Junior PM Interview

[Vito]

Very good, well done. Could do with a few more paragraph breaks though.

Assuming you only have one year's experience (because you haven't said what else you've done), then if I were you I would gen up on a standard methodology like PRINCE2 which will give you the structure you may need as a junior PM working in a large project. It will cover areas such as risks, issues and quality etc, which you can relate to your current experience.

To be honest, if it was a permanent job and I was offering it, then I might risk taking you on and training you up. But for a contract you need to hit the ground running, so they will always go for someone who has done pretty much exactly the same as they want to do in terms of industry, technology etc - more so than for a permie job.

You may well be up against experienced (non-junior) contract PM's looking for an easy gig, so you need to find an edge. Just giving the 'right' answers to interview questions won't really help, in my opinion.

Agree with this...when I was in a Permie role recruiting contractors I always wanted people who were better qualified/more experienced than the permie PM's I already had...

However, the one thing that occassionaly swayed me was a real can-do approach...energy and enthusiasm is always welcome and can sometimes be missing from experienced and very good PM's...they are more structured than pragmatic...so it all depends what they are looking for. Also, if the interview is young, (s)he may be threated by an older more experienced contractor, and what they may actually be looking for is a wing-man with the core skills but who can be moulded to suit their needs. So its not all doom and gloom...make sure you know the basics and give the impression that you are pragmatic and make things happen.

[Peter Loew]

Thanks for all the advice guys. The interview went very well I thought. I had the right mix of experience and drive they were looking for, I felt.

Very keen in this one, still waiting to hear back (hopefully at some point today).

If this turn out to be a nay, I am considering doing a Prince 2 cert. In all honesty, will this cert help me out in getting a PM contract or am I looking more into the permie way for a couple of years or so, before I can land a PM contract?

I could always lie on my CV and say I have been PMing for the last few roles, which isn't a total lie!

P

[oraclesmith]

If this turn out to be a nay, I am considering doing a Prince 2 cert. In all honesty, will this cert help me out in getting a PM contract or am I looking more into the permie way for a couple of years or so, before I can land a PM contract?

Both will help. Experience helps more, if it's relevant to the role being offered.

[tino]

Thanks for all the advice guys. The interview went very well I thought. I had the right mix of experience and drive they were looking for, I felt.

Very keen in this one, still waiting to hear back (hopefully at some point today).

If this turn out to be a nay, I am considering doing a Prince 2 cert. In all honesty, will this cert help me out in getting a PM contract or am I looking more into the permie way for a couple of years or so, before I can land a PM contract?

I could always lie on my CV and say I have been PMing for the last few roles, which isn't a total lie!

P

Prince2 cert will certainly help, be warned though - I have dealt with several PM's who whilst having Practitioner Certification could not use it effectively.

Don't fall into the trap of trying to apply all sections of Prince2 to all issues or "parts" (for want of a better word) in projects. It was never intended to be used as such.

[young veteran]

I recently took the prince 2 course fondation passed and waiting for practioner results, i have recieved so much interest since ive put it on my CV, but am pretty much in the same boat only a years experience, so no contract yet, but id definately recommend doing it.

[Peter Loew]

Ahh that's interesting guys, yeah I know that you are not supposed to apply all areas of Prince2 to all areas of the project, it's supposed to be adaptable.
Many projects also employ custom methodologies built on Prince2, as they want it to be customisable to their business particularities.

Interesting that you received a lot more interest since doing the foundation cert YV, I think I will do the cert in any case and take it from there.

P

[young veteran]

I did the 3 day foundation then because it was easter did 3 day practitioner, i think the 5 day intensive course is too much for any sane human being, so much to take in and remember for exams.

[fishdisco]

I'm working as PM at a company who has no clue about what a PM is supposed to do. It is a complex project and I have done process flow charts etc for them. They have given me a new contract and are basically expecting me to do every single technical activity for the entire project. They wont accept I cant physically do this, or that resource is required. They are also giving me a 3 month notice period. Do I sign? I have made recommendations to them on resource. I also have extremely uncooperative support staff, and as a consultant, it's hard to get people to deliver.

[timh]

Do I sign?

Does it pay enough to be worth going through the Hell it will probably be?

[Old Greg]

I'm working as PM at a company who has no clue about what a PM is supposed to do. It is a complex project and I have done process flow charts etc for them. They have given me a new contract and are basically expecting me to do every single technical activity for the entire project. They wont accept I cant physically do this, or that resource is required. They are also giving me a 3 month notice period. Do I sign? I have made recommendations to them on resource. I also have extremely uncooperative support staff, and as a consultant, it's hard to get people to deliver.

I've project managed that kind of project. Remember, your job as PM, is amongst other things to identify the tasks that need completion and the resources required to do them, and then t oput them together in a plan to see how long it will take. If resources are reduced (i.e. just you), then it will take longer. If they inisist that you do it alone within their timescale, then you reduce the quality or scope (if possible). If they want an unrealistic combination of timescale, resource, quality and scope, then I reckon your choices are:

1. Raise this as a biggie risk.
2. Talk the sponsor / SRO (have they got one of those?) and make it clear that they not you are responsible if/when it goes wrong, as long as you've made sure your ass is covered. This may be the critical thing in a company that doesn't understand projects. Do they know who at board level is behind this project? Do they know who is to blame when it goes wrong. Sometimes it's your job as a PM to help them to understand projects.
3. Don't sign.

Good luck mate.