{"id":3015,"date":"2009-08-26T06:05:12","date_gmt":"2009-08-26T13:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=3015"},"modified":"2019-08-07T14:30:29","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T21:30:29","slug":"switching-careers-to-project-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=3015","title":{"rendered":"Are You Deranged Enough to Switch Careers to Project Management?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love it when people contact<\/a> me to ask a question. It helps me to know that real people are out there somewhere behind the screen of my laptop.<\/p>\n

I can’t believe you all fit in there. Technology is amazing.<\/p>\n

\"deranged
deranged project manager - by machfive via Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How do you break into project management when you have been running your own business for over a decade?<\/strong><\/p>\n

C. D. from New York City wrote to me recently asking about this.<\/p>\n

I’m going to jump in and out of first to third person, and I’ve updated this to be much more robust than my original reply via email to C. D.<\/p>\n

Stay with me.<\/p>\n

Here’s the Skinny<\/h2>\n

C. D. has been running her own freelance business for many years, and even though it’s been great and she does good work it’s time for a change. Her whole life has been running projects, just not in a formal way aside from the processes that have emerged in her business.<\/p>\n

C. D. had read my post For Those Pursuing Project Management Careers<\/a><\/strong> and is confident she possesses all of the qualities we discussed in spades.<\/p>\n

“Although I have been managing projects for a while, and I believe I have a natural aptitude for it, I have no formal training in the field, and many of the industry terms tossed around on pmstudent.com and elsewhere are foreign to me. I’ve been heartened to find so much information on the Web, and yet, with so much, it’s hard to know where to begin.” – C. D. in New York City<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Seems Like a Good Fit To Me<\/h2>\n

“It certainly sounds as if you have all of the attributes of a good PM. I completely understand where you are at, I was there about 5 years ago. I had managed a lot of projects, but with an operational mindset and without formal knowledge of project management.” – Josh, from the front of the computer screen<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t think she was pulling my leg about being suited for this kind of work either.<\/p>\n

I got a distinct sense through our communication that she is a go-getter, very intelligent, and has both the people skills and experience to go places very fast once she gets her foot in the door.<\/p>\n

My Take<\/h2>\n

A few considerations come to mind:<\/p>\n

Get Your Foot In The RIGHT Door<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

I think this is a critical thing that many job-seekers miss, regardless of your role. Look for an environment in which you can flourish first. I have a LOT of experience looking for jobs (hey, I didn’t get fired OK?) due to having been laid off 5 times (so far).<\/p>\n

Things have rarely happened to me by throwing my resume out to the job boards. I stopped doing that long ago. When I started researching companies (not jobs), networking as a way of life by helping others <\/span>(not just when looking for a job), and reaching out directly to people in my prospect companies, things began to happen.<\/p>\n

It’s a lot of work and produces results. There is no easy button.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Look for companies that are very project-oriented. Medium to large firms who’s business model is geared towards completing projects for their customers<\/span> are best. Several benefits here:<\/p>\n