IT Project Manager jobs Glasgow/Edinburgh

[PonyBoy]

Currently working as a permie IT Project Manager up in Aberdeen in Oil & Gas industry.

But with the downturn the industry is going through at the moment (IT budgets are being slashed) I'm looking to spread my wings for contract opportunities in Glasgow/Edinburgh.

I'm an experienced IT Project Manager, and a good one (even if I say so myself), with lots of good skills and the knowledge to back it all up.

But after a few months of applying for roles in the central belt I haven't even had a sniff of an interview.

Is it the 'oil & gas' background putting folk off?
Is it because I don't have a Financial Services background?

Surely a good PM can successfully manage any project whether that is a system used in oil & gas or a bank?

Anybody have any advice as to how I can make a breakthrough?

Or do I accept that basically my IT PM career like the UK oil & gas sector is on the run down?

[mudskipper]

Currently working as a permie IT Project Manager up in Aberdeen in Oil & Gas industry.

But with the downturn the industry is going through at the moment (IT budgets are being slashed) I'm looking to spread my wings for contract opportunities in Glasgow/Edinburgh.

I'm an experienced IT Project Manager, and a good one (even if I say so myself), with lots of good skills and the knowledge to back it all up.

But after a few months of applying for roles in the central belt I haven't even had a sniff of an interview.

Is it the 'oil & gas' background putting folk off?
Is it because I don't have a Financial Services background?

Surely a good PM can successfully manage any project whether that is a system used in oil & gas or a bank?

Anybody have any advice as to how I can make a breakthrough?

Or do I accept that basically my IT PM career like the UK oil & gas sector is on the run down?

Are you applying for Perm or Contract?

Maybe your CV needs work. The CV and Interview advisers run webinars with really good advice on contractor CVs - CUK promote them sometimes (don't know if there's a list of event dates? - Admin?)

Or IPSE have one on 28th https://www.ipse.co.uk/events/wed-10...ontract-market - I think the content of both is the same.


If you're applying for perm, there might still be some good advice, but it is tailored for contract.

[TykeMerc]

The whole sector experience thing is a complete farce and most people know it, but the agents and a lot of the clients use it as a distinguishing factor.

Even in the days when Oil and Gas was an expanding sector, getting seriously considered for an office based role (no safety considerations) without an Oil and Gas background was all but impossible.
Same for Financials which is a tightening sector so again, no history no chance.
Same for most sectors to be honest, there's a large pool of people with "industry knowledge" so they won't consider anyone trying to enter or swap.
You're coming from perm and aiming to contract, again a difficult factor as many will assume you're looking for a fill in until the next permie role and will bugger off when it appears.
I'm a PM myself, 20 years contracting and I have Finance experience from about 10 years back, I suspect that I'd struggle to get back into Finance roles even though I did almost nothing else for several years.
Yes it's true as a PM you can manage any project, but the truth and the reality of getting a role are a long way apart.

[oliverson]

Isn't it the reality that the contracting market is dying and will be dead within a few years? It's not about your sector, your skillset, your creed or colour, the fact remains we will all be out of a 'job' pretty much soon. Government vendetta on contractors, offshoring, consultancies mopping up the spoils, intra company visas, dying markets. It's over and it's through no fault or your own. Time for that plan B.

[TykeMerc]

Isn't it the reality that the contracting market is dying and will be dead within a few years? It's not about your sector, your skillset, your creed or colour, the fact remains we will all be out of a 'job' pretty much soon. Government vendetta on contractors, offshoring, consultancies mopping up the spoils, intra company visas, dying markets. It's over and it's through no fault or your own. Time for that plan B.

In 1 word NO.

It is changing, but the market and the nature of contracting tend to change, it's part of contracting.
The possible regulation/legislation changes being discussed may kill off a chunk of the market for good of course, then the clients will be stuck using the big consultancies or offering rates that make contracting worthwhile.
We will have to see what changes happen and how things will play out.

[Cirrus]

But after a few months of applying for roles in the central belt I haven't even had a sniff of an interview.

The market is tight for PMs at the moment.

I was recruiting a couple of years ago. The job was Asia Pacifice debit cards. I was able to get CVs including someone who had been doing debit cards in Dubai and interviewed well. No way would an oil industry person have got a look in.

At the same time, the organisation was picking up permies and their CVs were a lot, lot softer.

[Glencky]

I'm a PM in financial services. I've been contracting a few years, but before that was a permie PM and also departmental and recruiting manager. So with that background... our first choice, by a long shot, wasn't even 'financial services' but far more specific - insurance, and not even just that, but life and pensions. First cut, if you didn't have L&P experience, you could forget it. If we couldn't fill the vacancy with that, we'd consider other insurance experience, then non-insurance financial services, and only then would we consider non-FS. And this is whether recruiting for permie vacancies (apart from trainees, obviously) or contract. Since going contracting, I've found a similar attitude everywhere I've worked. Whilst I agree to some extent that a good PM is a good PM, the reality is that with a contractor in particular, you want them up and running as close to 'immediately' as possible - that is rather the point. We were forced to relax these points obviously on occasion, and were far more likely to do so for permies than contractors, essentially because they're worth the investment of time and training to get them up to speed, obviously. We did tend to find that some people from non-FS backgrounds adapted well, but others really didn't. Which explains why in a contractor you want as close to a perfect skills and experience match as possible.

Bearing in mind all of the above, you have to know that it's all about supply and demand. If the market is flooded with experienced PMs who also have FS experience, you're not going to get a look-in I'm afraid. But if it isn't, then you may well do and the comments about CVs hold true, obviously need to optimise your CV for this kind of job search.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound negative, but better to be honest, I think (and I'm obviously not dissing your skills!) The nature of the regulated FS environment in this country means it's hard for those who haven't 'grown up' in the industry to adjust to - sometimes. Not saying you couldn't, just that you may be perceived as a risk and not even get to interview. if you can get to interview of course, and come across well, may be a different story.

For what it's worth, my attitude to CV screening, particularly for contractors, was to ignore professional qualifications for both PMs and BAs (even though I have one myself - just don't think they're the be-all and end-all), and simply look at who they'd worked for and what they'd delivered. The closer the match to what I was looking for, the more likely I was to call for interview. I'd even overlook the typos..!

I do not at all agree that 'sector experience... is a farce'. I would not expect to be anywhere near as competent as the OP in a PM role in Oil & Gas. I'd give it a good go, but if I ended up applying for jobs like that I'd be careful not to oversell my knowledge but rather emphasise my soft skills/ stakeholder management/ core PM competencies. At the end of the day though they only take you so far without industry knowledge.