunge into the project management career.
7. A Career that makes an impact
Of course, the intrinsic rewards in the project management field outweigh the monetary or recognition awards. Executing challenging tasks with diverse teams, coordinating the work on a daily basis, keeping everyone positive and motivated, fostering healthy collaboration and keeping track of all resources is no easy feat. But once accomplished, these professionals enjoy a deeper sense of satisfaction and “bragging rights”. Resolving problems on a daily basis and maintaining budget is also a satisfying performance experience. From the inception to completion, project managers are deeply involved in all stages of the design, development, implementation and delivery of a project. Aligning the project to deliver the KPIs’ (key performance indicators) of an organization is also a gratifying experience.
With a plethora of resources and literature available for free over the Internet, getting started in project management is not touch as it used to be before.