How to get started as a new project manager

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is: how do I get started as a new project manager when I have limited experience? Any seasoned PM will know that the ability to demonstrate relevant experience counts when applying for new roles and attending interviews. But what if you’re seeking your first PM role and lacking experience? Perhaps you have completed formal training but still struggling to find a role. As someone who has been involved in recruiting project managers across multiple industries for many years, here are my 3 top tips to help those of you in this situation:  

1. Identify your transferable skills: when you lack experience, the thought of demonstrating your skills to an experienced hiring manager can feel daunting. Rather than dwell on what you feel you lack, focus on the transferable skills that you possess. If you come from an administrative or other professional background, you’re likely to have skills spanning organisation, planning, communication, problem solving and teamwork. Consider your competency in these areas and try to identify examples of how you have applied these skills to situations in the past. Remember to include examples from volunteer and community activities — these can provide highly relevant experience for entry level positions. 

 

2. Broaden your job search to include a range of project related roles: for your first role consider applying for a range of roles rather than specifically those with the title project manager. Applying for project coordinator, project assistant, project administrator and PMO analyst roles allows you to get hands on experience in a project environment and shadow experienced colleagues so that you can build your competence across the various phases of the project lifecycle. 

 

3. Build your professional network and actively engage in the sector through the vast array of project related groups, content and online/ face to face events. You’ll be surprised at the amount of free expertise available. By exposing yourself to current hot topics such as AI and data analytics you will start to develop an understanding of how project management is impacted along with the key challenges and opportunities. Networking in this way is also a great way to identify early awareness of potential job opportunities. 

 

Most importantly, don’t make the mistake of disregarding your past experience as irrelevant. Projects exist across just about every type of organisation in every corner of the globe so it’s highly likely you have something valuable to bring to the right employer. The current project management skills gap means that the need for this skillset is increasing not decreasing.  

These tips, along with genuine enthusiasm and a practical introductory qualification like the APM’s PMQ certification, can help to set you apart from other candidates and put you on the path to success. 

 

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