“Finding Your Next PM Job without a Resume” –from PDUs2go Webinar

I have been joining Webinars to earn continuing education credits related to my PMP credentials. This one caught my eye, in light of the current state of our economy. God has blessed me with W2 job situation. However, most of us know the status quo is never the same, over a period of time. I thought of writing salient notes from this webinar—most from the MS Powerpoint slides.

The following are common Job Hunting Mistakes:

1.       One resume for every job application.

2.       A cover letter that does not offer your benefits.

3.       Looking at anything and everything.

4.       Searching job boards. Most jobs have been filled before the job is posted on the web.

5.       Negativity.

6.       Not creating opportunities.

7.       Wait and see approach. A passive attitude towards a job search. Get busy living or get busy “dying.”

8.       Using your resume.

Jobs are closer than you think. You have 6 degrees of separation from your next job.

Alternative view of job search:

1.       Top of the stool—relationships

2.       Leg one—awareness. Being aware of people around me, along with people being aware of my “brand.”

a.       Treat your search similar to marketers, i.e., “what would Google do?”

b.      You are in the relationship business

c.       You are a brand. Brand illustrates value. What is your value? Think of yourself as a brand. Target the location where you want to work. Inventory your assets when targeting where you’d like or love to work.

3.       Leg two—activity. Create activities that place you in front of others. If you lost a significant amount of money, what would you do?

a.       Referrals—ask for it.

b.      3^rd party endorsements—6 degrees of separation, everyone is on the average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on earth.

c.       Networking events—join those events.

d.      Volunteer in the community. In church, in the community.

e.      Research companies that say to you, “that would be a great company to work for!” Find out more about the company and the people who work there.

f.        Think about your background, what could you write, speak, develop and offer to those that might be interested.

g.       Be active in Organizations—not a wall flower.

4.       Leg three—community.  Current examples are:

a.       Apple

b.      Facebook

c.       Pinterest

d.      You—What value do you have that others know about? How often do you seek out new opportunities? Are you looked at as a thought leader in the PM industry (if you are looking for a job as a project manager)?

Best practices:

·         Think like the legs of a stool

·         You must be actively engaged

·         Seek counsel and ask advice,

·         Listen to what you attract

·         Do not waste time on principles that do not work. Be active in your job search.

March Madness

I am not one to join a pool for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, nor predict who will win the national championship. You probably are wondering what March Madness has to do with Project Management. It is this: the process of predicting who will make it to Final Four and win the national championship is about as much science (and art) as predicting Risks and coming up with a Risk Management Plan in Project Management.

I don’t exactly know what input variables predictors use, but I would imagine the following (with how little I know about basketball):

1.       Schedule strength, who the team’s opponents are in the bracket, as they move on from one round to another,

2.       Production per player and as a team statistics, e.g., Field Goal percentage, Free Throw percentage, blocks per game, turnovers per game, assists per game, points off turnovers, etc.

3.       Compare team production and statistics versus the opponent,

4.       Regular season AP or some other analyst or analysts ranking.

I am confident there are other key statistics that pundits will consider, but these primarily come to my mind. Similar to predicting who’ll be in the Round of 32, Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and ultimately who’ll win the national Championship—there is as much science as predicting varied risks to a project or program. There is a lot that goes on to identify Risks:

1.       Briainstorming

2.       Delphi technique

3.       Checklist technique via historical information and prior knowledge base

4.       Assumption Analysis

5.       Diagramming techniques such as Cause and Effect Diagrams, System or Process flow charts, Influence Diagrams

6.       SWOT analysis

7.       Expert Judgment.

At the conclusion of Risk Register, this information is a basis for a Probability and Impact matrix—as the risks impact scope or quality, time and schedule, i.e., perform a Qualitative Risk Analysis along with a Quantitative Risk Analysis. Quantitative Risk Analysis can be complex, as laid out in PmBOK (4^th Edition):

1.       Data Gathering and Presentation Techniques

a.       Interviewing

b.      Probability Distributions (beta or triangular distribution)

2.       Quantitative Risk Analysis and Modeling techniques

a.       Sensitivity Analysis

b.      Expected monetary value analysis (EVM)

c.       Modeling and Simulation

3.       Expert Judgment

I won’t discuss the outputs from the Qualitative and Quantitative Risks Analysis. Suffice to say that there is a lot of science and statistics that can be applied to predict the impact of Risks, along with predicting the NCAA 2012 champion. There are however (pardon the cliché in sports) intangibles that may surprise the batter, as a curve ball is pitched. In sports:

1.       We do not know what goes on at a half-time break, or what the coach says.

2.       What the team captain says to the team,

3.       What personally motivates each player, during substitutions,

4.       What coaching occurs during time outs, and finally

5.       What fires up a team when they are 20 points behind at the half time break.

Within a project, a lot of unknowns are taken into account, or at least attempted to be accounted for. However, it is impossible to predict and account for all key project inputs—along with external parameters that can potentially impact the project or program, e.g.,

1.       Gas price or jet fuel price,

2.       Local or Governmental policies,

3.       Inclement weather,

4.       Weather-related disaster,

5.       Downturn in domestic economy,

6.       Downturn in the European  Union economies, and

7.       Consumers being spooked by a failing European economy.

In project management, Risk Analysis and Risk Management is a must to mitigate scope, time and financial impact. In the NCAA Championship prediction, the same analytical approach can be utilized. Experts who do this continually can sharpen their prediction skills, and predict with more accuracy. However, there are still intangibles that can come from a blind corner. However, this should not preclude anyone from following a certain process or analysis.