Best ways to start your project management career (even when you have no experience!)
Are you hoping to start a project management career and wondering how you can get your first project manager job?
The big question when it comes to finding your first project manager job is, which comes first: the chicken or the egg? What happens when you’re looking for a job is they always ask, “do you have experience in project management?”
If it’s your first project manager job, then of course you don’t have experience!
So, what do you do?
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Determine whether you’ve done projects
A lot of people don’t realize that they’ve worked on projects already! Even if you haven’t formally or officially had the project manager title, you’ve likely still worked on or even managed a project.
Remember, a project has a distinct start and end date, tasks you need to execute, and often you’re working with other individuals to get it done. So, if you’re in the working world, think of projects or initiatives you’ve worked on that fit that description and draw from that experience.
If you’re looking for your first project manager job out of school and you haven’t really been in the working world yet, you can still draw from experience you gained in school by working on projects or initiatives within your education experience.
All you need to do is look at things a little differently and pinpoint where you actually have done project work.
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Consider a related role
To get into project management, there are some professional roles that naturally fit into it. For example, if you’re an engineer, you will be doing project work.
If the roles you’ve been in or the program you graduated from aren’t necessarily project-based, you can still ensure you get project experience by asking to be on projects that relate to your role. Every organization has projects, so whether your professional role naturally leans towards project work or not, you can always ask to be on projects to gain experience that way.
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More ways to land your first project manager role
If you want to get some more options on how to get your first project management role, make sure you check out the video I made on how to get your first project manager job. In the video, I go into detail on a number of routes you can take to get your foot in the door of project management!
Meanwhile, if you really are committed to mastering your next project, do consider taking my SLAY Project Management online course where I show you step-by-step how to successfully manage a project, plus you get access to every template you will need, along with detailed video instructions on how to fill them out.
-Adriana
