Project Manager Job Profile

For those who love working with people and are organised enough to manage multiple projects, schemes and resources, a career in project management could be ideal. As a project manager, you’ll develop transferable skills that will prove invaluable as your career in management progresses.

If you’re the organised, confident, and dedicated type and you’re interested in how to become a project manager, read on to find out everything you need to know about the role.

What is a project manager?

Project managers work within all sorts of industries to deliver a range of projects. Working as part of a wider project team, as a project manager you’re likely to oversee idea generation, deadline-setting, resourcing, and risk analysis. Depending on the scale of the projects you work on, you may be responsible for managing multiple projects through from beginning to end at one time.

Project managers are particularly required in industries like construction, engineering, IT and marketing, where work is client-focused and requires overall coordination. Whatever the industry, project managers increasingly use technology to manage and track their workload.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities and job description of a project manager will vary depending on sector and company. You can also expect your responsibilities to shift in line with career progression.

Generally, as a project manager, you will be required to:

• Research and execute processes

• Budget projects from beginning to end, including contingencies

• Manage resources: staff, as well as consumables

• Set goals and objectives

• Produce client schedules and timelines

• Create project plans and presentations

• Motivate and lead a project team

• Work with both an internal and external focus

• Work with stakeholders

• Carry out monitoring to determine progress

• Identify and manage risk

• Report regularly to management and clients

Project manager qualifications

You won’t need a degree in anything specific to get a job in project management. However, candidates will need a good commercial awareness that can be gained through degrees in marketing, management, business, or finance. At postgraduate level, it’s possible to specialise even further to increase your understanding through courses like an MSc Management with Project Management.

As a graduate, it’s unlikely that you will go straight into a role as a fully-fledged project manager without significant experience. On a graduate scheme you may start off in a junior or assistant role, with the opportunity to progress as your experience develops.

In certain industries, sector knowledge will be more important than commercial experience. Where this is true, you can move into project management from various technical roles after gaining project management experience.

Skills

Although it might sound simple at first, the challenges of project management can be anything but. There are very few technical skills that you’ll need to get ahead in this career, but plenty of soft skills that will make you a better project manager.

Organisation skills

You’ll need to be a forward-planner to work in project management, so your organisation skills should be top notch. Whether you’re planning staff tasks or organising resources, you’ll have to be able to prioritise and manage your time well.

Interpersonal skills

As a leader, the ability to work well with people is a must. You should be able to consider their wants and needs in work, as well as recognising success and achievement and pushing your colleagues to work to the best of their availability.

Budgeting

Whether you have formal qualifications in budgeting or just a wealth of experience, you’ll definitely put these skills to use on a regular basis within your role as a project manager.

Communication

Common responsibilities as a project manager include delivering presentations, liaising with colleagues, and pitching for new clients, so you’ll put your communication skills into daily use in any project management role.

Assertiveness

As a team leader, you’ll need to be able to use your initiative to make decisions under pressure, get stakeholders on board with your ideas, and effectively delegate work. Assertiveness can be essential in any managerial role, and that’s no different with project management.  

Salary and benefits

Starting salaries in project management tend to range from £20,000-35,000, depending on the sector, company, and region you work in. Working hours and benefits will also vary depending on your employer.

Once experienced, you can expect to earn between £40,000-80,000 p/a, again dependent on sector. If you decide to go freelance, you can set your own rate, with common day rates ranging between £300-500.

Career path

Work experience

Work experience in the sector that you eventually want to work in as a project manager will stand you in good stead for your application. Graduates with experience volunteering for charities or student societies will stand out from the crowd, especially those with trustee or committee experience.

It is possible to undertake internships or even sandwich years in order to progress within project management whilst at university. Consider joining a professional body, like the APM or PMI, as a student member. These organisations will provide you with networking and conferencing opportunities.

Continuing professional development

Professional qualifications in project management aren’t necessary to secure your dream job, but there are plenty of opportunities for continuing professional development through postgraduate training courses.

Courses like Project Management in Practice or a project management apprenticeship can set you apart from others in your field, and strengthen all of the skills and knowledge you use on the job to make you a better project manager overall.

Find out more about our leadership and management programmes here.